They Know All About Live Action! Watching the Disney Movie Redo With the Broadway Stars of Aladdin

Fans of the classic 1992 Disney animated movie musical Aladdin have been gearing up for the live action remake since it was announced last year. Who wouldn't be excited for this redo, especially after the tremendous success of 2017's Beauty and the Beast? For the return to Agrabah, director Guy Ritchie was put at the helm, with rising screen stars Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott playing Aladdin and Jasmin, alongside Will Smith as the (fully blue, very buff) Genie.

Keep in mind, however, that there’s been a live action version of Aladdin on Broadway, playing out eight times a week on the stage of the New Amsterdam Theatre for the past five years. Broadway.com met up with the hit show’s current Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie—Ainsley Melham, Arielle Jacobs and Michael James Scott—to catch a screening of the new film and get their exclusive reactions once the credits rolled.

The first thing the stars took from seeing the world of Aladdin onscreen was inspiration, which they said they'd use to fuel their stage performances later that night. “I got a lot of great visuals from the marketplace and magic carpet ride,” Jacobs says. “I feel like I can take a lot of the imagery from what we just saw and really play off of that when we're on stage.” Melham says he felt reinvested in the story after viewing it as an audience member. “It's fun to see the story, to be a voyeur," he explains. "It's nice to sit and be reminded of how of how that feels, watching it.” On the other hand, due to the script differences between the animated, Broadway, and live action versions of Aladdin, Scott says it was a “mind trick” to watch the movie. “I actually at one point leaned over to Ainsley and was like, ‘I have to go over my lines!’” he laughs. 

Unlike the Broadway show, which includes several numbers written just for the stage, the new movie mainly sticks with the songs from the original animated film. Melham says he most missed his ballad “Proud of Your Boy." “The film works beautifully without it,” he says. “But personally, I love that song, and it'd be cool to see that on the screen." Jacobs welcomed Jasmine’s new song, “Speechless,” which comes from the Dear Evan Hansen and The Greatest Showman team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, working with original Aladdin songsmith Alan Menken. "Jasmine sings her song in her head and then comes back into real life with her new awareness," she says. "She has the courage to... get control of the kingdom again by speaking from her heart.”

Hear "Speechless," the new song by Alan Menken, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Another noticeable difference between the movies and the Broadway show is the supporting cast of sidekicks. On stage, Jasmine’s tiger Raja is absent and Aladdin’s adorable monkey Abu is replaced by a trio of bumbling friends, Omar, Kassim and Babkak. “It would be very different on stage to have those [animal characters],” Scott says. “I think it's really cool that we were able to do a different take." Jacobs says she was amazed by Abu and the magic carpet, who is very much a character. "When the magic carpet was torn up, I was so sad!" she says. "And then when the Genie fixed it, I was like, 'OK, I can live now.'"

With Aladdin following the live action Beauty and the Beast and beating the highly anticipated The Lion King live action remake to theaters by a few months, it got the trio thinking about other beloved Disney animated classics that could follow suit. "I'm obsessed with Pocahontas," says Scott. "I love me some Pocahontas. But I'm also very biased to Hercules because of the Muses. So, I would love to see that come to life in the most ridiculous way.” Jacobs cast her own vote for Pocahontas, but would add the musical Mulan into the mix as well (a non-musical Mulan remake hits theaters in 2020). As for the Broadway newcomer whose wishes come true every night as Aladdin? "I always have a soft spot for The Emperor's New Groove" says Melham. “It would be absurd onscreen, I'm sure!"

Aladdin opens in movie theaters everywhere on Friday, May 24.