Aladdin moves closer to opening night in Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater

Disney Theatrical and Seattle’s 5th Avenue theater have been workshopping a Broadway scale stage musical production of Aladdin. It’s moving into its final nights of dress rehearsal preparing for a July 7th bow and the stakes are high. Depending on how well Seattle’s audiences receive the show, it could find itself on Broadway next year or relegated to community and high school theaters.

They’re moving away from the bombastic performances of the animated film, the genie is more Cab Calloway than Robin Williams, and back to traditional Broadway style dong and dance:

They hope to trade on colorful, old-school, song-and-dance pizazz, from more than a dozen catchy tunes (a few new, most penned for the film), appealing characters and frisky shtick.

“We aren’t doing a million special effects,” says the director. “We want the show to be human and have a big, buoyant feel, mainly through dance and creative stuff.”

“The end result is going to be spectacular, but not expensive spectacular,” says 5th Avenue executive producer and artistic director David Armstrong. “I think the audience will feel, ‘Wow, that was amazing!’ But creativity is what’s going to make it spectacular.”

I wish them luck. Disney is much in need of a new hit for New York. Perhaps a rub of the lamp will get them there.

More on the show at the Seattle Times.