Review: ALADDIN at Rochester Broadway Theatre League

Currently playing at Rochester Broadway Theatre League's Auditorium Theatre is a fan favorite that kids, families, and even many Millennials who grew up watching the darling animated hit are sure to enjoy. The cast and crew of "Aladdin" are granting wishes in Rochester for a few more days!

"Aladdin" is a musical based on the 1992 Disney animated film of the same name with a book by Chad Beguelin, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Beguelin. It resurrects three songs written by Menken and Ashman for the film but not used, and adds four songs written by Menken and Beguelin. Set in the fictional Arabian city of Agrabah, the story follows the familiar tale of a poor young man named Aladdin (Adi Roy) who is granted three wishes by a genie (Marcus M. Martin) in a lamp, which he uses to woo princess Jasmine (Senzel Ahmady) and to thwart the sultan (Dwelvan David)'s evil Grand Vizier Jafar (Anand Nagraj).

The musical "Aladdin" isn't a beat-for-beat remake of the beloved movie. In the musical, Jafar's overzealous sidekick Iago (Aaron Choi) is played by a person rather than a parrot voiced by Gilbert Gottfried. Similarly, Aladdin's monkey sidekick Abu from the film is replaced in the musical by Babkak (Jake Letts), Omar (Ben Chavez), and Kassim (Colt Prattes), three street rats after Aladdin's own ilk.

"Aladdin" features a talented and diverse cast, from Nagraj's maniacal Jafar (and his impressively evil laugh to boot) to Ahmady's sweet and gentle Jasmine, but just as the animated "Aladdin" will always be synonymous with Robin Williams, all that see this touring "Aladdin" will surely agree that the show belongs to Marcus M. Martin. Martin's physical comedy, ownership of the stage, and nonstop laughs make "Aladdin" worth the cost of admission, particularly in big ensemble numbers like "Friend Like Me" and "Prince Ali". Martin's huge presence is even enough to mask some pieces of the show that don't work as well (particularly some overly cheeseball dialogue and a few reductive jokes that teeter on the edge of cringy fat-shaming).

The production design of "Aladdin" is also a sight to behold, particularly the sequence in the Cave of Wonders, which sees the Auditorium Theatre stage transformed into a shimmering golden dessert cavern in the blink of an eye; and the magic carpet sequence, which is achieved through an impressive bit of mechanics and light trickery.