Disney on Broadway -- specifically Aladdin.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/10/03 at 10:26pm

OK, I was watching Aladdin today -- babysitting four kids, it shuts them up. And so I decided to download "A Whole New World" of Kazaa. I like the song. What can I say?
I know Disney has a somewhat crappy 40 minute long stage version at the California Adventure Park -- complete with a new song for Jasmine ("To Be Free") that is such a rip off of "A Change In Me" from Beauty and The Beast that it makes every Webber show look totally original. BUT! I was thinking..... what if they ever adapted it to the stage, or wised up and let someone else do it, who would be cast?????

Here are some of my ideas:::
Aladdin :: Joe Machota, Gavin Creel, David Burtka, or Adam Fleming
Jasmine :: Jessica Grove, Kerry Butler
Genie :: Christopher Sieber
Sultan :: Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella
Jafar :: James Barbour, CHuch Wagner, Terrence Mann, Marc Kudisch
Iago :: Mario Cantone

Just ideas.



Here are is a link to a website that has videos of some of the musical numbers (which are staged very badly in most cases) featuring the original cast of Cast #1 (they had two cast) starring Micheal K. Lee and Roxanne Taga, as wella s tons of photos of both casts from the dress rehearsals.

Aladdin -- A Musical Spectacular!

[Amy Archer]

Posted: 7/10/03 at 10:29pm

You should have Jonathan Freeman just recreate his role of Jafar, no?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/10/03 at 10:30pm

Would he be up to it though??
I haven't heard much about him in recent years.

[Phantess]

Posted: 7/10/03 at 11:12pm

Wow that song really does sound like "A change in me"

[Cadriel]

Posted: 7/11/03 at 12:45am

First, let me get this clear: the soft spot in my heart for Disney musicals? Yeah, Aladdin's sitting nice and posh in it. The film is a long-time favorite, as are the songs.

But, um, a stage version would require way more special effects than are practical just to get the Genie and the Carpet going. Not to mention Jafar -> Giant Snake. It'd never fly, simply because the whole thing would be too complex to pull off without it looking completely cheesy.

-Wayne

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/11/03 at 12:54am

They would have to pull some trickery and it would be complex, but it wouldn't be a literal translation of everything in the film -- which might be a good thing. But hey, if they could pull off Beauty and The Beast 10 years ago, I think that they might be able to pull off Aladdin.

[IssaMe]

Posted: 7/11/03 at 9:28am

"Crappy" is a bit harsh. It is a real crowd pleaser and the biggest attraction at Disney's Great Adventure- pulling in more than anything else on that lot (sometimes more than everything else there combined).

Yes, it is being aimed for Broadway - eventually. With a new edition of the short 40-minute version possibly trying out in Orlando Disney World next.

Then work begins on a full-length Broadway version which will be totally different from either of these - and different than the film.

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 7/11/03 at 11:15am

I like Broadwayguy's casting choices, and I think that the book could use a little re-writing. The snake and the giant hourglass, etc. would be hard to do onstage. If I had to narrow the choices down to one for each role, Here would be my choices:
Aladdin: Gavin Creel
Jasmine: Jessica Grove
Jafar: Definately Terrance Mann
Sultan: Ernie Sabella

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 7/11/03 at 11:44am

I doubt Disney will want to cast all caucasian actors in the lead roles in a decidedly ethnic story.

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 7/11/03 at 11:58am

If they spent a few years working on it, it might be very good.

[IssaMe]

Posted: 7/11/03 at 11:58am

Correct...in casting the current Aladdin at Great Adventure...Disney specifically sought ethnic actors.

[sideshowfan]

Posted: 7/11/03 at 2:00pm

Lea Salonga was the singing voice of Jasmine in the movie so if she was jasmine it would be great Updated On: 7/11/03 at 02:00 PM

[JakeB]

Posted: 7/11/03 at 5:16pm

Looks good :)

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/11/03 at 5:44pm

A far as ethnic casting goes, there have been white actors and asian actors who have played Aladdin there.


I originally thought about Lea Salonga, but then remembered an article where she said she wouldn't want to play 'Kim' in Saigon after turning 30, so I figured that Jasmine would be out too since Kim and Jasmine are about the same age.


"Crappy" MIGHT have been harsh -- but some of those things in that show were ridiculous to me -- example:: At the end of "One Jump" when Aladdin jumps like Superman across the stage. Not to mention the ver very obvious use of doubles in "A Whole New World". The doubles look nothing like the actors and yet they get very close to the audience and you can clearly see they not the same actors.

[sondheimfreak]

Posted: 7/13/03 at 10:50am

If they're going to adapt a Disney musical for the stage they need to make Mary Poppins. Musical films don't get better than casting Julie Andrews as a nanny (ahem! Sound of Music). And Poppins has those Sherman and Sherman tunes we all love like "Let's Go Fly A Kite" and "A Spoonful of Sugar." I was even reading somehwre that before Disney did Lion King they wanted to do Poppins instead. What was that Eisner guy thinking?
Another option would be Bedknobs and Broomsticks. That is a Disney gem. Maybe I'm just in a Sherman mood today. But how can you beat "Substitutiary Locomotion" and "The Age of Not Believing?" I mean, what Disney songs beat them?
So you can "Pop" or you can "Nob", but I don't think the "Din" from Aladdin can beat these classics.

[Gypsy Rose Me]

Posted: 7/13/03 at 11:26am

I just got back from disneyland Paris and saw the amazing Tarzan show there. WOW!!! The whole show was without any dialogue just those Phil Collins tunes to which Tarzan, Jane and the monkeys flew about (using only ropes) on stage. It was a real crowd pleaser but i dont think that it would be great on Broadway. It was more of a theme park atraction than a full blown musical. It could do well at Madison Square Gardens for a limited period though.

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 7/13/03 at 12:22pm

They are working on a musical of Mary Poppins. It's opening in the West End.

[sondheimfreak]

Posted: 7/13/03 at 12:24pm

Really? Is it coming to Broadway?

[JakeB]

Posted: 7/13/03 at 12:58pm

New songs are by Styles and Drewe. Apparently it's not going to be like the film entirely. It starts out-of-town tryouts in Fall 2004 so I imagine a Broadway opening could be perhaps 2005/6 depending on the success. More 2006 I'm afraid. That being said, look at Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, still no opening.

Posted: 3/18/07 at 11:41am

"I like Broadwayguy's casting choices, and I think that the book could use a little re-writing. The snake and the giant hourglass, etc. would be hard to do onstage."

If we can have barricades, heicopters, and chandeliers, snakes, an hourglass, a cave, a flying carpet, a neon staircase, and an elephant are nothing. The set design Tony woul be engraved with Bob Crowley's name.

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 3/18/07 at 12:02pm

WOW!.....

Think we'll see this thread again in 2011????

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 3/18/07 at 12:17pm

I'd be more curious to see the original version of Aladdin that Menken & Ashman wrote adapted to the stage. The song placement as well as the tunes themselves are far more appropriate for a stage than the final film products IMO.

Of course, Disney would NEVER do that though..

[lesmisforever]

Posted: 3/18/07 at 12:45pm

It's interesting to read old threads :)

[JustABroadwaybaby2]

Posted: 3/18/07 at 12:52pm

Ha, just read the comment on Tarzan and had to giggle.

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 3/18/07 at 1:08pm

They are working on a musical of Mary Poppins. It's opening in the West End.

I read that and thought "What?" I didn't even realize this thread was old until I read that.