From left: Adam Martino, Brady Van Vaerenbergh, Andrew Perry and S J Hall.
By Umer Nangiana
This story has been told hundreds of times with multiple variations. From one storyteller to the other, this Middle Eastern folklore from the book of One Thousand and One Nights has always fascinated its target audience.
In fact, the folklore became so popular that the story of Aladdin was made into an animated musical fantasy film by Walt Disney in 1992. Children simply love Aladdin, wherever he is and whatever he does. And this time, the clever boy with his genie from the magical lamp took children along on his adventures at the City Center mall here in Doha.
Together they retrieved the magical lamp, flew on the magical flying carpet and unleashed the genie of the lamp. Created and directed by Alan Kinsella of Creativiva from Canada, the fun-filled and enthralling show Aladdin drew in huge crowds every time it was staged since the first day of Eid.
Held as part of the five-day Eid al-Adha celebrations organised by Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) across the country, the short musical show presented Aladdin in a new colour but the same spirit. In his adaptation of the original Disney story, Kinsella had kept enough space for cast to involve children, their audience, into the act. And they did it fluently.
“The children here have been great. They have been really responsive and that made our job easier. The story has been adapted to fit a smaller stage and small time period. There are a few different plot lines that are missing and characters that are not included that you would see in the Disney production,” Andrew Perry who played the Genie in the play, told Community.
“We have done it with a cast of eight people for the characters as Aladdin, Jasmine, Jafar (the Vizier) and the genie and then we have four multi-purpose characters, two male and two female, that play a variety of roles. So certainly the main story has been adapted but the main plot of Aladdin remains,” adds the young actor.
It was Kinsella’s job to adapt the story, said Perry, and then the actors came in to lift the script. It was made more children friendly and more approachable for the children here in Qatar. “But it is still the same Aladdin that the children know and love,” he explained.
“What I think is most interesting about our show comparatively is that it is so much more interactive which is so exciting for the children for they get to participate and become part of the show themselves,” said Adam Martino, who played Prince Dashing, Guardian and Spirit.
The level of children’s interaction varied every night and for every show depending on how involved they wanted to be. But for the most part, they are involved and the cast had not to do extra amounts of work to get them excited, said the members of the cast.
“Actually the children in Qatar have been one of the most excited and interactive audience that we have had. It has been great,” said S J Hall, the co-ordinator of the show.
Martino said it was important with children’s theatre to be incredibly animated and really draw the children in and get them involved in the presentation. He said he has worked as a professional several plays and musicals back in Canada.
“My mother is actually a professional dancer back in Canada and as soon as I could walk, she had put me in dance and I have grown up on it. It has kind of been my life since I was young and I have been doing it ever since and I love to do it. It is what makes me who I am,” said the actor.
His co-actor Perry comes from an artistic family. His great grandmother and grandmother were involved in the arts and he was inspired by them to pursue this as a career. “It was always a natural ability for me. My parents put me into singing and acting at a very young age and so it was a natural progression. It was not hard to decide that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” said Perry, the genie from Aladdin.
Their colleague, Brady Van Vaerenbergh, who played Jafar said he wanted to do musicals since the first time he saw one with his parents. “I always wanted to do musical theatre. It was amazing that people would pay me to do this,” said the actor.
Hall was here in Qatar with a different show, The Little Prince, on the last Eid as well. Though it was a smaller audience then, this time Hall said the audience was louder and bigger, and her team enjoyed it.
She thanked QTA and City Center for having them here and making things easier for them with all the arrangements.
