By Luke Matthews
Disney has a tendency to make magic when they bring one of their successful animated features to the Broadway stage. The Lion King is one of Broadway’s most beloved shows. Based on the 1994 movie, it’s been a staple in New York and on tour. Disney hopes their latest incarnation, Aladdin will be their next long-running hit.
The original 1992 animated film along with “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” and “The Little Mermaid” are the movies that were considered the “Disney Renaissance” in the early 90s. “Aladdin” the movie is so loved, that if you are a major fan, you might have issues with the stage production – because I sure did.
First the good: Aladdin is a beautiful sight to see. The set design by Bob Crowley is among some of the most vibrant and colorful to hit a Broadway stage. The splashes of color in the Agrabah Marketplace, the grandeur of the Sultan’s palace, and especially the bowels of the Cave of Wonders all make for beautiful set dressing.
The Genie is the best character. Thursday night’s audience was treated to Korie Lee Blossey in the role of the Genie, in a standby performance for the usual Michael James Scott. Blossey was a delight in the role that the voice of the late Robin Williams endeared into the hearts of so many. Sadly, the Genie isn’t seen until late into the first act, so the show tends to drag until he is introduced. Clinton Greenspan plays the title role and makes for a great “street rat” and love interest for the lovely Lissa deGuzman as Princess Jasmine.
The music you love is still here. Songs like”Friend Like Me,” “Prince Ali,” and the Academy Award-winning song “A Whole New World.” There’s also some new music written exclusively for the stage show and a rare song from the original movie that was cut in the editing process, “Proud of Your Boy.”
Now for the not so good.
If you love the original animated film, the stage production is going to be hard for you to watch. There are new characters, events are out of order, and there are major changes to the story. These were enough to take this fanatic of the original film out of the stage show more than once.
Obviously, the show’s producers are not able to train a monkey and a lion to act, so the extremely loveable Abu and Jasmine’s companion Rajah are both missing from the show. In their respective places are a trio of new friends. Aladdin’s new companions are Babkak, Omar, and Kassim. You know it’s a bad sign when it takes three actors to replace the antics of a single monkey. The actors are good enough, but the parts are mostly useless. It even appears that the playwrights changed a scene from the original film in order to shoehorn the new trio into more of the show. They mostly tell food-related jokes and lame puns that wouldn’t be missed if removed. Not to mention the musical number that Aladdin and the trio perform, further delaying the arrival of the Genie.
Jasmine also acquires three friends that serve little to no purpose to the story. In the place of Rajah are three nameless “Female Attendants” as they are billed. They seem to have been added to show only to avoid making Jasmine look crazy by talking to herself so much.
While our heroes have their animal attendants removed, the show’s villain, Jafar needs only to have the species of his changed. Iago is no longer a wise-cracking parrot (voiced memorably in the film by Gilbert Gottfried) but is instead just a regular guy, played humorously by Jay Paranada. It seems to make little sense to remove a much-loved character in Abu and replace him with three people when it’s plausible that the audience would have forgiven the show if Abu were played by a human.
The show also must take liberties with the plot in order to move the story along. With the addition of more than half a dozen songs and an intermission break, some shortcuts had to be taken. We don’t see the first unfortunate soul who attempts to enter the Cave of Wonders, we don’t get an exciting escape attempt by Aladdin from the cave, the “character” of Magic Carpet is more prop than personality in the show, which makes for a rather uninspired scene during the show’s musical crescendo, “A Whole New World.” The effect of Aladdin and Jasmine flying on the carpet is lost in an almost pitch dark ride through a starry night sky.
What is most unfortunate is the show’s ending which comes across as rushed as Jafar’s true intentions are realized, he takes control of the Genie and then meets his ultimate fate all in the span of about five minutes. Then the on-screen emotion of Aladdin setting the Genie free of his years of servitude is also rushed through with little to no time to build emotion. It’s unreasonable to think that producers could recreate all of the moments from the animated film, but when you remove as much as you have in this production, it begins to mess with people’s memories and their love for a story with which many may have grown up.
The performances in Aladdin are all good. It’s certainly a delightful night out at the theater and it’s a perfect show for children. The visuals are simply wonderful and really make the show a treat for the eyes. If you can take the old story that you know and love out of the equation and appreciate the stage production of Aladdin for the value it possesses, you’ll really enjoy the show. If you are like me and hold tightly to the memories and joy of the animated classic, you are in for a whole new world.
Disney’s Aladdin plays the Des Moines Civic Center through Sunday, December 9.
