Facts You May Not Know About Aladdin Part 2!
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Harriet Hards
Disney’s Aladdin is flying into the West End via magic carpet, ready to show audiences a whole new world! It has wowed audiences across the pond and soon the British public will be able to enjoy the timeless story and showstopping musical numbers. To prepare for this highly anticipated arrival, we’ve assembled 20 facts you might not know about Aladdin and the film that inspired it. Here's Part 2, check out Facts You May Not Know About Aladdin Part 1 here!
11) The Aladdin song lyrics were written by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and the score was written by Alan Menken, the musical genius behind other Disney masterpieces such as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
12) Howard Ashman was the original Aladdin lyricist writing three songs with Alan Menken. Ashman wrote “Friend Like Me”, “Arabian Nights” and the “Prince Ali” lyrics but sadly passed away soon after. Tim Rice took over for the other Aladdin lyrics, “One Jump Ahead” and “A Whole New World”.
13) The songs from Aladdin were so popular that the score won Oscars and the most iconic Aladdin song, “A Whole New World”, even won a Grammy for Song of the Year!
14) In the “Friend Like Me” Aladdin lyrics, there is a reference to Scheherazade, the original author of the “One Thousand and One Arabian Nights” stories from which Aladdin is drawn.
15) Howard Ashman also wrote the lyrics to “Proud of Your Boy” and two other songs that were cut from the film, luckily these songs are included in the musical adaptation!
16) Many of the Aladdin musical songs are featured in the “Magic Carpets of Aladdin” ride at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
17) The musical adaptation premiered in Seattle in 2011 and played in Utah, St Louis, Toronto, and even in Columbia and the Philippines before transferring to Broadway in 2014.
18) Genie was played by James Monroe Iglehart in Aladdin on Broadway, reviews for which praised his showstopping performance in “Friend Like Me”.
19) Iglehart’s performance won him a Tony award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2014.
20) The special effects in the musical version were created by master illusionist, Jim Steinmeyer, the man who helped David Copperfield make the Statue of Liberty disappear.