For those who feel that seeing live theatre is akin to riding a magic carpet, you may be interested to know that a stage musical version of Aladdin is coming to Toronto this November, making its world premiere at the Ed Mirvish Theatre. But before you dust off your VHS tapes to have Aladdin show you the world, here are six fun facts you may not have known about the 1992 animated flick.
- The character of Aladdin was based on a mash-up of celebrities, including Michael J. Fox, Tom Cruise and MC Hammer. Originally, the character of Aladdin was more similar to Fox, but he was eventually beefed up to resemble Cruise. MC Hammer’s inspiration came into play with the baggy trousers that Aladdin sports on the streets of Agrabah.
- Princess Jasmine was the first non-Caucasian Disney princess. Weirdly, while the film is full of other Arabian characters, Aladdin and Jasmine — the two protagonists — are among the few characters to possess Westernized-American accents.
- The role of Jafar was originally offered to Patrick Stewart, but he turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- The pop version of “A Whole New World” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1993. It was the first song from a Disney animated feature to do so.
- Robin Williams, who played the Genie, improvised 16 hours of material during his recording sessions. Because so many of his lines were improvised, Aladdin’s script was turned down for a Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award nomination.
- The Genie's celebrity impersonations include Ed Sullivan, Robert De Niro and Arsenio Hall; among the impressions that didn’t make the cut were George Bush Sr., John Wayne and Walter Cronkite.