Aladdin (London) London Reviews and Tickets

“Nicholas' Genie is worth the price of admission in this slightly confused Disney almost-panto...Menken’s musical gives you the same things as a decent British panto ‘Aladdin’...It’s well done, but talk about selling coals to Newcastle: the humour hits the spot with Howard Ashman’s dry lyrics, but it lacks the inspired madness of, say, the Hackney Empire panto. Alongside the other big West End Disney musical, Taymor’s ‘The Lion King’, it struggles to establish a distinct, theatrical identity.”
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“There’s an original score...There’s no audience-participation, dodgy innuendos or slapstick. And we’re in a land of American accents. But at root it does exactly what the British pantomime does – takes an old folk-tale and drapes it in the tinsel of cheery comedy, cutesy romance, colourful designs and lively song and dance routines...For all the visual splendour, spry, yearning-filled lyrics and syrupy sounds, it barely rises above the generic; a cynic’s idea of Disney ‘magic’ at its blandest.”
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“The sheer bravura of the production papers over all the cracks. It has a kind of delirious silliness that makes you go with the flow, try as hard as you might to resist...The real star of the show is Crowley’s design...There's nothing subtle about any of it, and panto is never far away but there is a lot of mischievous warmth and production numbers that throw everything...into the sheer effort of making everything look, sound and feel as big, brash and all-embracing as possible.”
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“There’s no denying that Disney knows how to deliver quality family entertainment...The resources thrown at the stage here and the sheer sense of spectacle, is awe-inspiring...This is wish-fulfilment and requires a big suspension of disbelief, but the show also has its own distinctive dose of knowing irreverence...Menken’s irresistibly tuneful score is beautifully rendered...A staging that nails every number with brilliant showmanship.”
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“Impressive stage magic, a gold-dripping design and a party-loving genie make this energetic adaptation of the animated movie a wicked treat...I gradually found myself won over by the blend of spectacle, illusion and a greater supply of corn than you will find in the Kansas wheatfields...It is all nonsense but it is done with conviction by Casey Nicholaw, the director and choreographer, who bombards us with business."
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“There are some breathtaking special effects but the production has an old-fashioned feel as it attempts to combine Broadway razzle-dazzle, the vibe of a typical Bob Hope/Bing Crosby ‘Road’ movie and the stream of cheeky, self-referential humour that flows from Beguelin's script...Amidst the orgy of bling-flashing and scimitar-waving...it's the moments of mischief that charm rather than the attempts at the heartfelt.”
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“The main reason to see...'Aladdin' can be summed up in three words — Trevor Dion Nicholas...He is show-stealingly brilliant...It is hard to escape the feeling that Aladdin is a pantomime...Nicholaw’s big-budget production is packed with busy numbers, calculated to distract us from such details...Beguelin’s book is puckish and the same goes for the lyrics while Menken’s score is varied and zestful...This is a show with a well-judged air of mischief and spectacle.”
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“You get a lot of show for your money (though, it being a West End musical, you also pay a lot of money for your show). And that seems to be the guiding principle behind the enterprise: lots to ooh and ahh over, lots to whoop at and just generally lots. The first half alone is almost as long as the entire film. It’s not so much ‘Never mind the quality, feel the width’ as ‘The width is the quality’. It’s a show that’s sold by the yard.”
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