My Darlin’ Aida is a 1952 Broadway musical play with music by Giuseppe Verdi, lyrics by Charles Friedman, based on Verdi's opera, Aida. It was produced by Robert L. Joseph.[1]

My Darlin’ Aida
Sheet music
MusicGiuseppe Verdi
LyricsCharles Friedman
BookCharles Friedman
BasisVerdi's opera Aida
Productions1952 Broadway

Production

edit

My Darlin’ Aida premiered on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on October 27, 1952, and closed on January 10, 1953, after 89 performances.

It was staged by Charles Friedman; supervised and lighted by Hassard Short (his last show); production designed and costumed by Lemuel Ayers; choreography by Hanya Holm; music director Franz Allers; and choral director Robert Shaw.[2]

The company starred (evenings) Dorothy Sarnoff and Elaine Malbin and featured William Ovis, Howard Jarratt, William Wilderman, William Dillard, and many others.

As Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times stated, “Verdi’s music in “My Darlin’ Aida,” . . . is romantically Italian. Charles Friedman’s new libretto is American, with a strong dash of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” seasoning. Despite the beauty of the singing by Dorothy Sarnoff and Elaine Milbin, there is no way of avoiding the fact that the music and the libretto have nothing in common, except, perhaps, a certain shoddiness of style.”[3]

Musical Numbers

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ /fullcredits My Darlin’ Aida at Internet Broadway Database ibdb.com
  2. ^ Kronenberger, Louis, ed., The Burns Mantle Yearbook, The Best Plays of 1952-53, Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1953, p. 364.
  3. ^ New York Times, Tuesday, October 28, 1952, p. 36.
edit