Disney's Aladdin Musical

After 5 years of waiting, I am very excited that Aladdin musical is finally coming to Singapore. As promised, I will definitely watch it and I just watched the very first show at this noon. Unfortunately, all the wait and anticipation ended up with a disappointment. Changes are inevitable as not everything form the cartoon can be replicated on live stage. Sadly unlike the recent Aladdin movie whose changes are mostly for the better, the changes made for this musical brings more bad than good.

Being a musical, most of the good changes are related to the songs, dances, and theatrics. Aladdin gets to sing 'Proud of Your Boy' (a fantastic song which unfortunately was cut from the cartoon), Jasmine gets her own song (a different song from the movie or the Hyperion theatre), Jafar also gets to sing in addition to his version of Prince Ali, and even the Sultan gets to sing. Instead of Abu, Aladdin has 3 human friends so that they can do more singing. I am ambivalent about Iago being a human since he still does what Iago is supposed to do as a character anyway.

Now comes the changes which are for worse. Magic carpet is gone. Instead of being a sentient being, magic carpet is simply a transportation tool, or even more appropriately just a plot device to serve the A Whole New World scene. Because of Aladdin's human friends, Genie has less screen time which automatically is a bad decision since nothing or noone can be funnier than Genie. Comedy aside, the less screen time between Aladdin and Genie means their relationship is less developed and that ruins the emotional part of their friendship. The worst change that I find really destroys everything is Aladdin's characterisation. He is really like an asshole and does not deserve to be a diamond in the rough in this musical version. In the cartoon, he is more genuine: he helps Jasmine in the marketplace because he is naturally helpful and his fallout with Genie is because Jasmine falls in love with him. In contrast, the musical Aladdin flirts with Jasmine in the marketplace and his fallout with Genie is only after the Sultan agrees with the wedding and promises that Aladdin will be the new Sultan.

Moving the production itself, the whole show consists of 1.25 hours for the first act (which ends when Aladdin is turned into Prince Ali) and 1 hour for the second act (which begins with Prince Ali song). The first act is good while the second act is awful. The second act is supposed to be the climax but the final battle showdown with Jafar is too rushed and does not feel like a good climax. The fallout with Genie and the subsequent freeing him feel flat because their relationship is not well established to begin with.

The props are quite hits and misses for me. Two thumbs up for the costumes: they are colourful and provide an amazing spectacle. The royalties have crazy amount of bling bling on their costumes and they really look regal. The stage set up for the city, marketplace, and Aladdin's 'home' are good, Jasmine's quarter is fantastic, but the Cave of Wonders fails to invite any sense of wonder. With the focus is more on the dancing and singing, the props department seem to be quite neglected. 'Friend Like Me' is the best as it is impressive for both the props and the theatricals. 'Prince Ali' is almost absent of any display of wealth that Prince Ali is supposed to show off and is borderline lame. 'A Whole New World' only shows the sky and the stars. The final showdown is almost all about talking. No wonder I find the second act awful.

Honestly, I maybe biased because I have previously watched the Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular. It is a simpler production and yet it hits more of the correct notes. In fact, the only things that this Musical Spectacular loses out to the Broadway Musical are the stage set up for the marketplace and palace (which are only cardboards) and the costumes. Otherwise, Musical Spectacular trumps the Broadway Musical in terms of the comedy, the Cave of Wonders and the 'Friend Like Me', the 'Prince Ali' procession, 'A Whole New World', the final showdown, and the dynamics among the characters.

As a fan of Aladdin, it is really sad to have all these negative opinions about the musical. After all, I still have another ticket to watch on 11 August and this is for the first row. I think the show has been extended because when I bought the ticket, I bought for the final show. Now the run dates seem to end in 1 September. I actually bought the ticket for today (i.e. the opening show) only a week after I bought the 11 August and I only bought for the first row at the dress circle to save cost. I was expecting something special for the opening show but there was nothing too. I hope I will have change of perspective when I watch from the first row next month.

Thankfully the merchandises are worth buying so at least I still can have good memories from the musical. While they are not cheap, they are reasonable compared to the prices in Disneyland or Disney Store. I am thinking of buying the blanket again to use one in Singapore and one in Jakarta. Lets see how my mood. My friends commented that the plushies are ugly. I agree but I am quite immune haha.. I bought Aladdin and Jasmine plushie from Disneyland Paris few years ago which are also quite ugly. I think that is the fate of human characters which are made into plushies in this 'flattened' style.

$45 each for the plushie, $20 for the programme, and $40 for the fleece blanket

There still plenty of other merchandises: T-shirts (I heard that they are going for $40), keychains, an ornament shaped like the magic lamp ($30.. I was tempted to buy but I think it is too small to be figurine for display), a snow globe decoration ($85), tote bags ($20 if I am not wrong), CD, teapot (??), and so on.

I am thankful for the Filipino tourist and her mum (yes they specially travel here to watch the musical) who were in front of me in the queue to take photo with Magic Lamp. They asked me to help them taking photos and they returned the favour. I already bought the merchandises and was holding to the shopping bags and before my turn, the mum offered to hold my shopping bags. The girl was also friendly to compliment my Aladdin t-shirt. This photo taking spot is just next to the merchandise store so it is at the section after scanning the ticket. I did not manage to take any photo of the giant Aladdin banner outside at the public area which is quite boring with just a giant ass word of Aladdin. I shall end this post with the two pictures that I took.

Hanging banners at the waiting area

The only picture allowed inside the theatre