James Monroe Iglehart won a Tony for his role as the Genie trapped in the “Itty Bitty” living space inside the magic lamp. The actor has played Marius in ‘Les Miserables’ and Simba in ‘The Lion King’ on Broadway and done four national tours.
#Aladin on broadway review full#
Adam Jacobs was full of energetic joy in the role of the street rat Aladdin. Lauryn Ciardullo, who toured as an ancestor in ‘The Addams Family,’ was a lovely Princess Jasmine and sang beautifully.
Veteran actor Clifton Davis (of television’s ‘That’s My Mama’) was the Sultan who wants to marry off his daughter. Freeman as the ultimate Jafar and hope that he never requires another actor to attempt to top his portrayal of the role that he originated in the animated version. Rivera does a great job as the evil bird Iago, although I am not sure that the youngest members of the audience realized that he was a bird. Jonathan Schwartz (as Omar,) Brian Gonzales (as Babkak,) and Steel Burkhardt (as Kassim) played the trio of Al’s fellow thieves and performed one of the original songs named after them with Aladdin. Angelo Soriano played a shop owner in the marketplace.
Kathryn Allison played a Fortune Teller in the busy and colorful marketplace and returned to play an attendant to the princess, along with Jennifer Rias and Khori Michelle Petinaud, all of whom harmonized on “These Palace Walls.” Jaz Sealey played one of the rejected princes and Andrew Cao and Donald Jones, Jr. I was shocked that except for Courtney Reed in the role of Princess Jasmine, we got to see the original cast members, all of whom, including the ensemble members, were pretty spectacular themselves. Beguelin fill in the blanks nicely, like Jasmine’s lament in “These Palace Walls” and Genie’s celebratory “Somebody’s Got Your Back.” Without a detailed program, I would be hard-pressed to sort out the songs by lyricist.Īt the matinee for which we had second row seats far house right in an audience that packed the impressive New Amsterdam, I did not expect to see many of the original cast members in the leading roles.
Ashman.Īct two opens with the theatrical highlight of “Prince Ali” that gives new Disney meaning to the word “spectacle.” The flying carpet takes off during “A Whole New World” but lands in time for the finale ultimo that combines the two perhaps best known classics from the film. There is the delicious villainy of Jonathan Freeman, the original voice of Jafar, and his sidekick Iago the red parrot, played with delight by Don Darryl Rivera, in the new “Diamond in the Rough.” There is the spectacle of “Friend Like Me” with a plethora of costume changes and magical illusions, but the act one finale is a mixture of its reprise and of “Proud of Your Boy” with lyrics by Mr. “One Jump Ahead” with lyrics by Tim Rice is as energetic as the animation I remember. The score integrates these lost songs with some new ones written especially for the stage, as well as favorites like the Oscar-winning “A Whole New World” with lyrics by Tim Rice and an amazing “Friend Like Me.” Needless to say the music coordinated by Howard Jones, supervised and conducted by Michael Kosarin and played by talented musicians in the pit, soars as high as the magic carpet, which of course flies Aladdin and his princess above Agrabah.Īt the conclusion of the opening number (“Arabian Nights”) that included the genie and the entire company, I felt a hint of a worry that the bar had been set too high. Menken soon realized that the time was right to resurrect the film’s little heard deleted songs and share them with a new generation. Beguelin, an initial draft of the show was written. As luck would have it, these original songs still existed and with the help of Tony nominated lyricist Mr.
Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman had written 11 songs for the film but most of them were cut from early drafts of the screenplay. For Disney, none of this is outside the realm of possibility and this production was indeed magical in every way.Ĭhad Beguelin wrote the book for Disney’s newest musical comedy with just the right mix of parts of the 1992 animated feature and more contemporary references.
#Aladin on broadway review movie#
Could this classic Disney movie translate to the stage, especially this story with a crowded marketplace, Arabian garb, a magical genie who never stops talking.and a flying carpet, for goodness sake. I had read some of the highlights of the praise heaped upon the current production of ‘Disney’s Aladdin (although I have not read a complete review of it.) The highlights that decorated the outside of Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theatre were glowing, so expectations were high.
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