Broadway show: Disney’s Aladdin
Release Year: 2011
Type of show: Musical
Our rating: 10/10
Re-watch ability: 10/10
Here is my very first Broadway musical review for the blog, and I couldn’t be more excited to be doing my first review of the Disney musical Aladdin. No, no, no, in case you are wondering this isn’t the first Broadway show, I’ve ever seen, just the first I decided to write a review on. I’ve seen many Broadway shows over the years, such as The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Rent and Chicago. And, no I did not see them while the shows were on tour. No, I opted to watch these shows on their respective stages on or near Broadway in New York City. What’s relevant is this was the first Broadway show I watched since starting this blog. So, I decided to make an Executive decision and start a new page on my blog that reviews Broadway shows I’ve seen. So, with that out of the way, let me get into what I thought about the show shall we?
Let me start by describing the price of a ticket to see this extravagant Broadway show, that yes actually runs on Broadway. The price is $100 per person for a seat in the upper mezzanine, which are actually pretty good seats. Heck, it’s Broadway so there actually aren’t any truly bad seats when you see a show there. But you can let me know in the comments section below your thoughts on that. So, I paid for our tickets and such and sat down to enjoy a Disney show that I had loved as a kid.
Actually, when I found out Aladdin was playing on Broadway, at the same time I was going to be in New York City, I was instantly interested in going. I loved the music in the original Aladdin as a kid, because it had very creative words and catchy tunes. I also loved, Robin Williams portrayal of the beloved Genie in the original. While I knew I wasn’t going to get that level of Genie crazy from a Broadway production (who could possibly match Robin Williams for all out wacky), I was really fascinated with whom they would pick to play the Genie on the Broadway version of Aladdin.
Anyways, back to what I started to examine here, the ticket price and whether it’s worth it. So, the Broadway musical runs about 2 hours 30 minutes, with an intermission of 15 minutes. While it could run the full time without an intermission (typical movie length), it is nice to be able to go use the bathroom after an hour to an hour and a half into the show without having to worry about missing any part of it. Trust me when I say you don’t want to miss any of this musical, not at $100 a ticket anyway. Everything from the musical numbers to the acting of all the actors and actresses in the show was completely on point. It really took me back to my childhood watching the Disney animated version and beyond. Let’s also examine what you get in addition to the 2.5 hour show with a 15 minute intermission. Well, when you get there an usher will show you to your seats, and you also get a play bill. Inside the booklet you will find who is playing which character in the show and if there are any substitutions for the people listed you will receive an additional sheet inside listing those individuals as well for that performance. Trust me, whomever was performing in the version I watched was just “amazing”.
Next up, the set pieces of the show. The set pieces involve those many moving parts, scenery, props, costumes. As you can imagine they are very extravagant. This is a Broadway show and not a movie. They have minutes and not hours or days to change the stage in between acts. I imagine that it probably took months, or even years to construct the sets used for this Broadway production. After all, they need to create an environment that is about as distant from NYC as you can get. A set that transports you from the present to a past, distant land and believe me they succeed. The set looks fantastic. The costumes were great and fit the time and location and some of the special effects were superb (Aladdin’s appearance in a smoke cloud).
This being a show on Broadway, I didn’t expect it to be the same as the movie in every way. I expected the Broadway show had to have some differences from the movie I loved as a kid. But in spite of those differences, this production did not disappoint me in anyway. I expected the show would change some scenery, as it wouldn’t exactly have the sets from beloved children’s movie because, well animated movies have no sets—they don’t need them. The set pieces that were designed looked very good and were very well designed for a show that has been on Broadway since 2011, while we are assuming that these may not be all original set pieces, they still looked great, from the cave of wonders, to the Sultan’s palace and the marketplace, the designers did an excellent job creating the illusion of a distant kingdom in the far off, far distant Arabian Agrabah.
Ok, I know I bored you with all that discussion of ticket prices and set pieces, when all you really want to know is what I thought about the play itself, am I right? Well if I’m not right and if you haven’t already figured out my view of the production, sorry because now I am going to get right to my review of the actual musical. From the opening lines of the movie, even before I knew I was looking at the Genie for the Broadway show, the opening musical number was being sung by the cast and I was hooked. I knew I was in for an entertaining show. It all began like the movie started, with a gentleman introducing the setting for the show in Agrabah and showing the audience what put it on the map, a Statue of Liberty? Clearly confused the gentleman says, “oh, no sorry. I did some sightseeing” and pulls from his other pocket a lamp as he goes on to explain this is what put Agrabah on the map. From there more monologue until the opening musical number, and from then it just takes off on a tremendous roller coaster of ups and downs. In this musical we have all the main characters that we had in the children’s classic, Jafar, Jafar’s sidekick (human this time, not a parrot), the Sultan, Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, and of course the Genie. I thoroughly enjoyed watching these characters in the Broadway show. It was fantastic to watch the show and to hear songs from the movie being sung by great Broadway performers. The songs and acting in the show were top notch and worth every penny spent go see it.
While I don’t claim to remember every song from the beloved children’s animated movie, I don’t recall a single song they missed from the animated version of Aladdin. It was refreshing to watch and hear them sung on Broadway. A Broadway show is just such an entirely different medium then film. The actors and actresses did a fantastic job making me, the audience, feel that I was there in the middle of the action while watching the show. That is a way better experience than sitting in a movie theater. The songs and lyrics are such classics, but when sung with such passion and enthusiasm to the accompaniment of a live orchestra, it just blows you away. It all sounded fantastic and makes you want to go back so that you can have that experience all over again. Good thing I don’t live in New York City, because that could really make living on budget problematic for me.
So what exactly made me enjoy this show so much? Was there any one element or actor that made the show all worthwhile? While I cannot pinpoint the exact moment that I fell in love with this show (probably the opening number) or any element or actor (probably the Genie) that made me enjoy this show so much. If I had to be totally honest, it was the Genie. I haven’t laughed as hard or for as long to anyone. Every time the Genie was on the stage, it was a hilariously good time. The Genie was cracking jokes about almost everything, and not infrequently moving his time frame from ancient Agrabah to present day USA. Not only that, the Genie was just an amazing singer on stage, and leaving me wanting to hear more. Every time there was a musical number, I enjoyed the show, regardless of who was singing, but he was particularly outstanding. I know the whole crew do these shows multiple times per week, and for this show not just week and month after month, but year after year and decade after decade. But I swear to listen to them sing, dance and come out on stage and perform, their enthusiasm and joy makes you think you are at opening night. They clearly love what they do and that in large part is what makes me love to watch and listen to them. It just transports you.
In closing this review, I do highly (really, really highly actually) recommend this Broadway show to everyone ages 6 and above. It is a very entertaining show for all ages and is very much a show with as much production value as it has fantastic talent singing and acting in it. I’m not entirely sure where one finds all the talent for a show like this, but I can absolutely guarantee you, my readers, that if you ever go see any show on Broadway, this is one you will not regret it. While I realize that Broadway musicals may not be for everyone, and that not all my readers may enjoy them. Regardless, I highly recommend that you go try to see this one if you live in NYC or are visiting NYC even for a brief time. This show was completely worth every penny of its price of admission. Just the amount of entertainment that I got out of going was enough for me to want to go back. I ran into people at the show who had already seen it multiple times (wealthy patrons no doubt without my limited budget). My sister has been to this show at least 2 times and is looking forward to going back a third time when she gets her next chance to return to NYC. With all of that said, I leave the rest of the decisions to you my readers, but I encourage you to go if you get the chance. You have no idea what you have missed until you do.
Thank you for reading,
Jason
