Is Telly Leung The Next Prince Ali in Aladdin?

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 6:22pm

Telly Leung As Prince Ali   This is an interesting development, but is it plausible?

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 6:35pm

I hope this means Arielle Jacobs will be joining the Broadway company as well. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 6:53pm

Not to be a creeper but Adam Jacobs posted looking for a sublet for his place for Feb 15. So maybe he's going down under?

[Cfried]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 6:59pm

I'm sorry, but I hope not. 

[ethan231h]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 7:05pm

thought he's having some problems with family???

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 7:27pm

Wouldn't this hint In Transit might be closing soon? 

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 7:30pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Wouldn't this hint In Transit might be closing soon? 

 

"

He's already been recast. This doesn't mean anything of course, but no... it's not hinting at that any more than In Transit's low grosses, apparently. 

[Valentina3]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 7:43pm

ethan231h said: "thought he's having some problems with family???"

That was the reason they gave for his early exit from In Transit. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 7:46pm

maybe this is the real reason he's leaving IN TRANSIT.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 8:12pm

RippedMan said: "Not to be a creeper but Adam Jacobs posted looking for a sublet for his place for Feb 15. So maybe he's going down under?"

I suspect the US tour is more likely. 

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 9:05pm

Does this mean Courtney, James, and Jonathan are leaving as well? 3 going on 4 years is a pretty damn long run. Surprised Jonathan is still around. 

[ozjust4]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 9:10pm

I hope so. He'd be fantastic!

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 9:13pm

If he is indeed the next Aladdin, I'll be so excited for him. But it seems crappy to me to use "family problems" as the transition excuse between leaving a show and announcing such news. 

[trpguyy]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 10:06pm

BroadwayConcierge said: "If he is indeed the next Aladdin, I'll be so excited for him. But it seems crappy to me to use "family problems" as the transition excuse between leaving a show and announcing such news. "

To be fair, I believe it was the In Transit team that cited "family problems," not Mr. Leung. Leaving a show for a better gig is generally a respected reason in the industry, but it doesn't read so well in a press release. 

It's also entirely possible that even if Aladdin were on the horizon, he actually did leave In Transit early for a family problem. Principal replacements rarely get more than 3-4 weeks of rehearsal, so assuming Adam Jacobs is leaving mid-February, his replacement (Leung?) probably hasn't started rehearsing yet. 

Updated On: 1/4/17 at 10:06 PM

[theaterdrew]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 10:18pm

To be fair, I believe it was the In Transit team that cited "family problems," not Mr. Leung.

It was not started by the producers.  Telly's been posting on his facebook page and elsewhere for a while now that he is just on a leave of absence due to an unexpected personal obligation and he can't wait to get back to his In Transit cast.  

[trpguyy]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 10:27pm

I stand corrected -- now I see his FB post. That being said, I don't think he's necessarily being disingenuous. Why say "I'll be back in a few weeks" if it's not true? 

Updated On: 1/4/17 at 10:27 PM

[Trish2]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 11:47pm

An out and proud gay Aladdin?!?  I love it! #Disneyrocks

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 11:59pm

Might finally book a trip to New Amsterdam for Telly!

[ozjust4]

Posted: 1/5/17 at 10:30am

trpguyy said: "I stand corrected -- now I see his FB post. That being said, I don't think he's necessarily being disingenuous. Why say "I'll be back in a few weeks" if it's not true?"

 

He has stated he will return to the show on January 31.

https://twitter.com/tellyleung/status/815699249312698369

 

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/5/17 at 12:17pm

Trish2 said: "An out and proud gay Aladdin?!?  I love it! #Disneyrocks"

Well, Ethan Le Phong is the Aladdin understudy in the West End, as well...

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/5/17 at 1:06pm

It must be a testament to the show/Disney that all 4 leads have stayed with the show for 3 years. 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 1/5/17 at 1:09pm

Or maybe it's a testament that they liked the paycheck.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/5/17 at 4:14pm

Obviously. 

 

So casting is going to be "any Asian ethnicity" for Aladdin? It's not a bad thing, just interesting. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 2:42am

It hasn't been confirmed yet so I'm not sure it's worthwhile to read into it. 

But you could make an argument for a Chinese Aladdin based on the source material, if not the Disney adaptation. It's interesting to see where Disney is OK with changing casting from the movie or from the original cast. Maybe the argument is that Newsies and Mary Poppins are "historical" and The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, etc. are based on real places but magical/imaginary. Who can say what Maldonians should look like? 

[belrowley]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 3:38pm

Aladdin is described as Chinese in One Thousand and One Nights, but the original text is an Orientalist imagining of a fictitious China (basically what Arab people thought China looked like). Some scholars argue that Aladdin might have been Uyghur (a Muslim minority group in China). Although all the stories in the anthology are from the Arabic tradition, they can't really be traced back to a specific origin, so there's some room for ambiguity there, hence the pan-Asian casting.