Aladdin (musical)

Aladdin is a stage musical based on the 1992 film of the same name which made its world premiere at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre from July 7-July 31, 2011. After successful runs in Utah and Missouri, the show made its Broadway debut with previews beginning February 26, 2014 at the New Amsterdam Theatre, with the official opening night on March 20 of that same year which followed a tryout during the holiday season in Toronto. The show won a Tony Award for James Monroe Iglehart as the Genie as the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical.
==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 California Adventure and eventually on the Disney Fantasy cruise ship, a full-length version had been in 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, the voice for Jafar in the film, was later announced to 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 2011Seattle 	Adam Jacobs 	Courtney Reed 	James Monroe Iglehart	Jonathan Freeman	Seán G. Griffin	Don Darryl Rivera	Andrew Keenan-Bolger	Brandon O'Neill	Brian Gonzales
Original 2013-14Toronto/Broadway	Adam Jacobs 	Courtney Reed 	James Monroe Iglehart	Jonathan Freeman	Clifton Davis 	Don Darryl Rivera	Jonathan Schwartz 	Brandon O'Neill	Brian Gonzales
Original 2015Germany 	Richard-Salvador Wolff	Myrthes Monteiro 	Enrico de Pieri 	Ethan Freeman 	Claus Dam 	Eric Minsk 	Pedro Reichert 	Stefan Tolnai 	Phillip Tobias Hageli
2016
London
West End 	Dean John-Wilson 	Jade Ewen 	Trevor Dion Nicholas 	Don Gallagher 	Irvine Iqbal 	Peter Howe 	Rachid Sabitri 	Nathan Amzi 	Stephen Rahman-Hughes
Original 2016 Australia 	Ainsley Melham 	Arielle Jacobs 	Michael James Scott 	Adam Murphy 	George Henare 	Aljin Abella 	Robert Tripolino 	Troy Sussman 	Adam Jon Fiorentino
North America Tour 2017 	Adam Jacobs 	Isabelle McCalla 	Anthony Murphy 	Jonathan Weir 	Reggie de Leon 	J.C. Montgomery 	Zach Bencal 	Philippe Arroyo	Mike Longo
North America Tour 2022 	Adi Roy 	Senzel Ahmady 	Marcus M. Martin 	Anand Nagraj 	Aaron Choi 	Sorab Wadia 	Jake Letts 	Ben Chavez 	Colt Prattes
UK Tour 2023 	Gavin Adams 	Desmonda Cathabel	Yeuyaki Ushe 	Adam Strong 	Angelo Paragoso	Jo Servi 	Nelson Bettencourt 	Adam Taylor 	Nay-Nay
==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 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 saving himself from drowning.
*Jafar's first wish is to make Jasmine his prisoner, while his second is to become Sultan. In the film, Jafar's first wish is to become sultan, while becoming the most powerful sorcerer in the world is his second. 
*The scene in which Jafar sends Aladdin to the Arctic to freeze to death was removed.
*Instead of being sucked into the lamp with Jafar, Iago is arrested for his crimes following Jafar's downfall.
*Instead of Jasmine wanting to marry for love, like in the film, here she doesn't want to marry because all of the suitors are only interested in marrying her for her fortune.
*In the film we don’t know about Aladdin’s parents or why he is on his own. In the show, Aladdin lost his mother and he expresses his desire to make her proud.
==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==
Act I
*"Overture" – Orchestra
* "Arabian Nights" – Genie & Company
*"One Jump Ahead" – Aladdin, Crowd
* "Proud of Your Boy" – Aladdin
*"These Palace Walls" – Jasmine & Attendants
*"Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim" – Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim & Crowd
*"A Million Miles Away" – Aladdin & Jasmine
*"Diamond in the Rough" – Jafar, Iago, & Aladdin
* "Friend Like Me" – Genie, Company
*"Act I Finale (Friend Like Me (Reprise)/Proud of Your Boy (Reprise))" – Genie, Aladdin
Act II
*"Entr'acte" – Orchestra
*"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
*"Proud of Your Boy (Reprise II)" – Aladdin
*"Prince Ali (Reprise)" – Jafar, Sultan, Company
*"Finale Ultimo (Arabian Nights (Reprise)/A Whole New World (Reprise))" – Company
==Trivia==
* While the musical was a big hit upon release, it did receive backlash for not casting actors of Middle Eastern descent.
*The Spanish production has original songs created only for the musical.
*Jonathan Freeman is the first actor to recreate his role from a Disney film in a stage adaptation.
*At the end of the musical, a small acknowledgement of Iago joining the side of good - as seen in the second film, Return of Jafar - is made.
*Jafar posing himself as Aladdin’s uncle appears to be a callback to the original folktale.
*In the pre-Broadway tryout, Babkak, Omar, and Cassim served as the narrators. When the creative team discovered this wasn't working, they instead had the Genie open the show.
*Lyricist Tim Rice discusses his experience working on the musical in his podcast Get Onto My Cloud.
==Gallery==
Aladdin Musical Banner.jpg
Mirvish Tickets.jpg
Tn-500 aladdin-hero img.jpg|Adam Jacobs as Aladdin and Courtney Reed as Jasmine
Aladdin Broadway.png
Genie Broadway Painting.png
Aladdin Broadway's New Musical Comedy.png
Aladdin-Bposter.png
Aladdintoronto.jpg
Aladdin the Musical - Beach Towel.jpg
Aladdin the Musical - Ornament.jpg
Aladdin the Musical - Ornament in Box.jpeg
Aladdin the Musical Vest Tee for Kids.jpg
Adam Jacobs-and-Courtney Reed.jpg|Courtney Reed as Jasmine and Adam Jacobs as Aladdin.
Aladdin on Broadway.jpg|Adam Jacobs and company
James monroe iglehart genie.jpg|James Monroe Iglehart as Genie
Jonathon Freeman as Jafar and Don Darryl Rivera as Iago.jpg|Jonathan Freeman as Jafar and Don Darryl Rivera as Iago
Courtney Reed and Brandt Martinez.jpg|Courtney Reed as Princess Jasmine with Brandt Martinez
Proud of Your Boy - Adam Jacobs.jpg|Adam Jacobs
Aladdin curtain call.jpg|Curtain call on opening night
Prince Ali by Deen Van Meer.jpg
Aladdin in the Cave of Wonders Broadway.jpg
Arabian Nights Broadway.jpg
A Million Miles Away.jpg
Genie on Aladdin the Broadway Musical 1.jpg
Princess Jasmine on Aladdin the Broadway Musical 2.jpg
Princess Jasmine on Aladdin the Broadway Musical 1.jpg
Aladdin and Jasmine on Aladdin the Broadway Musical 2.jpg
Aladdin and Jasmine on Aladdin the Broadway Musical 1.jpg
High Adventure by Adam Jacobs.png|Babkak, Omar, & Kassim gets ready for High Adventure
Genie and Aladdin on Aladdin the Broadway Musical 1.jpg
Aladdin the Broadway Musical Tony Award Nomination.jpg|Tony Award Nominee for Best Musical
Aladdin the Musical Magnet Set.jpg
Aladdin Broadway Costume Concept Art Palace Guard.jpg
Aladdin Broadway Costume Concept Art Omar.jpg
Aladdin Broadway Costume Concept Art Kasim.jpg
Aladdin Broadway Costume Concept Art Harem Girl.jpg
Aladdin Broadway Costume Concept Art Female Marketplace 2.jpg
Aladdin Broadway Costume Concept Art Female Marketplace 1.jpg
Aladdin Broadway Costume Concept Art Babkak.jpg
Aladdin Broadway Costume Concept Art Aladdin.jpg
Aladdin the Musical Costume Sketch 1.jpeg
Aladdin the Musical Costume Sketch 2.jpeg
Aladdin the Musical Costume Sketch 3.jpg
Aladdin the Musical Costume Sketch 4.jpg
Aladdin the Musical Costume Sketch 5.jpg
Aladdin the Musical Costume Sketch 6.jpg
Aladdin the Musical Costume Sketch 7.jpg
Aladdin the Musical Costume Sketch 8.jpg
Aladdin Broadway Soundtrack.jpg
Aladding Musical Logo.png
Aladdin and Genie Musical.jpg
Aladdin Ending Stage Bow.jpg
Friend Like Me Musical.jpg
Genie Dance Broadway.jpg
Iago and Jafar Broadway.jpg
Lamp Musical.jpg
Genie Musical.jpg
Dean John-Wilson as Aladdin.jpg
Proud of Your Boy - Adam Jacobs (2).jpeg|Proud of Your Boy
Jade Ewen as Jasmine.jpg
Disney's Aladdin - The Broadway Musical - Somebody's Got Your Back.jpg
Disney's Aladdin - The Broadway Musical - Diamond in the Rough.jpg
AdamJacobsasAladdin.jpeg
Courtney Reed as Jasmine.jpg
Aladdin and Jasmine on Aladdin the Broadway Musical 3.jpeg
Aladdin and Jasmine on Aladdin the Broadway Musical 4.jpeg
Terry Alfaro as Aladdin.jpg
Enrico de Pieri and Richard-Salvador Wolff Photo by Deen van Meer.jpg.jpg
Richard-Salvador Wolff and Myrthes Monteiro Photo by Deen van Meer.jpg.jpg
Richard-Salvador Wolff as Aladdin Photo by Deen van Meer.jpeg
Aladdin-and-Lamp-Ainsley-Melham Photo-By-Deen-van-Meer.jpg
Aladdin-Ainsley-Melham Photo-By-Deen-van-Meer.jpg|Ainsley Melham as Aladdin
File:Michael Maliakel.jpg|Michael Maliakel as Aladdin
File:Gavin Adams.jpg|Gavin Adams as Aladdin in the musical's UK touring production
File:Desmonda.webp|Desmonda Cathabel as Princess Jasmine in the musical's UK touring production
==Videos==
Disney's ALADDIN - Broadway Teaser
Disney%27s_ALADDIN_-_Artist_Spotlight_Casey_Nicholaw
ALADDIN on Broadway
==External links==
*Broadway official website
*West End official website
Category:Aladdin
Category:Disney Theatrical shows
Category:Musicals