Oh 1992, your cave of wonders was resplendent thanks to one magic carpet of a movie. ‘Aladdin’ is still the Prince Ali of Disney films, beating nostalgia kicks as evergreen awesome as ‘The Lion King’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’ thanks to its mix of tunes, magic, quality animation and Robin Williams in wisecracking big blue genie mode. I watch it at least once a year.
Which is why Aladdin coming to Broadway (and hopefully theatres beyond Midtown NYC) inspires a Christmas morning feeling in this street rat. The shining, shimmering, splendid Disney musical kicked off preview performances yesterday, with opening Broadway night scheduled for mid-March.
Adam Jacobs stars as the titular street urchin with Courtney Reed as Jasmine, with direction and choreography steered by Casey Nicholaw. Of course, it’s the music by Oscar winner Alan Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice and Howard Ashman that are the real draw for ’90s kid who still burst out a “Let’s not be too hastyyyy / Still I think he’s rather tastyyyy” when drunk. No, not me – erm, I know people…
Anyway, here’s hoping for the good reviews to come flying in ‘A Whole New World’ style so we have a new ‘Lion King’-size global hit on our hands so we don’t have to hop a plane to New York to see it. There’s one of my three wishes.
