My Darlin' Aida

[1] 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.

As Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times stated, “Verdi’s music in “My Darlin’ Aida,” .

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]