Gavin Adams as Aladdin and Desmonda Cathabel as
Jasmine.
Pictures: Deen van Meer
Disney's Aladdin
Birmingham Hippodrome
****
Spectacular
seems to be the start point when Disney turns one of its hit films into
a stage show. We have seen it with
The Lion King
and Beauty and
the Beast, and
now, rub my lamp, as one might say, they have gone and done it with
Aladdin.
Everything about the
show is . . . well . . . spectacular with some big dance numbers, a
magic festooned cave positively dripping with gold, costumes that
shimmered, sparkled and positively glowed with colour (Gregg Barnes),
and a well disguised magical flying carpet as Aladdin and Jasmine sing
their way into romance over A
Whole New World.
I have never seen the movie so the musical had to
stand on its own two feet and, with a leap to their feet, standing
ovation audience, I think we can say it managed that. This is a real
crowd pleaser all driven by the outstanding star of the show, Yeukayi
Ushe as the Genie.
He opens the show, grabs it by the throat and
never lets it go. For a Hippodrome audience he is like a Matt Slack in
pantaloons and curly toed shoes, radiating that same happy magic - you
can feel the sense of fun and anticipation whenever he appears and he
has no mean voice either, giving us a touch of club crooner, a hint of
Cab Calloway, moments of vaudeville, and good, old fashioned musical
theatre along the way. You get ‘em all in his magical Friend Like
Me.
Yeukayi Ushe as the Genie
Gavin Adams is making his pro debut and gives us
a likeable and personable Aladdin, with a permanent winning smile and a
fine voice to boot. Gavin, by the way, was born in Hong Kong and is a
violinist and an alumnus of the Royal Academy of Music, graduating last
year, so if the Princess ever turns Aladdin down, he can always turn to
busking in old Agrabah market place.
Adding to the international flavour we have
Desmonda Cathabel who hails from Jakarta and is a delightful Jasmine,
looking every inch a princess with a lovely voice and a real sassy
attitude.
They are the good guys so enter Adam Strong as
Jafar, the scheming, cobra staffed, advisor to the Sultan. Jo Servi’s
Sultan has a sort of half hearted regal authority – which evaporates
when headstrong daughter Jasmine is around taking no nonsense from
anyone including dad even if he is the sultan, so is hardly a challenge
Jafar's ambition.
Jafar is plotting to take over the Sultanate and,
without giving too much away, achieves his goal just in time to meet a
sticky end proving smoking really is bad for you. How or why it all came
about was lost on me, but, hey, the good guys won, everyone lived
happily ever after, so who cares. Jafar’s sidekick is Manila born Angelo
Paragoso as a somewhat rotund Iago, a Christmas pudding on legs bundle
of banality giving us an extra source of laughs.
Add in Nay-Nay as Kassim, Adam Taylor as Omar and
Nelson Bettencourt as the food obsessed Babkak and we have Aladdin’s
merry band of men, the trio of miscreants in his gang of street urchin,
and let’s mot beat around the bush here, thieves who are in a constant
fight with the palace guard who appear to be graduates of the Mack
Sennett Keystone Police Academy.
The musical follows the plot of the film, which
in truth, bears little relationship to the darker tale of Aladdin which
was added to One Thousand and One Nights in the 1700s, indeed
it is closer to the more common and more festive season perception we
have of the tale, with all that is missing being Widow Twankey, and that
is a problem. Perhaps it stems from the musical being an import from
Broadway where such things as panto are unknown, oh yes they are, oh no
they’re not etc.. . . . but falling between two stools, it can’t seem to
make its mind up as to whether it is musical theatre or traditional
panto, albeit a somewhat sophisticated panto at that.
Not that that
seemed to worry the audience who laughed at the right moments, cheered
along, loved the songs and oohed and aahed at the magic carpet and hats
off here to Jim Steinmeyer and Bob Crowley who designed the fabulous
illusion, which was created by theatrical spectacular masters TAIT. It
relies on clever lighting (Natasha Katz) and stagecraft, and, without
giving too much away, incredibly thin, spinning non reflective wires
attached to fans on the corners of the carpet and a machine on
tracks driving a computer controlled pulley system in the flies. It
really is a marvel of theatrical illusion to create a carpet moving,
rising, falling, turning and flying around the stage, well worth a round
of applause on its own.
There is a wonderful pace to Aladdin with no
pauses, a hard working ensemble who
give us everything from guards to belly dancers in director Casey
Nicholaw’s choreography and an excellent nine piece orchestra under
musical director Dave Rose along with a flexible and colourful set
design from Bob Crowley.
It might not be the Aladdin of the Arabian
Nights and it might have more than a hint of panto about it, but as a
family show bringing Disney’s smash hit 1992 film to the stage it
succeeds admirably with, as is the tradition in the tale, the help of a
genie. The lamp will be kept shiny and polished at the Hippodrome To 03-11-24.
Roger Clarke
10-10-24
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