Giuseppe Verdi's Aida is one of the best-known operas. It has an exotic setting, life and death twists of fate, extravagant theatrical set pieces and, of course, Verdi's thunderous choruses and spine-tingling arias that heighten the drama at every turn.

There is a limited audience for a highbrow opera today but Verdi's story about loyalty, betrayal, courage and forbidden love is a universal theme that fascinates people from all over the world.

Disney Theatrical Productions adapted it into a modern musical that premiered in Atlanta in 1998 and opened on Broadway in early 2000. When it closed in September 2004, 1,852 performances were staged, making it one of the longest running shows in Broadway history, generating a successful national tour and several international productions.

The modern musical Aida is showing in Beijing. [File photo]

The musical arrived at Beijing Exhibition Theater last night and will be staged six more times until Nov 23.

The biggest selling point of the show is composer Elton John and the lyricist Tim Rice.

The duo first teamed up to create the soundtrack for the Disney animated blockbuster, The Lion King, which was adapted into a Broadway musical of the same name in 1997. They introduced what has become a unique rock-musical blend, yielding a hit single Can You Feel the Love Tonight, which won various awards, including an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1995.

Due to the great success of The Lion King, Disney invited the pair to do Aida.

"When they put Aida in front of us and said let's make it into a musical. I was not so sure," says Sir Elton. "It's a great challenge to transform the classic opera. But finally I said yes.

"What makes Aida so interesting to me is that the story is so great, so pertinent. It's a beautiful, complex love story, in which bigotry and hatred are swept out the window, and love, compassion, forgiveness and understanding triumph. In this day and age, I'm a great believer in the human spirit triumphing over evil in any way."

"I have written lots of love songs but Aida is the first time that I have told a full-length love story with my music and it's thanks to Tim's lyrics, which gave me much inspiration. I hope this musical Aida become a classic repertoire in future, not Verdi's Aida but Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida."

While Verdi's score made Aida an operatic standout, Sir Elton's music, which was hailed by Time magazine as being "filled with luscious melodies and soulful lyrics", also enhances the show.

"It's truly a pop musical with spoken dialogue and all kinds of recognizable song types: urban-based rhythm and blues, gospel-inspired songs, ballads and, of course, the rock songs," says Chen Jixin, CEO of Beijing Oriental Broadway International Theater Management Company, which has brought the production to China.

"This Aida is a modern musical about the classic tale with a pop twist. When I watched it on Broadway a few years ago, I saw the audiences were responding wonderfully to the mythic story of fated love in a contemporary scene," says the reporter and critic Lun Bing, of Beijing Youth Daily.

When the curtain opens, two lovers meet at a modern museum. It seems, though, this is not for the first time. Suddenly the story returns to ancient Egypt where the tale truly begins.

The captured Nubian princess Aida (Marja Harmon) is given by her captor, an Egyptian general Radames (Casey Elliott), to his betrothed, the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Princess Amneris (Leah Allers) as a handmaiden. Aida keeps her nobility hidden to save her life as she works to free her people from Egypt. A love triangle between the three characters soon unfolds, forcing each to choose between true love and their duties to their respective countries, and ultimately, between love and death.

To Chinese-American playwright David Henry Hwang, the conflict between love and duty is the most appealing aspect of the story. "The story builds in intensity as all involved must make difficult, heart-rending choices," he says.

(China Daily November 20, 2008)