Opening this blog with a confession that might strike horror into the hearts of my many Disney loving friends: Aladdin isn’t among my favourite films. I enjoy some of the humour and Jafar is my 3rd favourite villain (Team Scar forever and always, closely followed by Frollo!) but other films just appeal to me more. As such, when it was first announced as opening on the West End back in 2016 (it premiered in Seattle in 2011, and has run on Broadway since 2014), I was mildly intrigued, but wasn’t in a massive rush to get a ticket.

That all changed last year, when I saw Trevor Dion Nicholas sing the role of King Darius in the concert version of The Light Princess. I was bowled over by the richness and intensity of his voice and myself and my friend Alison (who was thrilled I had finally managed to see Trevor in action at last) set about trying to sort a trip to Agrabah. Living in different parts of the country with different schedules proved difficult for a while, but after nearly a year in the making, we finally pulled it off last month.

One of the things I liked best about the show is how vibrant everything is – the scenic  design by Bob Crowley is impressive because each place has its own unique feel to it, be it the palace or the marketplace, just by a change in colour palatte and props;  Then there’s the costumes by Gregg Barnes… my god the glorious costumes! This show features over two million Swarovski crystals, the Prince Ali parade alone features 19 cast members collectively changing 78 times in the space of three and a half minutes… the speed of quick changes is dazzling and everything fizzes with colour. Speaking of Prince Ali – Genie and Aladdin’s costumes here are my favourites in the entire show!

Leading on from that without giving too much away, the special effects by Jim Chernik, particularly during the Cave of Wonders scene and later in A Whole New World were so great to watch because there’s a massive sense of fun and playfulness involved: you know full well that things are going on backstage to make these things happen, but it’s so easy to get swept along and just enjoy going: “how do they do that?”. Unfortunately we had a magic carpet malfunction that led to a 15 minute show stop, but no, I still can’t figure out how that carpet flew and am perfectly content to remain in blissful ignorance!

There’s a lot going on and the stage is really busy for the most part, and sitting where I was you do miss small chunks of action/detail on one side of the stage, but it’s difficult to fault the energy and enthusiasm of the ensemble – Casey Nicholaw’s choreography is really slick, intricate and it was so fun watching them receive the love and energy from the audience: I love when you can so easily tell a cast are enjoying themselves.

Much like when I saw the musical version of The Lion King, sure it’s brilliant seeing the familiar beloved scenes played out onstage, but actually much of what I loved about Aladdin are elements unique to the musical, specifically new songs and characters. Aladdin has no furry sidekick Abu here, but instead three best friends: Kassim, Omar and Babkak – I loved the banter that they share and for me it just felt more meaningful for Aladdin to have those kind of relationships, it means he has more to fight for. They even have their own song, and one they join in later after a little help from Genie called Somebody’s Got Your Back. Aladdin also has his own solo number called Proud of  Your Boy that was a particular highlight for me: it’s so tender and because of it, I found I connected more with the character than I ever did on film.

Sidekicks of the feathered kind are also given a human touch here, adding new levels of hilarity to Jafar and Iago’s relationship. There were times when the humour got a bit too silly and “try too hard” for my taste, but I think that came down to the script and direction rather than any fault of the cast; I did enjoy how witty and sharp it could be and loved all the pop culture references.

It was understudy central down in Agrabah on this particular day, with four on for main roles. I love the chance to see an understudy as it keeps things fresh and changes the dynamics, but having so many on during a first outing was a first for me and made it really unique.

Antony Hewitt was on for Aladdin; he gave the character more grit and swagger than I had been expecting and I actually loved his performance all the more for that, because I felt I had to work a little harder as an audience member to be on his side. If I’d found the character immediately likeable, I may as well not have been there as it’s something you see all too often. The confidence and swagger also meant that his moments of vulnerability were more poignant, and he shared strong chemistry with his three friends, and Jasmine too!

Speaking of Aladdin’s friends, I must first give a huge shout out to Daniel De Bourg who was incredibly charismatic with a voice to match, and Kade Ferraiolo and Oliver Lidert who were on as Omar and Babkak respectively; the energy they bring and the way the play off each other is brilliant, and it was lovely to see the three have their shining moment in Act two with High Adventure.

Courtney Reed was a wonderful fiesty Jasmine, making the most of the script which sadly (in my opinion anyway) doesn’t allow for anything new in the character beyond what we already saw in the animated film. I suppose you could say, if it ain’t broke, why fix it. Irvine Iqbal however, I was delighted to see, cuts a more imposing, charismatic figure here than in the animation, which I really loved!

Mitch Leow was on as Iago, and was absolutely hysterical; his timing and delivery were absolutely flawless.

Sadly, Jafar is where I think the script lets the musical version down the most for me. For me he takes on a more comedic quality and loses so much of the malice and ambition that makes his character so striking – the whole sense of him being a threat once he controls the Genie is lost as the first two wishes feel incredibly rushed. That’s no criticism of Fred Johanson, who plays him – he played off Mitch incredibly and has a glorious gift for the kind of deadpan humour that I enjoy in Jafar, I just wish the character had been done a better service by the writing. The moment when he reveals Aladdin’s true identity was the standout moment for Jafar in my mind here, and I wanted more of how excited and tingly Fred’s delivery of that line made me feel.

Then of course, there’s Trevor. Glorious, larger than life, perfect Genie Trevor. He is the standout of the piece for me and it was an absolute treat to hear those velvety vocals again. The Genie had all of my favourite jokes; the ones that were irreverent or cleverly self aware and always Trevor managed to get the balance right, they’d peek out at the top, but never went over. It was also lovely to see the more vulnerable side of the character at play, Trevor made him more nuanced and thus more than the sum of a Genie’s parts!

Overall, I’m really glad I finally managed to see this one, especially given my feelings around the film… I’ve squeezed in a second trip before it closes to hopefully catch Matthew Croke as Aladdin, I’m a little bit in love since reviewing his album for BroadwayWorldUK!

Massive thanks to Alison for joining, and Irvine, Courtney & of course Trevor for their time afterwards, too!