Goodbye Mary
Poppins ~ Hello Aladdin!
Mary
Poppins is leaving Broadway after an amazing 6 year run! I’ve never had the
pleasure of seeing Mary Poppins but I have family and friends that have.
Everybody I know of that has seen the show loved it. I am sad to see Mary go
but Aladdin will not disappoint! Aladdin will follow in the footsteps of Beauty
& the Beast, Lion King and Mary Poppins and please all that see it.
Aladdin the Musical Spectacular has
been performed at Disney California Adventure since 2003. It is performed in
the Broadway quality Hyperion Theater. This show never fails to amaze and
entertain even after seeing it a hundred of times. If the Broadway Aladdin is
anywhere near the quality of the DCA Aladdin it will be a good show.
One of the wonderful things about
Aladdin is the adlibbing of several performers. Genie, Jafar, Iago and to some extent
Aladdin are allowed to adlib. Genie will always changes up the rules from the
Genie handbook including comments that reference current events in the news and
pop culture. I have always felt this show deserved to be on Broadway. What has
held it back was the length of the performance. Aladdin, as performed at DCA is
only 45 minutes long. I have heard that several new songs are being added in the Broadway version.
A couple of years ago Disney decided
that Aladdin had made its run at DCA and was going to stop performances to
bring in another show from the Disney Cruise Lines, Toy Story the Musical. When
frequent guests heard about the change, especially what show they were thinking
of bringing in the guests started writing letters. Aladdin was saved! The
Hyperion Theater where it is performed is usually full or nearly so. I’ve seen
Toy Story on the Disney Wonder cruise ship and think it was a wise decision to
keep Aladdin!
Many performers that have had parts
in Aladdin at DCA over the years are now in New York performing on Broadway in
many different shows. My favorite Jafar left Aladdin to go to Broadway and has
been working very steadily for the past several years. I hope he goes for the
part of Jafar again. If he does I would want to see it.
The Disney Cruise Line has an adapted
version of Aladdin the Musical on its ship, Fantasy. Again I’ve not seen this
version but from the clips I’ve seen it look just as fun as the DCA version.
Here is video of the complete show at DCA:
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