How does it feel to play Genie in Disney’s live Broadway Musical on AladdinIJ
It is the best thing that has happened in my career so far. I’ve been associated with radio and acting for the past 20 years but the effort that has gone into playing Genie has been intense and I thoroughly enjoyed it. From acting and singing to dancing live in this two-and-a-half hour show has been a great learning experience and a challenge. Director Shruti Sharma, who’s been like a ringmaster, made sure we give our best.
How is it different from the movieIJ
Some changes have been made to adapt the animated movie on stage and fit it in the timeframe. Fantastic characters have been introduced. Instead of Abu the monkey, we have Aladdin’s friend Babkak (played by Soham Majumdar), Omar (Omkar Kulkarni) and Kassim (Keith Sequeira). You will not find these characters in the film. The entire show is magical and you will not realise how those two-and-a-half hours pass.
Did you see other Broadway musical shows to prepare for this oneIJ
I've lived and breathed the culture of Western musicals for years. So doing Aladdin, I feel at home. When I was a student at the london International School of Performing Arts, studying international theatre, I got to work in plays like Women in Black. I’ve had the privilege to perform at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in london which is like the Mecca for theatre actors, thanks to my director Atul Kumar who made Piya Behrupiya. All these experiences helped me play Genie convincingly.
What was the biggest challengeIJ
To sing those songs live on stage right after high-end acting and dancing. It was a huge task. The songs, composed by Alan Menken and Robin Williams immortalised them by singing it so well. I have sung live in the award-winning musical play Piya Behrupiya which has done more than 200 shows worldwide. So I knew what it is like but the singing required for Aladdin was altogether different. Moreover, there was a constant fear that people, who were coming to watch this Broadway musical, know the song well and if we go off the track, they would catch us. But it was our vocal coach Suzane D’Mello who prepared us thoroughly. I quit smoking and we practised for 13-14 hours daily.
What about dancing & singing liveIJ
Dancing with singing only happens in a Broadway musical. Bollywood is all about recorded songs. But when we did it live on stage, it came out so well that people couldn’t believe we were singing live. It was difficult to convince them that we were not lip syncing. Our dance coach Shampa, and Suzane are like our fight master and have put in a lot of effort to train us physically to keep up the stamina.
In animated movie, Genie never had feet but only a tail and used to keep flying in the air. How did you manage to do thatIJ
Our costume designer Gaviin spent a lot of time finalising Genie’s look. In the musical, it was not feasible to show Genie fly, we came up with the look of the feet in the cloud..
Any goof-up on stageIJ
There was a scene where Genie emerges from smoke laughing out loud. While doing that scene, smoke entered my mouth and laughter turned into coughing. There was another scene where I was dancing and by mistake fell down. But we didn’t stop and I improvised to jump back and continue with the show uninterrupted.
Any memories of the original AladdinIJ
The animated film is legendary and will remain with people for ever but for me, the only memory is of Robin Williams. He is my hero and I have looked up to him since Mrs Doubtfire. To be in his shoes is awesome.
What do you have to say about the trend of Broadway musicals in IndiaIJ
Our culture have been into live entertainment for centuries. It has been recently that people are looking at it from the Western point of view. As a theatre artist, I’m very happy with Disney to bring Beauty and the Beast and now Aladdin’s Broadway musical show. We wanted threatre to be appreciated like this and honoured for what it is.
Any Indian fairytale you would like to see as a Broadway musicalIJ
Haatim Tai would be nice in this genre.