Rambles, Musings, and Other Attempts of Writing

Assorted Aladdin Stuff

Just thought that I would record some random stuff I remember seeing when I saw Aladdin on Broadway since a few people have been curious.

- I saw this musical back in early December of 2015. It was the original cast, minus Adam Jacobs since it was his day off. An understudy filled in for him that day, and he was absolutely wonderful.

- Upon walking into the theatre, there's a giant poster with the full cast list. At the bottom, there's a place where it informs you if there's an understudy that performance. I went to go see the show with my drama class, including our teacher, who was supposed to see the show the summer before but couldn't because she tripped and fell and broke her leg on her way to the theatre. So she had been looking forward to this for a very long time. I was leading our group in with her at the rear, and when I saw that sign, I called back, "There's an understudy today!" From the back of our group, I heard an enraged "WHAT?!" But it was all good because she didn't care if there was an Aladdin understudy, she just wanted to see James Monroe Iglehart as the Genie.

- Genie: And you know what Agrabah's famous for? This magical lamp- *pulls out a tiny Statue of Liberty* Whoops! Sorry about that folks, I was doing some touring before the show. *puts statue back in cloak, pulls out lamp* This magical lamp!

- Okay so the real MVP of this musical is Marisha Wallace. She was a member of the ensemble, but she also played the Fortune Teller, one of Jasmine's attendants, and she had so many awesome solos, such as "In that magical place, in that mystical land, there's a Genie inside every door", "Still I think he's rather tasty!", and "He's got 75 golden camels, purple peacocks he's got 53!" She was also a Babkak understudy. Seriously, you go girl.

- In between "Arabian Nights" and "One Jump", the Genie tells the audience that he'll see them later before exiting the stage.

- Babkak after "One Jump": And what was that about needing a friend or two? You kind of have friends, three of them, to be exact.

- "These Palace Walls" take place in Jasmine's chambers, which is also where the scenes before and after "A Whole New World" take place. There's a giant cage with a gorgeous peacock inside during "These Palace Walls", but it disappears for the rest of the show.

- Jafar multiple times throughout the show: *bows* 1001 apologies

- Aladdin is so smitten with Jasmine after dancing with her during "Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim". He awkwardly approaches her and tries to make small talk, stammering a few times. He asks if she has a boyfriend as she gets distracted by something in the market. He's so adorable.

- Jasmine and Aladdin do the cutest little dance together during the last chorus of "A Million Miles Away".

- Genie when he appeared after Aladdin rubbed the lamp: *to audience* I told you you'd see me again!
Aladdin: what
Genie: what

- "Friend Like Me" was amazing. My drama teacher and I were literally holding and squeezing each other the entire song because we were so amazed. Her son gave us weird looks.

- Waiters just shot up out of the stage out of nowhere.

- "Dancing With the Scimitars" is a huge Dancing With the Stars" spoof, complete with judges and a Mirror Ball Trophy.

- When the Genie starts singing all those other Disney songs, Aladdin sits down on a chair two girls brought out, and they cover him up with a blanket. Two men bring out a small trunk. When the Genie sings "watch Al disappear right before your eyes", the girls lift up the blanket to reveal that Aladdin has disappeared, and the two men lift up the trunk, the top pops open, and Aladdin tumbles out in complete shock.