Ágrabah, its market and its palace fit on the stage of the Coliseum Theatre, where ‘Aladdin’, the Disney musical, premieres on March 24in which its protagonist and Princess Jasmine fly over Madrid’s Gran Vía on their carpet, one of the most significant images of the film that the production incorporates.
The animated movie ‘Aladdin’ premiered in 1992, later the version with real characters would arrive where Will Smith gave life to the Genie. It has gone through Broadway, the West End, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hamburg and Stuttgart and now it comes to Spain starring Roc Bernadí (Aladdin), David Comrie (Genius), Jana Gómez (Jasmine) and Álvaro Puertas (Jafar). .
A version with which Thomas Schumacher, world president of Disney Theatrical, is very satisfied with the result and points out, this Thursday in an interview with EFE, that the Spanish production It has all the elements of the Broadway original.
New songs and new characters update the show, where, for obvious reasons, Rajah, the tigress and Jasmine’s best friend, disappears; Abu the monkey, Aladdin’s companion; and also Iago, Jafar’s parrot.
A total of 342 people from up to 26 workshops different people have worked on making the enormous costumes for the musical -one of her dresses has 8,644 Swarovski crystals- and 80 special effects They will help create the fantasy.
Schumacher assures that the main challenge is not to disappoint the expectations of the public that has seen the films, especially with the Genie, “which in the movie is blue and changes shape”.
Therefore, they decided to work with the original idea of the authors, and pose a character that evokes the Harlem jazz era of the 20s and 30s.
The actor David Comrie (Panama, 1984) is the Genius and does not disappoint. Both he and the rest of the protagonists went through a tough selection process, although those responsible already knew of his talent, since for a time he was Mufasa in ‘The Lion King’.
“He’s a wonderful character, comedic, with a lot of energy and very positive”notes Comrie, who has a ten-minute musical number, that he doesn’t want to be a copy of what viewers have already seen.
Roc Bernadí (Barcelona, 1997) is Aladdin, the protagonist, and he hopes to “contribute a grain of sand to the construction of this character. Being in a project like this is priceless,” he told EFE.
“They are iconic characters”emphasizes Jana Gómez (Barcelona, 1996), Jasmine, “and we are trying to maintain that essence, giving them truth, humanizing them so that people identify with them”.
The actress warns that her characters are in the theater version “braver, more independent, more mature, more empowered and with more decision-making power. That is her main objective in the whole show”, and ensures that any woman can feel identified with what happens to him.
Álvaro Puertas (Melilla, 1981) -Jafar- points out that “Aladdin is pure magic, a round show that will exceed the expectations of the public”.
Schumacher ends by saying how happy it makes him to walk down the Gran Vía and have ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Aladdin’ on the same street. “Perhaps in Spain they are not aware of the talent that comes together by having such great productions at the same time”.
