Aladdin on Broadway
The original Disney musical, Aladdin, first appeared in the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway in March of 2014 and it is still being performed this year. The original animated film was released in 1992 featuring Robin Williams and Scott Weinger. It won two Academy Awards, Best Original Score and Best Original Song for ¨A Whole New World.¨ Then in May of this year, the live-action version was released starring Mena Massoud as Aladdin.
The Broadway show featured Clinton Greenspan as Aladdin, Major Attaway as Genie, and Arielle Jacobs as Jasmine. Jafar was played by none other than Tony nominee, Jonathan Freeman, who was the voice of the villain in the original film.
The show featured most of the original soundtrack and even had original songs, “Proud of Your Boy,” which is sung by Aladdin towards the beginning of the show and “Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim” which is sung by Aladdin and his friends. This allowed the audience to hear new music that was not expected. It also progressed the plot of the story because Aladdin was meant to be singing “Proud of Your Boy” to his mother who had passed away, which was not a very important part in the 1992 movie.
Attaway was the most entertaining role in the show because he was able to portray Genie in a very funny way that left the audience laughing almost every time he spoke. His version of Genie was similar to that of Will Smith in the live-action version. Attaway even added some of his own personality by including some jokes about New York into his lines and by talking to the audience.
The Broadway show, for the most part, stayed true to the original script, but there were some differences. For one, Aladdin did not have his monkey sidekick, Abu. Instead he was accompanied by three friends named Kassim, Omar, and Babkak, who become very large roles in the story. Another difference was how Jafar did not have his parrot sidekick, Iago. Instead he had his own friend who helped him plot against Aladdin and the Sultan.
Overall Aladdin on Broadway was very entertaining. Being able to watch the old Disney story play out live on stage was a really fun experience. One of the best parts was how the directors were able to incorporate special effects, including a flying carpet that Aladdin and Jasmine were able to fly around the stage on.
The only part of the show that was negative was that the characters were able to defeat Jafar very quickly and easily at the end, which was not how it was in the movie. This show is recommended for anyone who has seen Aladdin or enjoys musicals.
