If you haven't watched the film, here's the plot without giving out any spoilers. Aladdin (Adam Jacobs) is a "street rat" (in other words, a food thief trying to survive) in Agrabah with a dream of being more than just a tough kid with a hard-knock life. Meanwhile, on the other and richer side of town, Princess Jasmine (Courtney Reed) is dreaming for a life outside the palace and to find her own true love without her father, The Sultan (Clifton Davis, from the 1980's TV sitcom, Amen), picking out a future prince for her.
But the wicked Jafar (Jonathan Freeman, reprising his voice performance from the film) wants the Sultan off the throne so that he can have it himself. To do that, he has to get a magic lamp from the "Cave of Wonders". But only one chosen needs to be wise enough to retrieve the lamp. And who's the chosen one? It's none other than Aladdin. Aladdin accomplishes the task for the baddie, but when Al touches what shouldn't be touched, he gets trapped in the cave.
Soon, Aladdin rubs the lamp and out comes the Genie in the flesh (Major Attaway, at the performance I attended) after a rest of ten-thousand years. The Genie is excited to have a new master and he gives him three wishes. After getting out of the cave without even wishing for it, Aladdin gives him his first wish: to becoming a Prince, so that he can earn Jasmine's love. Well, I would tell you the rest, but I gotta stick to my critic standards and hopefully don't get any angry letters and e-mail for revealing any plot twist or endings from my readers.
As it is with many stage-to-screen adaptation, Aladdin has some changes such as Jafar's henchman Iago being a human (played by Alan Muraoka, of Sesame Street fame) instead of a parrot and Aladdin having three human pals, Babkak (Brian Gonzales), Omar (Brad Weinstock) and Kassim (Steel Burkhardt), instead of Abu the monkey from the film. These changes helps make it a good-natured adaptation which, I'm happy to report, respect the spirit of the 1992 film.
The songs from the movie penned by Alan Menken, Tim Rice and the late Howard Ashman (among those, "Friend Like Me", "Prince Ali", "Arabian Nights" and the Oscar-winning "A Whole New World") are there and they're still wonderful. The new songs by Menken and Chad Beguelin, as well as songs edited out of the film from Menken and Ashman are serviceable enough to make this show work. The nice enough book by Beguelin is filled with fourth wall jokes, puns and some pop culture references that will amuse kids and adults.
Casey Nicholaw is currently Broadway's go-to guy for directing and choreographing musical comedies (such as The Book of Mormon and Something Rotten!) and in this show, he has made some flamboyant showstopping numbers that really bring the house down such as the brilliant "Friend Like Me" in the first act, which I thought was better on the stage than on cartoon celluloid. He even creates fantastic stage magic, as he proved with the "A Whole New World" number in the second act, complete with a real magic carpet without wings. You'll suspend your disbelief once you see it. I did.
As always with a Disney show on Broadway, the designs help the whole shebang come to life. Bob Crowley's 3D-pop-up storybook like sets are superb as is Gregg Barnes's majestic costumes with help from Natasha Katz's phenomenal lighting design to make them look dazzlingly good.
Jacobs and Reed both give likable performances and Freeman is sweet as he is sinister as Jafar. But Attaway (filling in for James Monroe Iglehart, who won a 2014 Best Featured Actor Tony Award for this role) steals the show from the moment he pops out of the lamp. I thought he gave a funny, top-notch performance, but I think his Genie was more akin to Eddie Murphy than the sorely-missed Robin Williams, who, of course, gave unforgettable life to the blue-colored character in the film.
From the looks of it, I say that Aladdin will still be granting many audiences' wishes on West 42nd Street and 7th Avenue for a while. There's still some life and glimmer in that lamp.
The Buzz on Aladdin:
Rating: *** (Very Good)
Bottom Line: An entertaining enough and color-filled spectacle that's still clean and fresh as it was since it opened in 2014.
Recommended Best For: Ages 4 and up. Don't worry, parents and adults. There's nothing inappropriate here, folks.
Playing at: The New Amsterdam Theatre. On 214 West 42nd Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues). For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com or call 866-870-2717.
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