OnTheGround: A Whole New Value

First published January 28, 2003

By C. W. Oberleitner

C. W. Oberleitner (the one, the only, accept no substitutes, Diz Biz) checks in with a review of "Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular" as well as his thoughts on what impact this exciting new mini-musical may end up having on DCA.

For years now when it came to wintertime getaways from the icy climes of the Midwest and Northern tier of states, Walt Disney World in Orlando was by far the better value of the two U.S. Disney theme park destinations. While Disneyland was and is a favorite vacation spot, it often came up short in terms of bang for the buck between the months of January and May when compared to all the attractions Walt Disney World had to offer.

Shortly after the holiday season Disneyland reduces its operating hours. This is also the time of year that several big attractions are routinely taken out of service for maintenance and refurbishment. So while it is true that the crowds are thinner and the lines for rides shorter, Winter guests traveling to the Magic Kingdom from beyond the Southern California area have in the past found themselves paying full price for less to do and see and less time to see and do it in. Now thanks in part to some miscalculation on the part of the Disney Company, a change in American travel habits, and a wonderful musical score by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, that all may be changing.

This past week saw the opening of Disney's Aladdin A Musical Spectacular at the Hyperion Theatre located in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot section of Disney's California Adventure theme park. If the crowds lined up for Saturday's four performances and the enthusiastic audience responses during the two performances I attended are any indication, The Disneyland Resort, in Anaheim, may be gearing up to take on its big sister in Orlando as a prime wintertime destination.

About Aladdin

It's big, it's bold, it's beautiful and audiences seem to love it. For those of you who may have missed some of the story of how a theme park show could generate this kind of media attention, here is a brief description of the show's origin.

In the early 1990s The Walt Disney Company made the decision to turn Disneyland into the Disneyland Resort by adding a second theme park and a variety of other shopping, dining and entertainment venues, all of which was to be built around the original Disneyland park. The second park became Disney's California Adventure or DCA. While much has been written about the changes that took place between DCA's initial concept and its final form, one thing remained constant from the very beginning. Tucked away in the back corner of the Hollywood Pictures Backlot section of DCA was a 2,000 + seat, state of the art multi-purpose theatre.

Dubbed The Hyperion Theatre -- presumably named after the location of Walt Disney's first Los Angeles studio -- from the very beginning it was intended to provide the WDC with a venue from which a variety of theatrical ventures could be crafted, refined and tested. In between such projects it would be used for special events and play host to "Disney Style" theme park shows.

After a rocky start that saw audiences eschewing the theatre's first offering -- a pastiche of classic Disney songs built around a modern day, MTV like, kid friendly, story called Steps In Time -- and disappointing attendance figures for DCA as well, the Aladdin musical project was announced by Disneyland management. Although never officially confirmed by the WDC it has been assumed from the start that, like the Tony award winning Lion King and Beauty and The Beast, and given its nearly eight million dollar budget Aladdin would, if successful with DCA audiences, become a future Disney Broadway musical offering.

Furthering speculation that the ultimate future for Disney's Aladdin A Musical Spectacular lies beyond The Hyperion are the impressive credentials of its creative staff. Based on Walt Disney Pictures 1992 animated feature, Aladdin was brought to the stage under the supervision of Disneyland Executive Vice President, of Creative Entertainment, Anne Hamburger. Ms. Hamburger herself the former artistic director of The La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California assembled a formidable team for the project.

In addition to the original score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman -- with new lyrics by Tim Rice -- the production staff of Aladdin A Musical Spectacular reads like a who's who of contemporary American film and musical theatre production. It includes Olivier Award winning director Francesca Zambello. Other members of the production team are Titanic, Chess and now Aladdin choreographer Lynne Taylor – Corbett, as well as stage and film scribe Chad Beguelin, writer.

With its inventive staging, audience pleasing special effects and wonderfully executed musical numbers the stage version of Aladdin is proving to be at least as popular with critics and audiences as the animated feature film upon which it is based. I'm not a theatre critic but I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I enjoyed the two thirty show so much that I went back and stood in line for more than an hour to catch the final show of the day. And this proved to be very informative.

Disney's Aladdin has four forty minute shows a day, seven days a week. This necessitates the need for multiple casts. In the program there are two performers listed for each principal character, Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie, Jafar, etc. In addition, each principal performer has two understudies. And, there are dozens of performers listed in the Ensemble.

By seeing the show twice in one day I was able to see performances by nearly all of the principal performers. It was very much like seeing two interpretations of the same play by different production companies. Each was excellent and both offered a little something that the other did not. For example, Nick Santa Maria and Orville Mendoza do superb jobs as the manic Blue Genie. Both have wisely chosen not to try and recreate Robin Williams' vocal performance from the film. Each man puts his own stamp on the role and both take advantage of their own personalities, similarities and differences to great effect.

One Genie is a bit fuller of figure than the other and gets off a great line about indulging in too many churros. Being a long time favorite Disneyland snack this gets a big laugh. The second Genie also gets a big laugh delivering a Fran Drescher like "talk to the hand." It's virtually impossible to accurately credit these two men because the program only tells you who they are and not which performance they are in.

It is still early in the run of the show and even with many weeks of rehearsals and previews there are still a few minor glitches. At one point during the lavish A Whole New World flying carpet ride production number both Aladdin and Jasmine are completely obscured, spending more time out of sight than in, by an over abundance of stage fog. This was true during both of the performances I saw. It is also clear that some performers are more comfortable with the use of flying gear than others. This last item will only be apparent if you catch different casts at different performances as I did. In either case neither problem is enough to deter one's overall enjoyment of the show.

Logistics

As with any new Disneyland Resort attraction some planning before attempting to see Aladdin is advised. If you hate crowds and spending a lot of time waiting in line I suggest you visit DCA and attend a performance or two of Aladdin on a weekday. The Hyperion staff and management are still working out the best way to accommodate large crowds while at the same time making it possible for DCA guests to enjoy the park and not spend hours waiting in line to see the show.

At present the following is true. Each morning shortly after DCA opens several Hyperion ushers – you can't miss them they're in classic red theatre usher costumes – set up a table under DCA's replica of the Golden Gate Bridge in the main entryway of the park. At this table they give out tickets to that day's four performances of Aladdin.

The ticket only guarantees that you will be admitted to the theatre for a specific performance and does NOT guarantee where you will be sitting during the show. The importance of this will be clear in a moment. There are NO assigned seats in The Hyperion.

Following some reconfiguration to accommodate an elephant The Hyperion has 1,899 seats available for each performance. The staff distribute between 600 and 1,400 tickets per show reserving the theatre's remaining capacity for the "standby" line. So, even if you don't get there before all the tickets are given out you still have a chance to see a show that day. You will, however, need to be in the standby line at least forty-five minutes before the show starts.

On the Saturday I attended the standby line was beginning to form nearly an hour and a half before the two thirty show. I arrived ninety minutes before the six fifteen show and there were already several hundred people in line ahead of me. What was even worse was that guests with tickets and guaranteed entry to the show were also already in line.

Here is the problem. The idea behind giving out advanced tickets to each day's performances is similar in concept to the Fast Pass program available for DCA and Disneyland's most popular attractions. The idea is that if you have a ticket that guarantees you admission to a specific show you will be free to enjoy the park until say thirty to forty minutes before show time instead of spending hours standing in line making sure that you get in to see the show. Due to the fact that a ticket only guarantees admission and not seating location guests with tickets queue up in advance of each performance nearly as early as the guests in the standby line.

At this time information about Aladdin ticket distribution does not appear on the Disneyland Resort website nor is it mentioned in the Guide to The Magic handouts given to guests as they enter either of the two theme parks. Hyperion staffers that I spoke with told me that this coming week there would be meetings with park management to discuss ways of improving upon the current system.

You should know this about The Hyperion Theatre. There are NO bad seats. Virtually every one of its seats has a full and unobstructed view of the stage. Thanks to its state of the art sound system even whispered dialogue reaches the last row of the house with the same intonation it was spoken. That having been said, some sections of The Hyperion are better than others for seeing Aladdin.

Here's a brief guide for choosing a seat for Aladdin. The house for the Hyperion is divided into three sections, Orchestra at stage level, Mezzanine one level up from the stage and Balcony. Like most theatres the seats in the Hyperion's balcony are steeply raked and high above the stage. The main body of the show takes place on stage, and Prince Ali's processional within the orchestra seating area. The flying carpet sequences take place high above the audience.

Orchestra seats offer great close up views of the main stage production and are an excellent place to watch the Prince Ali processional. They do make it difficult to see the flying carpet sequences. Sitting in the Hyperion's orchestra seats your view of the flying carpet can be obscured by the overhanging mezzanine. If you are sitting further down toward the stage the scene is directly above you. This requires you to twist and crane to tilt your head far enough back to see little more than the bottom of the carpet.

The balcony seats afford a great view of the flying carpet sequences. As previously discussed the stage is clearly visible and the sound is excellent. Some of the show's magic is lost because the balcony also provides a great view of trap doors opening and closing as well as some other effects. In addition the balcony is a one hundred and one stair step climb. There is an elevator for those requiring assistance.

All of this has made the mezzanine the most popular place to see Aladdin. You get a pretty good view of Prince Ali's processional. The whole stage is easily seen. You aren't so high up as to be distracted by the special effects and you are just high enough to still be able to appreciate the flying carpet. Your actual view of the carpet scenes will vary depending upon how far back you are sitting.

Word about the advantages of seeing Aladdin from The Hyperion's mezzanine seems to have spread. The mezzanine was the first place most ticket holders sprinted for upon being admitted to the seating queues. At the two performances I attended the mezzanine was also the first section filled to capacity.

Winter at The DLR

So add it all up. Let's say your kids are old enough to take care of themselves or you're empty nesters. By late January or early to mid February you're sick to death of snow and freezing temperatures.

By the way, did I mention that it was sunny and eighty-six degrees the Saturday I visited the DLR. The overnight low was higher than the daytime high in Orlando.

With the opening of Disney's Aladdin A Musical Spectacular, two theme parks and the additional shopping, dinning and entertainment attractions of Downtown Disney it makes a winter getaway to The Disneyland Resort a whole new value.

C'ya real soon!