Sir Tim Rice -- Aladdin


Aladdin
1992
Additional lyrics by Tim Rice
Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Music by Alan Menken


"And, I have to say, at the end of the day
it's rather nice to have written at least one
song in which the world is perfect."

Tim Rice commenting on A Whole New
World, November 1993



California Adventure's
Hyperion Theatre   © 2004 JJB.

A Whole New World

Tim Rice was already on board at Disney working on The Lion King (then going by the title King of the Jungle), when he was asked to finish Aladdin (Disney's 31st animated feature) with Alan Menken after Howard Ashman had passed away.

Aladdin beat previous movies to win the title of the top-grossing animated film of all time (about $450 million). The song "A Whole New World" was number one in the US charts -- causing everyone to speculate that it would win the Oscar it was up for.

At the 1992 Academy Awards ceremony, Lea Salonga and Brad Kane performed "A Whole New World", and Nell Carter sang "Friend Like Me". In the end, the award for best song went to "A Whole New World". In his portion of their acceptance speech, Tim Rice paid tribute to Howard Ashman. At the 36th Annual Grammy Awards on 1 March 1992, Tim and Alan Menken left carrying seven Grammies for Aladdin -- including the one for Song Of The Year for "A Whole New World" . The song also won a Golden Globe Award.

Aladdin Beyond The Silver Screen

In its ever-going efforts to push the envelope with theme park entertainment, Disney built the Hyperion Theatre in its California Adventure park at Disneyland and moved in a stage production of Aladdin. Titled Disney's Aladdin : A Musical Spectacular, the show is longer than other park entertainment and features Broadway caliber talent, sets, and special effects. It was produced by Anne Hamburger. The original cast included Michael Lee (Jesus Christ Superstar Broadway Revival) as Aladdin and Roxanne Taga as Jasmine, with the alternate cast consisting of Miles Wesley as Aladdin and Deedee Lynn Mango as Jasmine. Orville Mendoza and Nick Santa Maria played the Genie. Previews began late November 2002. Michael Eisner presented Alan Menken with a golden lamp at the show's premiere on 16 January 2003. A CD of the show's musical numbers was released in late 2003, including "To Be Free", a new song for Jasmine with music and lyrics by Alan Menken.

Following the successful IMAX releases of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, it was announced in late November 2002 that an IMAX version of Aladdin would play in the Fall of 2004. This idea was later put on hold as attention shifted to DVD release.

The DVD of Aladdin was released on 5 October 2004 as part of Disney's "Special Edition" series. The DVD featured American Idol contestant Clay Aiken singing the cut song for Aladdin's mother "Proud Of Your Boy". The song was originally written for the film by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Previously it had only been heard as a demo recording sung by Alan Menken in "The Music Behind The Magic" box set. The special edition soundtrack was released just prior to the DVD, and featured both "Proud Of Your Boy" and another Menken/Ashman demo "High Adventure".

Aladdin was one of the first of several Disney properties to be developed to be released in a format as a musical for production by school groups. In January 2005, the rights to Disney's Aladdin Jr. became available through Musical Theatre International (MTI). The Broadway Junior Collection offers a catalogue of shows which have been abridged to run between 60 and 80 minutes and have been adapted especially for young performers. Disney's Aladdin Jr. has a book adapted by Jim Luigs, who also contributed additional lyrics, and the music was adapted and arranged by Bryan Louiselle.

The Aladdin pages were last updated 27.1.07

All pages © 1996-2008 JJB.