• アラジン (Aladdin)

8/8/15 (Sat), Tokyo

I had heard good things about this production of Aladdin, which is completely sold out for nearly a year in advance. I’m always wary of the Gekidan Shiki group because of its Kabuki-like acting style, but as a fan of the movie and still not having seen the show on Broadway, I accepted quickly when a friend came up with a last-minute ticket. His tickets came apparently from a fan from Shizuoka who is seeing this for her seventh time and had two extra seats. I was surprised at the relative lack of children in the audience, but I suppose normal families have no chance against the many rabid Shiki fans like her who are willing to travel an hour and a half on the Shinkansen dozens of times to see the same show. A sad fact for theater fans, but Disney (whose The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid are also successfully managed in Japan by Shiki) must be laughing all the way to the bank.

The show is an excellent transition from film to stage. I could have done without Aladdin’s sappy reminiscences of his dead mother, which I don’t remember from the film, and while they did jettison Aladdin’s irritating monkey for three nicely varied human friends, Jafar’s parrot is now a sitcom companion who inherits all the bird’s flat one-liners. Very lazy writing. But the Genie successfully channels Robin Williams’ wild performance from the film, and they’ve gotten rid of Jafar’s hypnosis sideline for a more convincing portrayal, though he’s still pretty much the stock Disney villain. Aladdin and Jasmine are very attractively portrayed, making the romantic side of the story innocent but perfectly plausible.

Still, the story is less the point than the dazzling staging: one spectacular set tops another, the costumes are glittery and flamboyant (and revealing), the outrageously inventive dances – which include chases, processions, fight sequences and more – cleverly recycle the performers to make it look like a huge cast, and there are staging and magic effects galore, including a breathtaking flying carpet sequence. They featured many scenes in front of the curtain to allow for the set changes, but it was all very smoothly handled with never a dull moment. The Genie makes his appearances variously via trap doors, flashes of smoke and other effects that really do make him seem magical. Technically the show left nothing to be desired. The mid-sized theater was almost too small to handle it.

The Genie (瀧山久志) didn’t have the manic unpredictability of a Robin Williams, the sense of making the part up as he went along. But he was high-spirited and kept events moving at a good clip. He was a big plus for the evening. Aladdin (島村幸大), while not straying too far from the Shiki mold acting-wise, was agile, young, fit and (not always the case in these shows) a good singer. He was a bit small for the role – I do wish they had at least found a shorter Jasmine – but his energy won me over. Jasmine (三井莉穂) and Jafar (牧野公昭) were more standard Shiki fare. Aladdin’s three newly created sidekicks were given specific personality traits that they played up very well, including an enjoyable fight sequence that gave each of them a chance to shine. This was the best film-to-stage change, and they all did a great job. The only actor I could have done without was Jafar’s sidekick, who combined a dumb part with the worst of Shiki acting.

Best of all, though, was the chorus. The hard-working cast had to switch among multiple roles and costumes throughout the show in crowd scenes, dances and speaking parts, with little down time. They managed to project a sense of individuality and fun rather than the usual mechanical style of bit Shiki players, and were terrific dancers to boot. I didn’t expect that at all. I found out afterwards that this is the first Shiki show that did not involve the aging founder Asari Keita, which makes me think that Disney must have kept a tight rein on this one. Hope that marks a new trend.

The book worked well in translation, and the Japanese lyrics were quite good, as usual with Shiki shows. The new songs fit wonderfully with the existing material, a big contrast with Menken’s The Little Mermaid – reflecting, I assume, his far superior lyricists for the non-Ashby songs here. Setting aside the depressing addition of Aladdin’s dead-mother worship (does he really need this fake Motivation?), the show was aiming at nothing but sheer entertainment, and it delivered. I noticed that it shared with The Lion King lots of naked bodies, which the audience (at least 80% female) must have loved, and a flying sequence. And they actually improved on that show in both counts. About as good a transfer from the movie as could be imagined in a surprisingly strong production. Bravo.