At California Adventure’s Hyperion Theater, Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular played since 2003, just a couple of years after the park opened. It was based on the movie Aladdin, starring Robin Williams as the Genie. It closed this past Sunday. That’s a very long time for a show at the Disney parks.
We didn’t always see it when we visited, but every time we did, it was fresh and funny and enjoyable. The secret was the Genie, whose jokes were frequently updated for current events.
I found out few months ago that Aladdin would finally be closing on January 10 to make way for a new Frozen musical. I was — and remain — hugely disappointed. I’ve grown to loathe Frozen. It’s sucking the life out of everything at Disney.
We went to California Adventure on January 3, which was the last day we’d be able to see it. We had also gone to see it twice in November-December. Not every joke Genie told was new each time, but they changed often enough to make each show worth it. We got to the January 3 4:30 PM show too late to get in — the line was huge — so we waited in line for the next show. I’ve never waited so long for an old attraction, but this was worth it.
In honor of Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular, I’m linking two full YouTube video recordings of the final show, here and here. Each recording is of the same show, but from different seats.
Enjoy.
In the performance, after Genie makes Jafar the Sultan, he proceeds to name (first name only) all the actors who played Jafar, then all the actors who played Aladdin, and finally all the actors who played Genie. The last was Dylan (Dylan White), who was playing Genie for the final performance. He’s my favorite. Noel is the last (and current) Jafar and my favorite of the Jafars, and Eddie and Sam are the last two Aladdins, both of whom we saw in the past few shows. (Hard to pick a favorite of these.)