Aladdin the Musical from Screen to Broadway
The music of Disney’s
Aladdin is engaging and captivating. It is no wonder this movie made it to the
stage.
In 2001 Aladdin
the Musical Spectacular came to the Hyperion Theater at Disney California
Adventure Park (DCA). This play is an amazing 45 minute long life stage show
worthy of being on Broadway. You would pay almost as much as you do to get into
the park just to see this play in a professional/Broadway caliber theater.
The Hyperion Theater
in the Hollywood Land section of DCA is a Broadway caliber theater that seats
2,400 guests. There are multiple set changes and the performers are changing costumes
frequently. The carpet flies overhead several times and several times during
the show you wish your head was on a swivel so you can see it all!
They stayed
faithful to the story, as portrayed in the movie. They did leave out Abu and
Rajah due to the difficulty of bringing them to life on stage. They added a
song, “To Be Free” to lengthen the play and replace the scene where Jasmine
pours her heart out to her bet tiger, Rajah. It shows you her emotional need to
be free.
Here is a video of
a performance of Aladdin from DCA:
Several years ago
Disney announced they were taking Aladdin out of DCA and replacing it with a
play from the Disney Cruise Line (DCL), Toy Story the Musical. When loyal fans and Annual Passholders
found out they banded together and let their voices be heard and kept Aladdin
in the Hyperion. The fans were correct! Aladdin needed to stay.
When the Fantasy
join her sister ships in the DCL the Aladdin plan was adapted and added to the ships
evening line up of entertainment. I’ve not seen this version of the stage play
but from the short clips of video I’ve seen it is quite similar to the play in
the Hyperion at DCA.
Now Aladdin is
joining the lineup of Disney movies to make their way to Broadway stages!
Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, Lion King, Little Mermaid and Newsies are a
few of the Disney movies that have gone before. I honestly believe that Aladdin
the Musical will make a great addition to the Disney Broadway lineup if it is
even half as good as the version that is at the Hyperion! I have heard that new
songs have been added to the play. Some songs that did not make it into the
movie were brought back for the Broadway version.
So watch the
lights of Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theater in the Spring of 2014 to be lit Gene
Blue! Beware of flying carpets and mysterious tall, dark ugly men that look
better from Ja-far.
