Disney is going to be launching an Aladdin stage musical in India this coming April, and it should be a great show for everyone that wants to attend. The play will be re-imagined so as to fit into Indian culture for the added enjoyment of the audience, but will be kept as close to the Broadway play as possible. The Mumbai National Centre for the Performing Arts will be the venue, where only a couple of years ago India featured its own version of Beauty and the Beast. It’d be interesting to see these plays from a different viewpoint to see how other cultures display them, if only to get another perspective.
The cast, as shown above, might seem fairly big to anyone familiar with the cartoon movie, but in truth if you think about it for just a moment you’ll understand that a great number of people are needed for a theater production. In Aladdin there are after all a great number of supporting characters that round out the cast and are not present at all times, but are still part of the story. If they keep the opening narration that individual alone sets the tone for the story, while others such as those in the market add a bit of realism to the production that is needed. Considering that the city and the palace would likely be bustling with merchants, servants, and all types of people there will be a good-sized cast that is required to round out every available part.
Even being a person that walks onto the stage but has no lines is a needed part in these type of productions, as they provide another presence that is necessary for the body of the story even if they don’t add much else to it. A stage production is far more like a live action movie than a cartoon that can have characters fade in and out constantly as the viewer worries more about individuals. Live action productions tend to need those background characters to make everything look a little more believable and sell the story, as there are no panning camera shots or narrow angles in a theater production. The eye takes in everything at once and decides which person to focus on, while at the same time still realizing that the background is there, people and all.
This production should go pretty well really since the theater is typically a great venue for such tales. The only difference will be how it is going to be made culturally relevant to those watching, which is quite natural since other plays have done the same. The Lion King has been known to keep certain parts of its production updated for different crowds and to keep it relevant to what the audience might like to see as well. Honestly there’s nothing wrong with pandering to the home crowd, it’s simply a nice nod to the local culture that tends to help people appreciate the play that much more.
