Tickets now on sale for limited run of 'Aida'

December 15, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The newly conceived North American touring production of “Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida” will make its Gainesville premiere in early January at the University of Florida’s Phillips Center. Based on the award-winning timeless love story from the classic Verdi opera, “Aida” is a new musical with Elton John’s modern pop score. Tickets are on sale now for the 7:30 p.m. shows on Jan. 5 and 6.

Winner of four 2000 Tony Awards, “Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida” is a musical bursting with contemporary energy chronicling the love triangle between Aida, a Nubian princess stolen from her country, Amneris, an Egyptian princess, and Radames, the soldier they both love. “Aida” is the first collaboration for John and Tim Rice since writing the music for the worldwide phenomenon “The Lion King.”

The score for “Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida” was hailed by Time Magazine as “filled with luscious melodies and soulful lyrics.” The show produced a number of hit songs, including “Written in the Stars” (recorded by Elton John and LeAnn Rimes, which hit No. 2 on Billboard’s AC charts in 1999); “Easy as Life” (recorded by Tina Turner and also as a dance remix by Deborah Cox that hit No. 24 on the U.S. Dance charts in 2004); “Elaborate Lives,” “My Strongest Suit” and “The Gods Love Nubia.”

The original production had its world premiere (as “Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida”) at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta on Sept. 17, 1998. A new, revised production opened on Dec. 9, 1999, at the Cadillac Palace in Chicago. The Broadway production, named “Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida,” opened at the Palace Theatre on March 23, 2000, and ran a total of 1,852 performances, making it one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history and generating a successful national tour and several international productions.

Tickets are available by calling the Phillips Center Box Office at (352) 392-2787 or (800) 905-2787 or by calling Ticketmaster at (904) 353-3309. Orders may be faxed to (352) 846-1562. Tickets are also available in person at the Phillips Center Box Office, University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Student Union and all Ticketmaster outlets; and on the Web at www.ticketmaster.com.