ALADDIN Reviews- Page 5

[Simon Damon]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 8:22am

Since when was Disney supposed to be serious theater???

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 9:58am

The girls will say CINDERELLA. The boys will say ALADDIN.

[Up In One]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 11:13am

Boys and girls will want to see Aladdin, or be ok with going to see Aladdin or have their tickets pre-bought by adults for them. The target audience for Aladdin is much larger than a Cinderella or a Mary Poppins, good for them, lots of work for many people for many years to come.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 12:47pm

In your hypothetical scenario you presented two options for boys and girls: CINDERELLA or ALADDIN. Girls will choose CINDERELLA the majority of the time.

[bwayrose7]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 2:32pm

Reading all these comments and reviews, I'm so glad that it seems Aladdin will succeed, at least for a while. I'm a child of the Disney animation renaissance, and given the mixed track record of those shows onstage, I was a bit worried. At the risk of sounding overly sentimental, it warms my Disney-loving heart to see a fairly positive reception for this show.

[TheatreKid3]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 2:57pm

^ AMEN! If only TARZAN and MERMAID could one day be revisited and redeemed.

[homeimp]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 5:17pm

Aladdin is no better than The Little Mermaid or Tarzan, and certainly no worse. They are all quite enjoyable.

[TheatreKid3]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 8:46pm

TARZAN's book leave little to be desired, and MERMAID was terribly adapted. I don't think ALADDIN has those problems to the extent those shows did, and those are too pretty big problems.

[AndrewAndrew]

Posted: 3/23/14 at 5:06am

Is this Magic Carpet Ride worth it? Watch our review of Disney's Aladdin now on Broadway!
Click here for full review of ALADDIN

[Simon Damon]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 12:21am

Will this get a tony nom for best musical?

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 9:55am

Is there some sort of pre-show at Aladdin? Just got an e-mail from Disney saying to be sure I'm at the show 15 minutes early so I don't miss any of the magic. Not sure if they're just trying to herd us into our seats on time, or there is something to be there for in advance of curtain... heh.

Anyone?

[finebydesign]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 10:16am

They probably want you to buy merch. Maybe there is a magician outside at one of their kiosks.

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 10:34am

When I know there's a pre-show I'll be there early... I made sure to get to Cabaret early in case I'd get propositioned by a slutty German boy, but Bobby was more interested in some twink two tables over, that slut. But, otherwise, I'll either be still on or exiting the subway 15 minutes to showtime...

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 10:03pm

Umm... I hate to disappoint ya'll, but this show was great! It sailed by quickly, had a lot of fun one-liners and entertains the adults as much as the kids. After "Friend Like Me," the conductor had to hold for a good 30-ish seconds for the applause to die down. A few people even stood after it. I turned around at that point, and a majority of the mezzanine was not only clapping but smiling widely. I expected to have a good time, since I do like Aladdin, but this far surpassed what I was expecting... not sure what happened in Toronto or in previews, but whatever it was, they fixed it and it's a helluva good time.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 10:14pm

majority of the mezzanine was not only clapping but smiling widely.

OMG, shut up! This exact thing happened to me when I saw Tarzan! That's crazy.

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 10:29pm

Honestly, James Monroe Inglehart deserved every bit of those applause. He's a tour de force in this and he literally stopped the show with that song.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 10:39pm

Totally, those applause deserved well.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 3/27/14 at 11:58am

Here is Time Magazine's review.

http://time.com/36156/aladdin-broadway-show-review/

[wskrs4]

Posted: 3/27/14 at 1:52pm

I think I must be the only one on here that didn't like the show. I thought it was flashy, big, but fell very flat. I could tell Disney spent A LOT of money, but couldn't tell what that money was spent on (besides rhinestones). I thought the cave of wonders was sort of disappointing, especially when it "collapsed." I thought Aladdin's friends were really annoying and longed for Abu (though I recognize it would have been hard to replicate him - why not get a real monkey!?), and I thought Jafar was less of a bad guy than in the movie. It seemed like Jafar's story line was just not as committed, and the final scene with Jafar was extremely anti-climactic. He was an all powerful Genie for about 10 seconds before getting sucked into the lamp (if that).

Everyone's performances were fine EXCEPT Courtney Reed (frankly, I felt like Jasmine was much more of a minor character in this show than she even was in the movie). She was flat and nasal almost the entire time. I also was very disappointed with "A Whole New World." I felt the orchestrations were SO boring and it's one of my favorite songs from the film. I also couldn't see the actors hardly at all in the darkness and, while that might be necessary for the illusion, I felt like I lost a lot in the darkness and after about 30 seconds, all the blinking stars/earth in the background got distracting. Again, however, the orchestrations disappointed me. I feel that song should be lush just like all the other songs in the show, but it paled in comparison.

Inglehart should probably win the Tony - I thought he was fabulous. Overall, I was a bit bored and I think Disney went for bright and glitzy, but lost some of the substance somewhere in there. I'm honestly not trying to be a curmudgeon, but I didn't feel connected or a part of the show at all, and am very happy to not see it again. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen, but in my opinion, it was no Beauty and the Beast (or even Mary Poppins).

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/27/14 at 2:08pm

You rarely see someone not liking a show, but also saying one of its performers should win a Tony.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/27/14 at 7:28pm

Head over to the preview thread for more solidarity in your disappointment. I'm still scraping my jaw off the floor over these reviews.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 3/27/14 at 8:36pm

About getting to the theater early as noted above..I have two reasons why:
1) The corridor to get into the theater is tiny and it took forever to get inside the theater which is huge. Bathrooms are tinier than usual as well.
2) If Sunday's show that I saw was an example, the show started ON TIME. Granted it was a 6:30 show, which they won't normally have, but it started at 6:30 on the dot. If you figured on the 10 minute curtain, you would be late.

I liked a lot of the show but I overall, it WAS a little bland and generic. But I had a great time, LOTS of funny jokes and I am not at all sorry I went. James' performance as the genie is amazing and honestly, if I could just see the "Never had a friend" song/production number over and over, I could happily go home satisfied. I agree "Jasmine" is the weakest link. She was fine but I didn't see the charm she should have had.

But yes..James should get the Tony but the show should absolutely not.

About Jonathan Freeman, I kept thinking if we weren't talking about ABC/Disney VS NBC, there is no one else around who could do Captain Hook in NBC's upcoming live production better. His charisma reminded me of the great Cyril Ritchard's interpretation of Captain Hook. Too bad that will never happen.

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 3/30/14 at 6:57pm

I was especially disappointed by the FRIEND LIKE ME number. It just seemed like the creative team desperately tried to make the song 10 minutes long so they added in songs from other Disney films to try and justify it being that length....I got the joke but I sort of felt like the production was treating it's audience like we were idiots. I felt cheapened. That number was crap compared to the BE OUR GUEST song in the original Beauty and the Beast production.

Updated On: 3/30/14 at 06:57 PM

[mgldan]

Posted: 3/30/14 at 7:23pm

I had a good enough time in the theater, but the show is really uneven. The entire book lands like lead. The comic "asides" aren't worthy of a playground, and they are distracting, preventing narrative momentum from ever building. The sets are also really flat and uninspired, and every time the curtain comes down to cover a scene change, it just feels like they're stalling for time.

As the Genie, James Monroe Iglehart is obviously working very hard, and he comes off as earnest and likable, but also out of breath. Aladdin is nice, but generic. Jasmine Reed is really pretty, and also generic. Her big reveal that she has known it was Prince Ali the whole time felt rushed... in the movie she seemed more knowing beforehand.

My favorite numbers were Friend Like Me and High Adventure. There's a lot of fourth-wall breaking in High Adventure that felt organic and original.

This show is like a pastiche of things you liked from Aladdin, as well as other Disney movies from their 90's renaissance.

[ak72090]

Posted: 3/30/14 at 10:41pm

Saw the show tonight...and gotta say I had a blast. Plenty of jokes to laugh at, and the whole show is definitely entertaining. I was thrilled adam jacobs and james iglehart were on tonight, and genie was amazing as usual. He sounded a bit sick still, so I admire him still performing. No standing o after friend like me, but a very positive crowd response. The whole cast was very nice at the stage door and made time to meet and greet. And they were filming some dort of documentary in the theatre tonight...but all I saw was jon freeman being interviewed. Any questions just ask!