When the reviews for Disney “Aladdin: The New
Musical Comedy” finally came in last night, with the New York Times
praising this production for its ” … relentless razzle-dazzle and its
anything-for-a-laugh spirit,” there was no one on this planet that was
more pleased & relieved than Chad Beguelin.
After all, it was Beguelin who – 5 years ago – was among the
first artists Disney Theatrical Productions reached out to when it was looking
to turn “Aladdin” into a full-length stage production. More to the
point, it was Chad’s
conversation with Alan Menken about how Disney’s 1992 Academy Award-winning
animated feature might possibly be adapted for the stage that suddenly turned this
show into something more.
Courtney Reed as Jasmine and Adam Jacobs as Aladdin as they sing “A Million
Miles Away,” a new song that Alan Menken & Chad Beguelin wrote for Disney
“Aladdin: The New Musical Comedy.” Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved
“Back then, there was absolutely no talk of taking
‘Aladdin’ to Broadway. Disney Theatrical had asked me to work up a possible
libretto for a stage version of this film only because all of these high school
& college theater departments kept writing in, asking if there was an
official script available for ‘Aladdin’ yet,” Beguelin explained during a
recent phone interview. “So the original goal here was to just put
together a straightforward stage adaptation of Disney’s ‘Aladdin.’ Something
that faithfully followed the storyline
of the original 1992 film which could then be licensed out to all of these high
schools & colleges. Maybe even a regional production or two.”
But when Chad
showed his first draft to Alan so that “Aladdin” ‘s Oscar-winner
composer script could then sign off this project, Menken saw something more. A
diamond-in-the-rough, if you will.
“Alan must have liked what he saw in that script.
Because the next thing I know, he’s talking about how we could maybe fold some
of the songs that he & Howard Ashman had originally written for the
animated version of ‘Aladdin’ into this proposed stage show,” Beguelin
continued. “That’s when Alan hands me this file folder which is just full
of Howard’s original story notes for ‘Aladdin.’ And then what was supposed to have
been this simple, straightforward stage adaptation of the animated ‘Aladdin’
suddenly became this whole other thing.”
James Monroe Inglehart in the role of the Genie in Disney “Aladdin: The new
Musical Comedy.” Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
And why was that exactly? Well, Howard’s original 40-page treatment for
“Aladdin” had had a far
different take on this tale from “1001 Arabian Nights.” Ashman originally
envisioned this animated feature as kind of
a riff on Bob Hope & Bing Cosby’s old “Road” pictures.
Which is why — because Howard wanted this film to have far more of a 1940s
feel — his original inspirations for the Genie were Fats Waller & Cab
Calloway.
Ashman also wanted this animated feature to be a real
departure for Walt Disney Animation Studios, to be the wildest, craziest,
funniest film that they had ever produced. Which is why he originally saddled
Aladdin with three comic sidekicks — Babkak, Omar & Kassim — not to
mention a constantly kvetching mother.
And back in late 1988 / early 1989, WDAS did actually put
this version of “Aladdin” into production. Only to then shut
production after a few months because they were just trying to cram too many
songs, characters and gags into a single 90 minute-long animated feature. So
Jeffery Katzenberg — the then-head of Walt Disney Studios — pulled Ashman
& Menken off of “Aladdin” and then put them to work on the
then-equally troubled “Beauty and the Beast.” Which — at that time
— wasn’t even a musical but more of a dark romantic animated fantasy.
Alan Menken and Howard Ashmen at a recording session for Disney’s “Beauty and
the Beast.” Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
But what no one knew at the time was that Howard was HIV
positive. Which meant that — by spending his remaining time on turning
Disney’s “Beast” into a musical — Ashman then wouldn’t get a chance
to revisit “Aladdin.” Find a way to make his “Road”
picture-inspired take on this material work.
But now with Disney Theatrical considering a stage
adaptation of this animated feature, here — finally — was a chance to revisit
Howard’s original vision for “Aladdin.” So Alan handed off that
folder to Chad
and asked him to consider folding this material into the show.
“So I took that folder back to Disney Theatrical. And
it was full of all of these great comic songs that were cut out of the animated
film. This wealth of material that could then be used to turn the stage version
of ‘Aladdin’ into a tribute to Howard Ashman’s genuis,” Beguelin
explained. “But in order to fold all of this stuff into the show —
Aladdin’s three sidekicks, all the restored songs — that first meant making
some pretty significant alterations to the story. And given that people were
going to be walking into this musical with certain expectations in their head
because they already had the film version of ‘Aladdin’ … That meant that the
stage version of ‘Aladdin’ was going to be this delicate balancing act. Where
we found ways to preserve the parts of this movie that audiences loved, while
— at the same time — carving out space for all these great new characters
& songs.”
(L to R) Adam Jacobs as Aladdin, Brandon O’Neill as Kassim and Brian
Gonzales as Babkak with the ensemble of Disney “Aladdin: The New
Musical Comedy” as they perform “Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim.”
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
Thus began the period Chad
now somewhat jokingly calls the “1001 Rewrites.” As Beguelin began
trying to find just the right balance between old & new. It took a pilot
production of the show in 2012 at the 5th Avenue
Theatre in Seattle — not to
mention a non-Disney produced regional production of “Aladdin” at the
Muny in St. Louis last summer — to
really get a handle on what needed to stay & go. But even as a radically
revamped version of “Aladdin” began its out-of-town try-out in Toronto
in December, Chad
& this show’s creative team were still making changes to its libretto, were
still moving around the placement of those Ashmen / Menken songs that had been
cut out of the movie.
“That’s why it was so great that we had Casey Nicholaw
as the director & choreographer of the stage version of ‘Aladdin.’ Because
Casey’s completely ruthless when it comes to his own work,” Chad
said. “Take — for example — the number we used to open the show with,
‘Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim.’ Casey’s original idea was to have Aladdin
& his three sidekicks open the show performing circus-style tricks while
they stood in front of the curtain singing these really funny Howard Ashman
lyrics. But when that didn’t wow the audience, Casey said ‘Okay. We’re going to
move the ‘Babkak’ number to later in the show, restage it with the entire cast
so it then has lots more energy. In the meantime, let’s restage the opening so
that we now have the Genie start off the show by singing ‘Arabian Nights.’
” So that’s what we did. We moved some songs around as well as writing a
new number for Jasmine. And by the time previews began in New
York City, the Genie was now opening the show by
leading ‘Arabian Nights,’ our new scene-setting opening number for ‘Aladdin’
.”
Truth be told, Beguelin wrote four new songs with Menken for the stage version
of “Aladdin,” “These Palace Walls,” “A Million Miles
Away,” “Diamond in the Rough” and “Somebody’s Got Your
Back.” All with an eye toward making sure that these tunes matched the style
& the tone set not only by the six songs that Alan wrote for the film with
Howard but also by “One Jump Ahead” & “A Whole New
World.” Which Menken actually wrote with Tim Rice for “Aladdin”
after Ashman passed away in March of 1991.
(L to R) Chad Beguelin, Casey Nicholaw and Alan Menken onstage at the New
Amsterdam Theatre for the opening night of Disney “Aladdin: The New
Musical Comedy. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
And in the end, that five years of hard work paid off this past Thursday
night. With critics like Charles Isherwood at the New York Times praising
“Aladdin” for its ” … extravagant musical numbers” which
” … pay energetic tribute to everything from the Cotton Club and Las
Vegas to vintage Hollywood and current Bollywood.”
And all of this happened because — when Alan Menken looked at Chad Beguelin’s
script for a stage version of Disney’s “Aladdin” — he saw a
diamond in the-rough.