THEATRE REVIEW: Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular - Hyperion Theatre, Disneyland, Anaheim, Los Angeles.

This was a professional and authorised video posted on Youtube of the 2016 production at The Hyperion Theatre at Disney California, Anaheim, Los Angeles. Perhaps then I am somewhat late to the party on this, having only ever seen the superb Disney film of this musical, or perhaps it is because the Disney version, despite being on London's West End since about thr same time (2016), has not toured the regions... yet. However, with coronavirus still raging and theatres still in the dark, I needed some theatrical magic to lighten my mood this morning, and so turned to YouTube and found this gem.

This is an extremely slick and entertaining children's version of the show which lasts less than 45 minutes; however the production values and the quality of the mise-en-scene was superb. We had magic, flying, haze-a-plenty, trap doors, puppets, and goodness knows what else to visually stimulate and amaze. The sets and costumes were also colourful and in keeping with what one would except from such a show. And I really admired the very likeable anthropomorphised magic carpet.  

Perhaps though, somewhat predictably, a couple of the accents and comments from the characters fell a little flat since they were Amereican jokes for an Amrican audience. This was particularly obvious with the role of the Genie, who was undoubtedly channelling Robin Williams throughout his upbeat and enigmatic performance. He peppered his dialogue with ad-libs and jokes which were contemporaneous to 2016, (but not Aladdin), and were there to entertain and make the children laugh, which they did. American pop stars and film stars, and those of more universal fame were all the butt of the genie's humour. It was American humour for an American audience and so I cannot blame him or the company, and somehow I could only liken this style of performance to our own pantomime. It wasn't panto, but it was probably as near as the US gets to it. 

The cast had the audience in the palm of their hands, and the audience was loving it. A colourful and fantastical production, with good and solid acting and singing throughout, which made me pine for live theatre again. 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall

on - 10/10/20