Can You Feel a Hit Tonight?

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The new-model Aida opened in Chicago in December. Reviews again were mixed, and more work was done. An introductory song for Radames, Fortune Favors the Brave, was whipped up by John and Rice for the first act, and additional changes were made in the book and lyrics. Still, there were reports of trouble. John stalked out of an early preview in New York City when he didn't like the techno-orchestrations for one of his songs. He now explains he was unhappy that changes he had requested hadn't been made; Schumacher says they had been finished but not yet incorporated into the show. "We had this meeting in December to talk about the music there," says John. "And I went back to see it, and it was still more or less the same. So I was just so pissed off. But, you know, I stomped my little feet, and we had a big meeting about it, and it's been corrected."

John now says the show "is one of the things I'm most proud of in my career." The Disney execs seem happy too, though they're gearing up for the inevitable comparisons to Verdi--not to mention the untoppable Lion King. "You can never expect to recapture something that happened before," says Peter Schneider, co-chief of Disney's theatrical division. "Aida can't be another Lion King--good, bad or indifferent. We don't even think about the past." But they're thinking about the future, and for Aida it could be a long one.