Aladdin Reviews

[Tag]

Posted: 11/21/13 at 11:37pm

Pretty negative from Toronto's top reviewer (Toronto Star)


Aladdin's Carpet Ride Lacking Some Magic Updated On: 11/21/13 at 11:37 PM

[Tag]

Posted: 11/21/13 at 11:39pm

Globe & Mail
There’s a carpet, but not much magic in Aladdin

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 11/21/13 at 11:44pm

Ouch and ouch. So basically they need to fire Courtney Reed, restage some numbers and start passing our script rewrites STAT.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 11/21/13 at 11:48pm

Now one has got to wonder what the creative team must be going through right now...

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 11/21/13 at 11:50pm

Let's discuss that Jeffrey. Does Aladdin have the balls to get rid of Reed (if more reviews role in). Do they pull a Spiderman, take a break and regroup?

[sabrelady]

Posted: 11/21/13 at 11:53pm

I posted in the preview section. Maybe a B.


aladin Updated On: 11/21/13 at 11:53 PM

[RW3]

Posted: 11/21/13 at 11:55pm

This is what I was afraid of.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 11/21/13 at 11:56pm

Uh oh....

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 11/21/13 at 11:56pm

This could turn out to be 'The Little Mermaid' all over again.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/21/13 at 11:58pm

Or Tarzan.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 12:14am

But, hey: It's mostly the book that is getting attacked. They just need to work on it and the show should be better

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 12:31am

This sounds like Disney is maintaining their track record with putting washed up glitzy theme park quality shows on Broadway.

[lambchop2]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 12:37am

I loved the show, but it did have two main problems: the climax and too much focus on ensemble dance numbers and not enough on the leads.

I think the show could benefit from chopping down the dance numbers (Arabian Nights, Prince Ali, and the finale all had verrrry extended dance numbers that, while lovely, quickly wore out their welcome) and added in more character scenes. I actually didn't mind Courtney Reed, but Jasmine is not really given a lot to do. I'm not sure why that one reviewer thought Jasmine had been changed into a 'feminist cliche,' when almost all of the dialogue regarding her being forced into marriage and being treated like a prize to be won were staright from the film. I actually liked that they fleshed out her character a little bit with lines regarding her lack of experience--something like "how can I ever be a good queen to my people, when I don't even know my people?" This could be expanded to give her more to do.

The climax, like The Little Mermaid's new climax for the stage, is what really falls flat. The climax starts at the wedding. Aladdin enters and is about to reveal his secret to everyone, when Jafar enters with Genie and a captive Jasmine. From there it went downhill.

Jafar isn't that much of a threat at all here. His first wish was to make Jasmine his prisoner (instead of being an all powerful sorcerer--and considering that he had a spell book but did not do any magic in the show, maybe this should have been his wish!) but nobody seems to really... care? The Sultan doesn't actively try to rescue his daughter, the guards--who appear with Babkak/Omar/Kassim moments later--aren't rushing to save their princess, which begs the question--do the guards listen to Jafar? Or the Sultan? And why would Jafar need to use his wish to make Jasmine his prisoner, when he seems perfectly capable of slapping some chains on her wrists on his own?

The Prince Ali reprise, where he reveals that Ali was Aladdin, was wonderfully sung but in context it didn't make sense. Jafar literally just takes off Aladdin's hat for the "big" reveal as Aladdin. It was silly.

Jafar's second wish is to be the Sultan. Admittedly, the quick costume changes here (and for his final wish) were simple but visually great. But here, too, Jafar is woefully under utilized as a villain and threat. He just made himself the Sultan. This should bring some kind of change! But the wedding guests hardly seem to react, the Sultan is nonplussed, and it's just moments later when Aladdin gives out the tricky "You're not the most powerful, Genie is!" line, which leads to the Genie wish and Jafar's newfound home inside a lamp.

Why not extend this sequence to make Jafar's wishes actually threatening? Threaten to keep Jasmine in a dungeon for the rest of her life or say you're leaving Agrabah with your new prisoner. Have the guards obey Sultan Jafar and arrest the former Sultan or make everyone in the wedding party bow down to him or something other than saying you'll get rid of Aladdin. Just... something.


Updated On: 11/22/13 at 12:37 AM

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 1:30am

Disney won't learn from this, no one has the balls to stand up and say its crap. They will turn a blind eye to the reviews, and open the same show on Broadway in Feb.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 1:33am

^ Exactly.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 3:07am

I'm not sure this was the best director for the project. He doesn't really do "big, flashy" musicals very well. And sounds like he's put all his focus into the dance numbers. The actors are bland? Welcome to 21-century musical theater. That's why we cling to people like jesse Muller who actually ACT in a show. They aren't going to fire her. She's just a place holder for the other girls that will come in and play the role and being bland and forgettable.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 3:27am

God bless. They need Howard Ashman mounting this puppy.

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 4:33am

lambchop2: Oh my god... THAT is the climax of the musical!? When is Disney going to learn to not attempt to fix something that wasn't broken from their films? Tarzan AND Mermaid both suffered this EXACT same problem with their climatic moments. And they are going to do it again? Just reading about it gives me a headache.

I want this show to succeed so much but it's not going to if they don't take a step back and realize it's not working. Then acknowledge this and actually fix it.

[lambchop2]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 5:20am

Scarlet Leigh:

Yes, that's the climax.

I can see why they would want the climax to take place in one setting but if they're going to take the movie's climax--which spanned three locations and featured evil sorcery, a huge evil snake Jafar, and a giant hourglass--and whittle it down to a scene at a wedding, the stakes have to be stepped up.

I can even see why they might shy away from Jafar's wish being "I want to be an all powerful sorcerer," because that means more elaborate effects. But here, too, if they want to play things down by making his wish more practical for the stage... raise the stakes.

IMO, if they they want to keep his first wish "I wish Jasmine was my prisoner," then they need to do something major with it. As it is, it's just an awkward way for Jafar to make his entrance into the wedding, but there's never a moment where you feel like "oh my god, Jasmine is in trouble!" In the movie, she's drowning in sand. In the stage version, she's... linked to Genie by some cuffs and a chain? And that's about it.

Have someone (The Sultan! Guards! Aladdin!) rush towards her and make it an "ah, ah, ah! I wouldn't do that if I were you!" moment. Maybe have someone try to free her, only for the chains to burn or spark because Jafar's wish can't be broken. Or have Jafar use her as leverage and demand that the Sultan arrange for their marriage, or threaten to take her away where no one will find her. Something to give the wedding guests, guards, and Sultan a reason to just stand there for just about the entire climax while Jasmine is captive.

Unfortunately, while there were a lot of improvements from Seattle to Toronto, I'm not too confident that the climax will be fixed. I really hope it will be. I loved the cast, I loved what they did with the additional material, when the show was good it was magically, amazingly good, and I would hate to see Aladdin fail.

Just. Fix that climax, at least.

[AlfredColo]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 6:14am

Jungle Book????

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 8:18am

Ouch, does the climax need work or what!

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 9:07am

Maybe Disney couldn't afford a more expensive special effects type finale?

[RumTumJM]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 9:42am

This is all very depressing, especially the stuff about the climax. Being a child of Disney's Renaissance, who considers Aladdin one of his all-time favorite Disney movies, this eliminates a LOT of the magic.

Jafar's fleeting moment of glory & defeat was certainly one of those "I can't wait to see how they'll pull it off! This should be GREAT!" moments. Now it seems they just copped out.

[tazber]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 10:01am

Street Boy Band narrators = Spiderman's Geek Chorus

The first reviewer definitely gave a constructive assessment. He didn't pan it or use overly clever, but pointless, witticisms to show how smart he is (Hi new York Times!).

He gave some really good advice and praised the parts that are working. I think the creative team should welcome that notice. That's why you do out of town tryouts, a practice that is all too rare with the mechanical requirements of most shows these days.

I took away that this is absolutely fixable.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/13 at 10:09am

I think the creative team should welcome that notice. That's why you do out of town tryouts, a practice that is all too rare with the mechanical requirements of most shows these days.

I took away that this is absolutely fixable.

I totally agree with that. Now the question remains, will they fix it? Or with they just tighten a few sentences in the book and swap adjectives in the lyrics and call it an "overhaul?"