Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular

Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular
The Aladdin marquee in 2010.
Disney California Adventure
Area	Hollywood Land
Status	Closed
Opening date	January 16, 2003 (2003-01-16)
Closing date	January 11, 2016 (2016-01-11)
Replaced	The Power of Blast (2001-2002)
Replaced by	Frozen – Live at the Hyperion
Disney Cruise Line
Status	Operating
Opening date	2004 (2004)
General statistics
Attraction type	Musical
Designer	Walt Disney Creative Entertainment
Theme	Aladdin
Music	Alan Menken (original songs)
Duration	45 minutes
Wheelchair accessible
Assistive listening available

Hyperion Theater marquee at night in 2006.

Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular was a Broadway-style show based on Disney's 1992 animated film Aladdin with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice.

It was performed inside the Hyperion Theater in Hollywood Land at Disney California Adventure from 2003 to 2016. In September 2015, it was announced that the show's final day of performance would be January 10, 2016. The show was then closed on January 11, and was replaced by a musical stage show inspired by Disney's 2013 animated film Frozen, which premiered in May 2016.^[1][2]

A version of the show continues to play on board the Disney Cruise Line ship Disney Fantasy.^[3]

History

The production is a Broadway-type show. Many of the classic scenes and songs from the movie are re-created on stage and some of the action spills out into the aisles, such as Prince Ali's arrival in Agrabah on elephant back.

At Disney California Adventure, the 45-minute production took place in the 2,000 seat Hyperion Theater, located at the end of Hollywood Land. While most of the show was scripted, the Genie's dialogue often changed to reflect current events in the news and popular culture. The musical replaced the venue's previous show, The Power of Blast, which played from 2001 to 2002.

Alan Menken composed and wrote lyrics for a new song for this production, called "To Be Free".

Plot

The show opens with a traveler riding a camel, who offers to tell us the "Tale of the Magic Lamp" (Arabian Nights).

A curtain rises, revealing the Cave of Wonders. Jafar, Grand Vizier to the Sultan of Agrabah, and his talking parrot, Iago, attempt to access the Cave of Wonders to get a magical oil lamp containing a genie, but are told that only the "Diamond in the Rough" can enter the cave.

The next scene shows Aladdin in the marketplace of Agrabah, who has stolen an apple and is running away from the guards (One Jump Ahead). He ultimately escapes and bumps into a girl wearing a scarf over her head. He steals another apple and offers it to her, but the guards reappear, surrounding them. They seize both Aladdin and the girl, but the girl jumps to her feet and removes her scarf, revealing that she is Jasmine, the princess of Agraba, and demands that they set Aladdin free. The guards agree, and the princess leaves.

As soon as she is gone, the guards seize Aladdin again, but an old man (who is Jafar in disguise) appears and bribes the guards to free Aladdin. He takes Aladdin to the Cave of Wonders and forces him to go inside. He strictly warns Aladdin to touch nothing except the lamp. Aladdin enters the cave and discovers the lamp high on a pedestal in a room full of treasure. As he climbs the pedestal, he accidentally knocks over something beside it. The treasure begins disappearing, so he quickly grabs the lamp and ducks for cover as rocks fall around him, trapping him in the cave. Aladdin discovers a magic carpet, who tells him to rub the lamp, but he was not sure what the magic carpet tried to say, so he asks the crowd in the theater if they "speak carpet". However, the crowd shouted 'Rub the lamp' to Aladdin and when he does so, a genie appears.

Genie tells Aladdin that he will grant him three wishes, but he can't wish for more wishes, wish for someone to fall in love with him or revive the dead (Friend Like Me).

The next scene shows Jasmine confronting Jafar about Aladdin, but Jafar tells her that Aladdin had already been "disposed of". The Sultan enters and reminds Jasmine that she needs to decide soon whom she is going to marry, but Jasmine complains that all of her suitors are "egotistical braggarts." Just then, a large procession bursts in, led by the Genie who announces the entry of "Prince Ali, the love of Princess Jasmine's life" (Prince Ali). Aladdin, dressed as Prince Ali, rides up on an elephant, dismounts, and asks Jasmine to marry him. She refuses and runs away. Afterward, the Genie suggests that Aladdin should talk to Jasmine alone, and Aladdin thanks Genie for his help and promises to use his third wish to free Genie after Jasmine falls in love with him.

The next scene shows Jasmine in her room, wishing that she could be like a normal girl and be free to fall in love with someone (To Be Free). Aladdin, as Prince Ali, appears up on her balcony and asks to spend some time with her, but she refuses and sarcastically tells him to jump off her balcony. He does so, landing on the magic carpet. Jasmine, suspicious that Ali may be the boy she met in the marketplace, agrees to go on a ride with him (A Whole New World). After the carpet ride, they kiss and she tells him she needs to go speak with her father about "something very important."

After Jasmine leaves, Aladdin tells the Genie that he and Jasmine are in love, but Aladdin says that he can't free the Genie because he might still need his third wish to keep fooling Jasmine into thinking he is a prince. Genie and the carpet both leave angrily.

Immediately after they leave, Jafar and several guards enter and arrest Aladdin. He is taken to the main room of the palace, where Jafar takes the magic lamp and summons the Genie. Several more guards, who are hypnotized by Jafar, enter with Jasmine and the Sultan. Jafar reveals to Jasmine that Prince Ali was actually Aladdin (Prince Ali (Reprise)), and uses his first two wishes to become the Sultan and "the most powerful sorcerer on earth". Jafar transforms into a snake and prepares to kill Aladdin, but Aladdin tricks Jafar into wishing to become a Genie telling him that Genie was more powerful than Jafar could ever be. Jafar transforms into a genie, but is sucked down into the magic lamp. The guards become unhypnotised and Genie sends Jafar's lamp to the Cave of Wonders. Jasmine tells the Sultan that she still wants to marry Aladdin, even though he isn't a prince, and the Sultan agrees. Aladdin uses his third wish to free the Genie, and he and Jasmine prepare to marry (Celebration).

Soundtrack

Buena Vista Records released an official soundtrack to the production in 2003.^[4] This is an original cast recording, and includes almost every piece of music used in the show. The main cast on the recording is Miles Wesley (Aladdin), Deedee Magno (Jasmine), Nick Santa Maria (Genie), Lance Roberts (Jafar) and Jamila Ajibade (Narrator). Orchestrations by Timothy Williams (composer).

Track Listing
1. Arabian Nights*/A Thousand Stories/Who Dares Approach (1:43)
2. Off You Go/The Mouth Closes (:34)
3. You Have Been Warned (:11)
4. Aladdin Intro (:24)
5. One Jump Ahead (2:44)
6. Street Rat! (:24)
7. Princess of Agrabah (:14)
8. Old Man (:48)
9. Go Now, Into the Cave/Gold Reveal/Cave Collapse (1:57)
10. Carpet (:39)
11. Genie Up (:22)
12. Friend Like Me (3:18)
13. The Palace (:25)
14. Sultan's Fanfare (:13)
15. Prince Ali (2:04)
16. Genie Free/Jafar Plots (1:27)
17. To Be Free (2:44)
18. A Whole New World (3:38)
19. A Whole New World - Underscore (:20)
20. I'll Say (:42)
21. We Through Yet/Prince Ali (Reprise) (1:36)
22. Snake! (:41)
23. He Has More Power (:50)
24. Father, I've Decided (:59)
25. Celebration (1:36) (includes "Arabian Nights", "To Be Free", "A Whole New World")
26. Curtain Call (1:13) (includes: "One Jump Ahead", "Prince Ali", "To Be Free", "Friend Like Me")

• 
  A larger view of the theater interior as a whole
• 
  Jasmine reveals herself to be the Princess of Agrabah
• 
  Aladdin's entrance as "Prince Ali"
• 
  "Prince Ali" proposes to Jasmine
• 
  Iago, Jasmine, "Prince Ali", and the Genie
• 
  Jafar summons the Genie
• 
  "Prince Ali" holding the lamp

References