AIDA, Hale Centre Theatre, West Valley City, through April 15 (984-9000). Running time: two hours, 20 minutes (one intermission).
WEST VALLEY CITY — One of Disney's big blockbuster musicals, "Beauty and the Beast," revolves around a romantic "tale as old as time." And Disney's "Aida" does almost the same thing, unraveling an exotic romance that survives thousands of years, from ancient Egypt to a contemporary big-city museum.
Hale Centre Theatre delivers the epic musical — adapted by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice from Verdi's classic Italian opera — with superb talent, scenery and costumes that hit the target with one "wow" factor after another.
Andrew Barrus, who directed this production, continues to push the envelope with high-tech special effects — a stage featuring the eye of Horus, an Egyptian symbol that quickly changes into a huge slave barge, elegant rooms in the royal palace, a Nubian slave camp and the Egyptian wing of a large, modern-day museum.
A newly installed projection system fills the stage with colorful motifs and exotic designs (a little perplexing at times because it also looks like the performers are adorned with strange, vibrating tattoos).
Despite the large ensemble, including several performers from Repertory Dance Theatre showcased in vibrant native dances, the story itself is your basic eternal triangle, with some devious political machinations to stir up the turbulent plot.
Kandyce Marie Gabrielsen, who performed the same role in a recent SCERA Center production in Orem, is terrific in the title role — a captured Nubian princess who becomes entangled in a doomed love affair with the handsome and heroic captain of a band of Egyptian soldiers.
Claybourne Elder is well cast as the captain, Radames, who is betrothed to the ailing Pharaoh's daughter, not realizing that he is nothing more than a pawn in the behind-the-scenes treachery masterminded by his father, Chief Minister Zoser (David Weekes in an energetic and sinister portrayal).
The third side of the triangle is Amneris (played nicely by Summer Naomi Smart), the self-consumed, trend-conscious daughter of the Pharaoh (Chuck Gilmore).
Other key figures include palace slave Mereb (nicely played by Trevor Jerome), Nubian King Amonasro (a strong performance by Markus T. Boddie) and the brief but pivotal role of Nehebka, played during the late Saturday afternoon performance by understudy Taylor Allred.
Gabrielsen, Elder and Smart are more than up to the task of delivering the pop-rock score's powerful and moving songs.
The drama builds up to the sentencing of Aida and Radames to die together in a tomb beneath the Egyptian sands. Vowing they will meet again if it takes a hundred lifetimes, the finale quickly shifts to an epilogue in a modern museum, where the reincarnated couple happen to wander through, meet and share a knowing glance in an exhibit of the ancient burial tomb.
Marilyn May Montgomery's sizzling choreography, Kelly DeHaan's musical direction, Dennis Hassan's set designs, Spencer Brown's lighting and Peggy Willis' costumes add to the professional feel.
Sensitivity rating: May be too intense for younger children.
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com