Capitol Theatre, August 11
7.5/10
You’ve seen chandeliers, helicopters and whatever else once passed for spectacle on a stage. That was amateur hour. Aladdin has scenes to make your eyes grow out on stalks and coups de theatre to leave you lying awake wondering how they were done. Then again, what else would you expect when the story revolves around a magic lamp and genie?
Well, not just any old genie. In a musical comedy based on an animated film it is hardly surprising that most of the characters are cartoonish, but Michael James Scott imbues his Genie with such in-your-face charisma as to ensure the show has pizazz as well as spectacle. He is one of the US imports in this Disney production, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw using the Broadway designs of Bob Crowley (sets), Gregg Barnes (costumes) and Natasha Katz (lighting), plus a mostly local cast.
Ainsley Melham heads up the latter in the title role, doing a fine job of rubbing lamps, winning princesses and not losing his head in the process. The princess in question is played by American Arielle Jacobs, and the pair share perfect bodies and a hint of chemistry of a silent-movie variety.
Adam Murphy is a delightfully dastardly Jafar, the vizier, whose python-headed staff may well be called “Monty”, and he is ably assisted in his vile plots and evils laughs by Aljin Abella as Iago (now a person rather than the parrot of the film).
If they skipped shooting for a parrot the design and technical teams score a bullseye with their flying carpet, while the Cave of Wonders will live in the memory. The dancing, working hand-in-hand with Barnes’s opulent costumes, is exceptional, and the singing has no weak links.
Except for the songs. Written by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin (who also penned the often witty book), these include some highly engaging comedic numbers, often for Scott’s Genie. But as soon as the merest whiff of love clouds the air the music becomes overwrought tripe: mangled melodies that should never have survived the workshop phase. If Aladdin had songs as good as the sets it would be one of the great musicals. Instead it is immensely entertaining, astoundingly good to look at, and, if it rubs me the right way, will slay the kids.