Aladdin's Clinton Greenspan on the Superhero Aspects of His Character

Clinton Greenspan remembers clearly what happened the night he performed the role of Aladdin on Broadway for the first time. The actor had had such a whirlwind journey at that point, having toured with the show for two and a half years. During the first act, he had a quiet moment on stage by himself, which is when he realized that he had finally made it to Broadway. “By the time ‘Proud of Your Boy’ came—my mother and my grandmother are like in the third row orchestra—I’m not afraid to say this, I cracked right away,” he told Broadway.com’s Paul Wontorek on #LiveAtFive. “I was so terrified that I was not gonna be able to get through that number, all the feels were building up so fast.” 

Greenspan has been performing in Aladdin since 2017, when he joined the original touring cast. He started off in the ensemble and was the Aladdin understudy for original star Adam Jacobs. (Coincidentally, Jacobs’ sister Arielle is currently starring on Broadway as Jasmine opposite Greenspan.) He remembers when he had to cover for Jacobs for the first time, “It was terrifying at first,” said Greenspan. “I consider myself lucky to have been able to take over for Adam and to be able to follow him 'cause he is a crazy professional. I looked up to him.” Greenspan eventually graduated to the role and played Aladdin for a year and a half on tour.

The young actor got his professional start in Texas: Greenspan grew up in Arlington, Texas—his family even had annual passes to Six Flags. He started off doing regional theater in Dallas and got cast in his first local production when he was 10. It was in 2015, while doing a show called Hot Mikado at Theatre Three, that he met his Genie, Major Attaway (Greenspan was in the ensemble while Attaway played the Mikado). Attaway grew up nearby in Fort Worth. 

The next time they performed together was during the Aladdin tour this past summer when the show stopped in Dallas; Greenspan was Aladdin, Attaway was Genie. Greenspan recalls that when the two saw each other again, “Right away, we hugged and it was just this the brotherly vibe that we got. And we were like, ‘Let's go. Let's see where this takes us,’” recalled Greenspan. 

Now they’re playing opposite each other again on Broadway, and their friendship has deepened along the way; they’ve also helped each other find more dimensions to their characters. For instance, Greenspan remembers one conversation they had, because the two are “comic freaks.” Attaway compared Aladdin to Thanos, the Marvel supervillain that tried (in the recent Avengers films) to wipe out half of all existence. “Thanos has his opinions of why he's doing what he's doing,” explained Greenspan. “You either agree with that, or you don't agree with that. And most of the world clearly does not agree with that.”

That’s not to say Aladdin is a sociopath, said the actor, “But it's kind of like breaking into Aladdin's intentions. Why is he doing it? Now, what if he actually did it for this reason, what if there was a level of selfishness? And by doing that, you kind of expand on these new thought processes and new beliefs of the character, which is important. I mean, even for a Disney piece, there is so much to explore. And so I consider myself lucky to be able to have those kind of conversations with my co-star.”

Aladdin is currently running on Broadway.

Watch the #LiveAtFive interview below.