Aladdin Broadway theatre

A popular show at the Broadway Theatre: Aladdin

A popular show that has been seen recently and continues to draw crowds at the Broadway Theatre is Aladdin. It is primarily a love story that explores the desire for wealth and power, and it brings together all the resources necessary for success, including the use of magic. The majority of the elaborations take place in dance and music. The idea of staying true to oneself is explored in great detail throughout the play. Being true to oneself is the act of accepting who one is and being content without the desire to be like other people (Wolf, 2017). It is quite a task to achieve such a trait due to the desire to gain more that is in all human beings. The first instance of being true to oneself is when Aladdin decides to reform from being an ordinary thief. He changes after noticing that he had a yearning desire to be rich which was making him cause unrest to other people by stealing their property. The desire was robbing his ability to be proud of whom he was and thus not being faithful to him.

Jasmine's struggle: A conflict between desires and staying true

Jasmine, who is also a main character in the play, is also affected by her desires and goes to extents that deny her the ability to be true to herself. The first instance is when she gets tired of waiting for her rightful suite in marriage. The Sultan, her father, is working tirelessly to get a groom for her who is by her standards but she sneaks out and falls in love with Aladdin who is just a mere street boy. She is not true to herself as her rightful partner should be one who is of a royal family just like hers (Wolf, 2017). The same case can, however, be twisted to show how true she was to herself by following what her heart wanted and settling for it. She falls in love with a cunning young man who has just reformed from being a thief, and she pays for nothing else but him. Through the play, several instances show the sacrifice that both Aladdin and Jasmine undertook just to make sure they were together.

The Sultan's decision: Staying true to himself

The sultan is also featured in cases where he makes decisions that show how true he is to himself. In the better part of the play, the sultan is against the thought of having Jasmine getting married to Aladdin. He remains with the notion up until the end of the play when Aladdin makes a wish to become a prince, and it happens (Wolf, 2017). The Sultan is right to himself and to the standards that he had set on not marrying off his daughter to a groom who is not of a royal family.

Jafar's deceit: A lack of being true to oneself

Jafar portrays traits that show the lack of being honest with himself. He keeps changing things that will lure Jasmine to him. He is not confident of himself and decides to use wits and sorcery in attempts to win over Jasmine's love. He lets his desires drift him out of the road to actions that are meant to hurt Aladdin just to fulfill his wishes.

The genie's conflict: Struggling with being true to oneself

The genie also ruins the whole idea of being true to oneself as he gives both Aladdin and Jafar the chance to be people they are not through the wishes. Both Jafar and Aladdin get the opportunity to possess the genie, and they both get the opportunity to have three wishes which would magically come true. They both use their wishes to change their current statures and therefore pretend to be people they are not. Jafar uses one of his wishes to become the greatest sorcerer there was, and Aladdin uses his last wish to be a prince. This shows they fail to embrace themselves and whatever they currently possess.

The genie also showed qualities of being true to himself by fleeing to the desert where he was to reside until another person could find him and have their wishes granted. The majority of the audience would expect that after being set free, the genie would also have the desire to accumulate wealth and power, but he proves everyone wrong by sticking to what he knew was right and being honest with himself.

Aladdin's transformation: The struggle to stay true

In the climax of the play, Aladdin uses his last wish to become Prince Ali. He prefers to change himself and become a prince so that the Sultan could give him Jasmine as his bride. It works for Aladdin since he is now able to get a royal title, meaning he had some power, and also the girl of his dreams by his side. Aladdin proves that he was not contented with who he was and was therefore not true to himself.

The theme of being true to oneself

This play has the above and several other instances where the theme of being true to oneself is highlighted. Most of the instances are cases where some characters could not accept who they were due to the desires they had.

References

Wolf, S. E. (2017). Not only in broadway: Disney JR. and Disney KIDS Across the USA1. The Disney Musical on stage and screen: Critical approaches from Snow ‘White’ to ‘Frozen’, 133.