Aladdin (musical)

Aladdin is a 2014 Broadway musical based on the 1992 film of the same name.

Background[]

Story[]

The story follows a local street-rat in the Middle Eastern kingdom of Agrabah. After finding a magic lamp containing an all-powerful Genie with the ability to grant three wishes. Aladdin uses the Genie to become a prince and win the heart of the beautiful Princess Jasmine, while the Sultan's Royal Vizier, Jafar, plots to steal the lamp for himself to usurp the throne.

Production[]

Even though a stage version of Aladdin was already playing at Disney's California Adventure park, and on the Disney Fantasy cruise ship, a full-length version had been going in and out of development for quite some time. In November 2010, Alan Menken confirmed that a musical adaptation was officially in the works. Disney Theatrical Productions finally confirmed that a full length stage musical of "Aladdin" will premiere in Seattle at The 5th Avenue Theatre in July 2011.

The show features most of the songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman that were cut from the film as well as the songs in film by Menken and Tim Rice, along with new songs by Menken and librettist Chad Beguelin.

Jonathan Freeman, who was the voice for Jafar in the film, was later announced that he would recreate his performance on stage.

A number of the songs featured in the show were deleted songs from the 1992 film, restored for the musical. Others were written especially for it. The genres are a mix of both Broadway-style songs and adult contemporary ballads, in accordance to the two song-writing teams that worked on the show.

Note that the "Arabian Night" reprises do not match up with how they are listed in the Music Behind the Magic disc set. Every reprise deleted from the film was restored here besides Reprise 3, which takes place while Aladdin is in jail. It was replaced with a fourth-wall breaker regarding the intermission.

Cast[]

Original casts of notable productions.

Production	Aladdin	Jasmine	Genie	Jafar	The Sultan	Iago	Omar	Babkak	Kassim
Original 2011 Seattle	Adam Jacobs	Courtney Reed	James Monroe Iglehart	Jonathan Freeman	Seán G. Griffin	Don Darryl Rivera	Andrew Keenan-Bolger	Brandon O'Neill	Brian Gonzales
Original 2013-14 Toronto/Broadway	Adam Jacobs	Courtney Reed	James Monroe Iglehart	Jonathan Freeman	Clifton Davis	Don Darryl Rivera	Jonathan Schwartz	Brandon O'Neill	Brian Gonzales
Original 2015 Germany	Richard-Salvador Wolff	Myrthes Monteiro	Enrico de Pieri	Ethan Freeman (no relation)	Claus Dam	Eric Minsk	Pedro Reichert	Stefan Tolnai	Phillip Tobias Hageli
2016 London West End [1]	Dean John-Wilson	Jade Ewen	Trevor Dion Nicholas	Don Gallagher	Irvine Iqbal	Peter Howe	Rachid Sabitri	Nathan Amzi	Stephen Rahman-Hughes
Original 2016 Australia [2]	Ainsley Melham	Arielle Jacobs	Michael James Scott	Adam Murphy	George Henare	Aljin Abella	Robert Tripolino	Troy Sussman	Adam Jon Fiorentino

Variations from the 1992 film[]

Characters[]

Abu, Rajah, Gazeem and the Peddler were all excluded from the show. Abu was replaced by Aladdin's three human friends (Omar, Babkak and Kassim, who ironically were replaced by Abu in the original film's production), Rajah was replaced with human handmaidens that serve as Jasmine's friends and confidantes, while the Peddler's dialogue and scenes were given to the Genie, a callback to an abandoned concept that had the Genie reveal himself to be the Peddler at the end of the original animated film. Abu and Rajah were omitted primarily because they would be hard to convincingly depict on-stage, though Abu makes a cameo on a sign during "Prince Ali".

Instead of a parrot, Iago is a human in this production, most likely because using a puppet like in the Disney California Adventure and Disney Cruise Line productions would be unconvincing or too similar to how Zazu is depicted in the The Lion King musical.

Plot points[]

Aladdin's second wish is used to free him and his friends from imprisonment, instead of being used to save himself from drowning.

Jafar's first wish is to make Jasmine his prisoner, while his second is to become Sultan. In the film, Jafar first wish is to become sultan, while becoming the most powerful sorcerer in the world is used as his second.

The scene in which Jafar sends Aladdin to the arctic wastelands to freeze to death has been removed.

Instead of being sucked into the lamp with Jafar, Iago is arrested for his crimes following Jafar's downfall.

Pre-Broadway[]

Act I

"Arabian Nights" – Babkak, Omar, Kassim & Company
"Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim – Babkak, Omar, & Kassim
"One Jump Ahead" – Aladdin, Crowd
"One Jump Ahead (Reprise)" – Aladdin
"Proud of Your Boy" – Aladdin
"Arabian Nights (Reprise I)" – Babkak, Omar, & Kassim
"Call Me A Princess" – Jasmine & Attendants
"Call Me A Princess (Reprise)"– Jasmine
"Why Me?" – Jafar, Iago
"A Million Miles Away" – Aladdin & Jasmine
"Arabian Nights (Reprise II)" – Babkak, Omar, & Kassim
"Friend Like Me" – Genie, Company
"Arabian Nights (Reprise III)" – Babkak, Omar, & Kassim
"Act I Finale (Friend Like Me (Reprise)/Proud of Your Boy (Reprise I))" – Genie, Aladdin

Act II

"Prince Ali" – Genie, Babkak, Omar, Kassim, Company
"A Whole New World" – Aladdin & Jasmine
"High Adventure" – Babkak, Omar, & Kassim
"Somebody's Got Your Back" – Aladdin, Genie, Babkak, Omar, & Kassim
"Wedding Suite" – Orchestra
"Prince Ali (Reprise)" – Jafar, Sultan, Company
"Finale Ultimo (Arabian Nights (Reprise IV)/A Whole New World (Reprise))" – Company

Broadway[]