It Begins on a Dark Night...

Actually it's July and it was early evening, so it probably wasn't all that dark, but I'm running out of appropriate quotes so it'll do!

Aladdin: The New Stage Musical will be raising the curtain on it's second performance soon, but here's a quick look at what some people have been saying about the opening night starting with Princess Jasmine herself, Courtney Reed;



Courtney Reed as Princess Jasmine, Photo by Mark Kitaoka

 "The audience is going wiiiiiiillllld!!!!!" - Courtney Reed (@RhodesReed) via Twitter

"Our first preview last night was THRILLING! It's obviously too early to celebrate but I've never heard an audience go that wild!" - Andrew Keenan-Bolger (@KeenanBlogger) via Twitter

And here's a taste of what people are saying on 5th Avenue's facebook page;

"Saw the performance last night - it was a great first show! Sound was good, costumes are fantastic and love all of the cast especially Mr. James Monroe Iglehart"

"Saw the show last night!!! AMAZING job! Can't wait to come back! :)"

"Absolutely love Aladdin! ... Cast was great and the big numbers were fantastic!"

"What a magical carpet ride of a show! We enjoyd ourselves so very much! It was delightful to see so many captivated young theatre goers...truly a show for all ages!"


Tsom over at Ultimate Disney has also found a song list for the show, posted here!!!

ACT ONE
Overture
Arabian Nights
Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim
One Jump Ahead
One Jump Ahead, Reprise
Proud of Your Boy
Arabian Nights, Reprise 1
Call Me a Princess
Call Me a Princess, Reprise
Why Me
A Million Miles Away
Arabian Nights, Reprise 2
Friend Like Me
Arabian Nights, Reprise 3
Act 1 Finale (said to be a reprise of Friend Like Me for the Prince transformation followed by a reprise of Proud of Your Boy)

ACT TWO
Prince Ali
A Whole New World
High Adventure
Somebody's Got Your Back
Wedding Day Suite (said to be a bit of everything including an extended Prince Ali, Reprise)
Finale Ultimo (said to be reprises of Somebody's Got Your Back, Arabian Nights and A Whole New World)

Now obviously things can change between now and when the show officially opens in 2 weeks.  Songs could be altered, cut, extended or replaced depending on how well audiences respond, but right now that's the show!

It's interesting to see how close together "One Jump Ahead, Reprise" and "Proud of Your Boy" are.  Given these could both be seen as Aladdin's "I want" song, where the character bares his soul and reveals his inner desires, I'd expected them to be further apart.  But thinking about it I can see the sense in having them next to each other.

I LOVE that the "Arabian Nights Reprises" are in the show! The first could be the same as the demo (or totally different, I don't know!) but the second would need some tweaking (unless the fake uncle plot has been restored) and the third would need to be totally diffrent given the original demo featured Aladdin in prison and sang about "rats in your cell"!

I was kinda hoping that Jasmine's solo "To Be Free"  from Aladdin: The Musical Spectacular would be in the show, but I'm sure "Call Me a Princess, Reprise" fills the same spot in the story and probably flows better than a completely new song at that point.  Also notable by its absence is "How Quick They Forget", with the return of Babkak, Omar and Kassim, I really thought they'd add all their songs back in.

I'm practically bursting to hear the new songs (especially the reprise of "Proud of Your Boy" in the "Act 1 Finale").  Here's hoping The 5th release official previews soon!

"High Adventure" must have gone through some changes given the original demo features the characters riding back to Agrabah to save Jasmine (or I guess Abby could be the "damsel in despair" refered to in the original story) which would probably have placed it after "Wedding Day Suite" as Aladdin heads back (is the ends of the earth even in this version?) to rescue Jasmine.  Whatever changes I really want to hear this song, it's one of my favourites from The Music Behind the Magic!

And I can't wait to hear "Finale Ultimo" (please release a CD!!) and listen to how they've combined the original "Arabian Nights, Reprise 4" (eventually used in Aladdin and the King of Thieves and being used at the end of my wedding reception!) and the film's finale version of "A Whole New World"!  What I'd give to have a copy of that to play at the end of my wedding reception next week!

Well it's 1am here, so "I'd better go home and rest"!  But before I do there's one last comment I want to share with you.  This one says it all;

"First preview of ALADDIN last night. Soooo much fun! Everyone is so happy. Howard lives again thanks to Casey, Chad and the whole team..." - Alan Menken (@AlMenken) via Twitter