Aladdin, the Genie, and What it Means to be First

Before diving into my review of why Aladdin is a fine show but the Genie is one of my favorite characters on Broadway, I should offer the following disclaimer. My girlfriend works for Disney Theatrical. She is a talented, intelligent, strong individual who is incredible in just about everything she does personally and professionally. Seriously—she is the best. I also saw Aladdin a couple of years before I met her, and I feel confident that this review is in no way influenced by my feelings for her. I felt the same things immediately after seeing the show, and I said the same thing to the few people who would let me tell the same story again and again before telling me to shut up.

In August 2014, I was given the opportunity to come to New York to interview at a few law firms for summer associate positions for the summer of 2015. It was a big deal as I knew if I did well in that position, I would be offered full time employment following graduation. I did phenomenal amounts of research—not on the law firms with whom I was interviewing (though I did a little on that to be fair)—rather I did unmatched research on what I wanted my first ever Broadway show to be. Would it be Phantom? I knew it was coming to Durham on tour, so that didn’t seem necessary. Would it be Lion King? That was a Broadway staple, but it also would be on Broadway for forever—not time sensitive. I looked deeper, read reviews, and made an overly complicated spreadsheet with positives and negatives. Ultimately, it came down to seeing either If/Then or Aladdin: Idina Menzel or one of my favorite childhood movies. Aladdin won.

I will never forget walking into the theater with my dad, and I will never forget the first few notes of the overture. I was finally on Broadway, and it was everything. Nothing could dampen my excitement—not the slightly ill-fitting suit, not the hours and hours of interviews previously that day, and not the loud child sitting behind me. Everything was perfect but what shined above all the rest was simply the Genie. James Monroe Iglehart—now playing Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton—was made for the role, and the role was brilliant. He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical that year and gave maybe my favorite short award speech ever and ended it with a “praise shout.”

I loved the show, but it was my first show. It will always be my first show, and when I told the story of it that day, the next day, and for the weeks and months that followed, I told everyone it was a flawless show. It had the sheen and glory of being first. And there’s nothing wrong with that. At its very best theater gives us an escape into other worlds, it connects with us emotionally—and despite the presupposition that something being “emotional” means “sad” let us not forget that joy is a pretty damn important emotion. It’s the reason Broadway is so much more than a street. Broadway is more than a thoroughfare. Broadway is Broadway.

I’ve seen the show twice since that fateful evening four years ago, and I can understand some of the critiques even if I don’t agree with them. The Genie, however, remains just as strong of a character to me—he really is brilliantly written. He’s funny, charismatic, and energetic turned up to 11. The set is fine though not particularly memorable—that being said the technology behind the flying carpet is wild, and I haven’t figured out how they do it still. It’s incredibly impressive. Jafar’s sidekick, Iago, is a man and not a parrot and the dynamic between the two of them is funny and well done. Some of the original critiques were over the chemistry or lack thereof between Aladdin and Jasmine—it is impossible for me to remember now as that was an afterthought to me, but maybe it not being memorable is saying something in itself.

Aladdin is still running, and I really would recommend it to anyone who wants to see a show. Even if you don’t feel any particular draw to Disney, the movie, or the story, you will appreciate the Genie. The Genie is, in my terribly not humble opinion, one of my all-time favorite individual characters I’ve seen on a Broadway stage. To say that the character topped the original, played by Robin Williams (one of the most brilliant comedians of our and any time), is saying something. But go watch Friend Like Me and tell me I’m wrong. You can’t.