Musical Review - Aladdin (West End)

About the show:

Aladdin is a musical based on the 1992 Disney animated film of the same name with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin. Beguelin also wrote the book. The musical includes three songs written for the film by Ashman but not used there and four new songs written by Menken and Beguelin. The story follows the familiar tale of how a poor young man discovers a genie in a lamp and uses his wishes to marry the princess that he loves and to thwart the Sultan's evil Grand Vizier.

Aladdin premiered at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle in 2011. After several regional and international productions in 2012, the musical was given a Toronto tryout in 2013. It opened on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre on March 20, 2014 to mostly warm reviews and was nominated for five Tony Awards.

More info on the show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_(2011_musical)

My opinion:

Of course everybody knows the song A Whole New World and I have always loved the song, I think it’s really emotional and sweet. However, the first time I properly got in contact with the music from Aladdin was in 2009/2010 when we did Cinema Classics with our choir. I have never been really into all the Disney movies, so the songs were new for me, but I fell in love with them immediately. The songs and the music have so much power and excitement, the lyrics are brilliant and there is a variation of styles.

Anyway, I loved singing them myself and that’s why I was really excited to see the show. It has been on my list for a while.

I absolutely LOVED every second of this show. The colours, the costumes, the stage, the

props, the visual effects, just AMAZING. It makes so much fun watching this show and it fills you with joy. The songs are great and I caught myself singing along, the girl next to me didn’t like that, but I don’t care, she had her feet on the seat! What they did with the stage and the colours is wonderful and certain thinks are hard to understand. I mean how can that carpet really fly?!

The cast was full of energy and I just loved watching them. They all had great stage presence and acting skills. What amazed me a lot of times, were the quick costume changes, they barely had time to change, but it worked.

I kind of liked the first act more than the second one. I felt that the story was dragged a little bit in the second one. It could also be that the things were not new anymore, I don’t know.

The actor I least warmed up to, was Aladdin (Dean John-Wilson). He seemed cold and not really in the role, but his singing was great. The genie (Trevor Dion Nicholas) killed it, he was awesome. Jasmine had a wonderful voice as well and the role was perfect for Jade Ewen.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel A Whole New World, for me the emotions were missing and that’s a pity, because that’s what the song is about.

Aladdin's three friends were brilliant as well, played by Stephen Rahman-Hughes (Kassim), Rachid Sabitri (Omar) and Nathan Amzi (Babkak). 

So all in all, this show is AWESOME and a definite must-see!