Amaranta Entertainment presented ‘Aladdin — A Musical Journey’, a 9th Step Entertainment production, at the Phoenix MarketCity recently. The musical was nothing like what one had read or seen in the movies.
There was a sense of freshness and originality about the whole thing. The Indian twist given to the popular story of ‘Aladdin’ made all the difference.
The musical seemed like the perfect choice as it was watched not only by those who had bought the tickets but the shoppers too.
Based on the ‘Arabian Nights’ story, this version was a Broadway-style musical with genies and flying carpets.
Every actor was a trained singer and dancer.
The character of Jafar was played by Freddy Koikaran, who swiftly juggled with voice modulation.
The character of Aladdin was played by Gokul Anand, an acting graduate from LaSalle College of Arts.
Sharing his experience of being a part of the play, Gokul said, “This is perhaps for the first time that I played a character like Aladdin. What struck me most was the comical twist to the character. The script too had a lot of contemporary elements in it so that children and adults could relate to the play.”
Gokul states that another thing that attracted him to the character was the way it was written.
“It is original and doesn’t have any connection to the original Disney production. Everything from the story, songs and dance is our own,” he added.
The breath-taking visuals, dancing, colourful costumes and music too were
entertaining.
The musical is written by Sofia Ashraf, music is composed by Nithin D’mello and Nrithya Andrews.
It is directed by V Balakrishnan and choreographed by Vijay Victor Jesudoss, who started 9th Step.
Entertainment production along with Swati Sadhwani, in 2011. This is their third musical
production.
Vijay said that the choreography was kept modern. “Everybody prefers to watch something that is hilarious. You go to a play or a movie to have light-hearted moments and that’s what we have attempted in our play. We have incorporated the little things that we see and experience around us in our day-to-day lives,” explained Vijay.
Swati felt that all the hard work that went into pulling off this production had finally paid off.
“Long hours of practice and a lot of thinking has been invested in staging the production that is different from the usual. A lot of simple things have been added on to make a connection with the people. Looks like that clicked well,” she said.