blackcauldron85, D82, DisneyFan09 wrote:^So, so cool!!! Thank you for sharing!! I'm so glad you got to meet them!
Thank you so much for taking the time to transcribe all your notes, Escapay!
Thank you so much for your notes and summary, Albert!
You're welcome!
D82 wrote:Was recording also forbidden at other similar panels too, or only at this panel?
It differed according to the panels. Some woud allow all recording, others would say "pictures, but no video" and the Walt Disney Studios panel was the strictest: not only was all recording banned, attendees were given plastic bags in which they'd have to put their phones in and seal it. Only the media section were granted phone/laptop access, and then only to use for live-messaging (a.k.a. Twitter updates).
The
Aladdin,
The Little Mermaid, and
Tarzan panels had perfunctory warnings against recording, but it was a very loose guideline and most people followed it while a few intrepid rebels (myself included) took their phones out every so often to record something. Nobody was pulled out of the panel for it, unlike at the Disney+ panel where a couple in the row ahead of me were told to leave when it became apparent they were live-streaming the entire thing.
DisneyFan09 wrote:Did you attend the panel for Aladdin as well?
I did! It was probably my favorite panel of the entire weekend.
Scott Weinger hosted the panel and started things off, recounting the story about how he sent in his audition tape when he was fifteen years old, but didn't hear back from them for a year. He had no idea just how big a deal it was to be voicing a character - let alone the lead - in a Disney film. This led into an audience sing-along of "Prince Ali" with a bunch of dancers on the stage (all likely the performers for Mickey's Magical Map, as the show was supposed to play at Fantasyland Theatre that day but was canceled). Weinger then pointed out that he is clearly not a singer, but lied and said he was when they asked. His lack of singing abilities were then made apparent when the directors asked him to sing "Proud of Your Boy." (We'll get to hear that actual audition tape later.) However, the directors had already hired Weinger on the strength of his speaking voice and personality, and decided rather than start from scratch with auditions, to hire a singing voice as well.
Brad Kane was then brought out to discuss his audition. He was only a senior in high school when he sent in his audition tape - him singing "Proud of Your Boy" - to Disney. Like Weinger, it would be a year before he'd hear from them about the role. By then, he was already living in Los Angeles, and had to fly back to New York for another audition - this time with Lea Salonga. Their audition was the two of them singing "A Whole New World." However, the well-known footage of them singing the song is not that actual audition, but later when they already had the parts. Kane's first recorded song was actually "One Jump Ahead," which was done live in studio with the full 70-piece orchestra. Having the drums and other instruments leading into the number helped him *jump* into the role almost immediately. Glen Keane was on hand at the recording session, and borrowed some of Kane's creative decisions on the song for animating Aladdin. In particular, for one take, Kane sang the line "I think I'll take a stroll around the block" as a vocal aside, kind of having the words escape his mouth and stationary lips. Keane borrowed that little gesture and gave it to Aladdin on that line as well.
When Kane was recording for
Aladdin,
Beauty and the Beast had *just* come to theatres, so he was already in awe of Menken's songs - as he had already been familiar with
Little Shop of Horrors, too. So working with him in the recording booth felt like working with a living legend, even in 1991. We then saw, which I don't think has ever been seen in public before, actual recording session footage of Menken directing Kane for the "One Jump Ahead" reprise.
Aladdin DVD supplements usually show the "A Whole New World" recording session, so seeing the vulnerability on Kane's face as he sang the "One Jump Ahead" reprise was a real treat.
Weinger asked if Kane still remembered all the lyrics to "One Jump Ahead," which of course he did. He performed the song live, again with the Disney dancers, and proved that he's still got it. (For a flashback: four years back at the 2015 D23 Expo's panel on
Aladdin, Kane had talked about how he largely works behind the scenes now, and hasn't sung professionally in years. After the initial promotion for
Aladdin during 1992/3, he had only sung "A Whole New World" once - at his wedding in 2007 - and singing it at D23 2015 would be the first time since then. Given that "A Whole New World" is the more recognizable of songs from the film, I imagine this was likely Kane's first time singing "One Jump Ahead" professionally since 1991.)
The two then talked about the song that brought them together: "Proud of Your Boy," or namely how Weinger's inability to sing it brought Kane onto the production... and then they cut the song. Weinger noted that when given the demo tape for "Proud of Your Boy," it brought his mother to tears in the car. Kane retorted, "Because she knew you'd never be able to sing it!" which got a huge laugh from the audience and Weinger, too. Weinger then admitted that yes, he knows he's not a good singer. But he's been practicing, and has proof.
We then saw a clip from what I now know is likely the "Aladdin on Aladdin" documentary, featuring Weinger visiting with Alan Menken. He plays for Menken his original "Proud of Your Boy" audition tape (lovingly transferred and preserved from cassette to an iPod shuffle), which Menken gives notes on. Then, with some persuasion and a trill on the piano keys, Menken gently urges Weinger to sing the song. And he sings it, all the while with Menken's pet dog hovering in and out of the frame throughout the song. (The audience notices this, too.) At the end, Kane gave Weinger his approval. "So you're proud of your boy?" Weinger asked. "I am Proud of my boy!" Kane affirms. "[Menken's] dog is my biggest fan," Weinger finishes.
The two then talk about how even though "Proud of Your Boy" didn't make it into the '92 film, it would finally be re-instated into the Aladdin story with the Broadway musical. At this point, they bring out Clinton Greenspan, the current Aladdin on the national tour. He talks about auditioning for the role in 2016. Like Weinger and Kane before him, Greenspan didn't hear back from the producers until a year after his audition, and within a week of that callback, had to start rehearsals and a final audition: singing "Proud of Your Boy" for director Casey Nicholaw. Greenspan wouldn't actually join the tour until April 2018, and also shared the news at the panel that when his time with the tour was up, he would be taking over as Aladdin on Broadway. Quite literally, this is going to happen a week from now.
The three Aladdins then dove into some rather basic show stats, read by Kane and with reactions by Weinger and Greenspan:
- Weinger actually saw the first staged production of
Aladdin in Toronto, this was the 2011 version before all its fine-tuning that eventually led to the 2014 Broadway debut.
- Since 2014, over 7000 wishes have been granted nightly.
- Along with shooting 85,000 fireworks in the New Amsterdam Theatre.
- The magic carpet has flown 63 miles on that stage in these past five years.
- A single show uses 337 costumes.
- And just one pair of pants has 428 crystals sewn in.
Weinger then said, at long last, "Proud of Your Boy" would be sung "the way God and Alan Menken intended it" and Greenspan did a live performance of the song. Of all the performances I've seen of "Proud of Your Boy," Greenspan's is definitely the best. As an aside, I'm still hoping that the holy-grail audition tape of Brad Kane singing "Proud of Your Boy" exists somewhere in the Disney archives. But given that he can still sing "One Jump Ahead," I hope maybe he'll be inclined to properly record "Proud of Your Boy" all these years later.
After all this attention on the three Aladdins, Weinger then noted that they couldn't have Aladdin without Jasmine.
Linda Larkin was brought on stage to share her audition story. She had moved to New York City at 17, with the intention of being a dancer. However, a series of acting opportunities instead brought her to Los Angeles. She read an audition for
Aladdin, and like Weinger thought nothing of it. She just knew it was a cartoon. Unlike any of the Aladdins, it did not take a year for Larkin to get a callback, just four months. Her first audition at that four-month callback was what really spoke to her in the sense that she realized how big a project this would be. Her favorite scene in the movie, for sentimental reasons, was her actual audition scene. And we then cut to a clip of that audition. An off-camera person is feeding the Aladdin lines to Larkin, who is playing Disguised Jasmine:
Jasmine: "I want to thank you for stopping that man. Not many people would have done that."
Aladdin: "So this is your first time in the marketplace, huh?"
Jasmine: "Is it that obvious?"
Aladdin: "Well, you do kind of stand out. You don't seem to know how dangerous Agrabah can be."
Jasmine: "I"m a fast learner."
(cut to later in the scene)
Jasmine: "Oh, sure. People who tell you where to go and how to dress."
Aladdin: "It's better than here. Always scraping for food and ducking the guards."
Jasmine: "You're not free to make your own choices."
Aladdin: "Sometimes you feel so..."
Jasmine: You're just..."
Both: "Trapped."
Again, this was the actual audition tape we were watching, not the recording session footage. So it was a sight to behold, because this was likely the first time Larkin was reading these lines for the camera.
Weinger then asked if she had an equally tragic singing story as him. Larkin told him no, mainly because when she was hired for Jasmine, she didn't have a song. (Not disclosed at the panel but general knowledge for
Aladdin aficionados: by this point in pre-production, "Call Me A Princess" had already been dropped, and "A Whole New World" was not yet written, which supports Larkin's story. Further confirming this is a June 1991 script that featured the "Whole New World" magic carpet montage, but the stage directions note that it's just a montage. No song was attached to it.) When "A Whole New World" was added to the script, they asked her if she could sing. Larkin was upfront and honest and told them she couldn't. Since they already hired Brad Kane to sing for Scott Weinger, it set precedent on the production to have a singing voice for Linda Larkin, and thus Lea Salonga was brought in.
(And now, this is where it gets somewhat confusing, as earlier Kane said his and Salonga's audition was "A Whole New World," although his first recorded song was "One Jump Ahead." Yet Larkin makes it sound like Kane had already been hired for "One Jump Ahead" when they later wrote "A Whole New World" which necessitated hiring Salonga. Then again, this was all 28 years ago for them, so the memory likely cheats. The important thing is Kane and Salonga were hired as the singing voices.)
The lack of Jasmine's song in the '92 film led to the creation of one for the 2003 Disney California Adventure stage show, "To Be Free." And who better to talk about that song and show than the original Jasmine from that production: Deedee Magno Hall. Weinger noted that D23 flew Deedee all the way in from GUAM for this panel, and Hall clarified that no, she does not live there. Rather, she and her husband Clifton are performing in an international tour of
Mamma Mia, with a stop in Guam. Hall shared her own Disney history, which started in 1989 when The Disney Channel brought back The Mickey Mouse Club. The
Aladdin panel turned out to not only be a reunion of
Aladdin cast, but of MMC audition kids. Hall had auditioned for MMC with... Brad Kane. While Hall was hired for MMC (she stayed on the series until 1993), Kane was not (although clearly his career has not suffered for it). This was the first time they reunited and shared a stage together since their original MMC audition.
But back to "To Be Free." The underscore from Jasmine's garden scene became the new melody for "To Be Free," which Hall then performed live: her first time since leaving the Hyperion show in 2007. She had stayed with the show for four years (2003-2007), which is where she met and married her husband. But she left the series to have her first child. Also, quite obviously, a pregnant Jasmine on a magic carpet was a safety hazard. She gave a shoutout to all the
Aladdin DCA cast members in the audience, as the show ended in 2016. Honestly, I still miss it myself. Only got to see it thrice during its run (2009, 2011, 2015) and while
Frozen does look good on that stage, that
Aladdin production was still amazing - and in some respects, better than Broadway's.
So by now, the panel had talked about the '92
Aladdin on film, the '14
Aladdin on Broadway, and the '03
Aladdin in theme parks. But Weinger felt it was time to talk about the newest
Aladdin.
"Oh, you mean the one hat eared over A BILLION DOLLARS?" Larkin asked knowingly and with a bit of pride in her voice.
"That's the one!" Weinger proclaimed. The two of them then showed a complete VFX breakdown of Giant Iago chasing Aladdin along the streets of Agrabah, showcasing all the different layers needed to bring that scene together. It felt kind of like "DVD Bonus Features: Live" so I ate it all up. But, more importantly, a new
Aladdin also brought about a new song for Jasmine. Rather than use "To Be Free" or a Broadway song, "Speechless" was inspired by a line of dialogue from the '92 film, when Jafar tells Jasmine, "You're speechless, I see. A fine quality for a wife." Menken, Pasek, & Paul ran with that line and used it as a cue for Jasmine to empower herself by not allowing herself to be speechless.
"Speechless" was then sung live on the stage, not by Naomi Scott (who didn't attend the panel), but by Lillias White - the voice of head muse Calliope from
Hercules. It seemed fitting for White to sing the part, as she brought a whole level of DIVA to the song that Scott doesn't quite achieve in the film. (Scott is a great singer, but White is frickin' Calliope.) My one concern is that White held back for the first half of the song, she doesn't really let loose on it until the second half. White also briefly talked about being hired for
Hercules, the animators asked her what they wanted her muse to look like and she told them she wanted a reinvented version of her self: tall, skinny, with big hair inspired by an African Gele. This segued into how
Aladdin, too, was reinvented for the screen with the 2019 film.
And, of course, a reinvented Aladdin means someone else playing the role. Mena Massoud then emerged from the stage, kind of cheesily, with Linda Larkin rubbing a lamp and wishing for him to appear. But he showed up, and the audience squealed as if the Beatles had been reincarnated on that stage. (I may have contributed to that cacophony, too.) He talked about how he had seen the open audition trending online, and decided to give it a shot. Sent in an audition tape, and - like Larkin - heard back after four months. As he is based in Canada, he had to fly out to London twice for a screen test before getting the part. Massoud attributed his stage training to helping him get the role, as it kept him physically active and ready for the intense six-week training needed to do all the parkour work on the film.
Rather than show off the parkour stuff (I mean, they could have, the stage was quite elaborate), Massoud introduced "Desert Moon." This is a "Musical Journey of Aladdin" panel after all, not a general making-of. He explained that the song was shot in both Jordan and London. Scott's parts were done on the London soundstages, while Massoud's was done during their two-week location shooting in Jordan. He loved the location shooting as he got to speak Arabic to the locals (Massoud is Egyptian), and it was a great experience overall. There wasn't much talk as to why "Desert Moon" was deleted, but we got to see the full performance of it, which is also on the digital and Blu-Ray release.
Continuing with previews of the Blu-Ray, Massoud then showed the gag reel for the film, following it up with talking about working with Will Smith. In particular, their work on "Friend Like Me." Because of the intricacies of that number, it took five weeks to film it all. And this wasn't just working with Will Smith, but also with choreographer Jamal Sims and assistant choreographer (and Aladdin stand-in) Nicky Andersen. They'd have to shoot multiple, multiple sequences that wouldn't come together until editing. So sometimes he's dancing opposite Smith, sometimes opposite Sims, sometimes Smith is dancing opposite Andersen, etc.
After a brief video message from Will Smith, Massoud then brings out Sims, who talks about how he was brought onto the film. He had done the
Hannah Montana movie, and was remembered for that work when he was offered
Aladdin. He interviewed with Guy Ritchie directly on Skype, and in a twist compared to every other story, there was no waiting a year or four months to hear back, he was hired right away. Sims can also be seen in the film as the "Y'all Seen My Palace?" Prince, a sort of thank you for his work on the film. After Sims' bit, he brings out Nicky Andersen who - along with a whole troupe of performers (but not the Disney ones from much earlier in the production) do a complete live performance of "Friend Like Me." It brings the house down and we can't imagine there's any more they can do for this panel...
Then Scott Weinger comes out once more to tell us they've got one more surprise performance: Regina Belle, who sang the original pop version of "A Whole New World." She comes out and talks about how she's been a fan of Disney ever since her childhood. She lived outside Orlando in the 60s/70s, and literally saw Walt Disney World being built while she was growing up. So she was very proud to have been offered the chance to sing "A Whole New World" for
Aladdin. At the time, she was on tour, also suffering from both bronchitis and a 102-degree fever when she had to record "A Whole New World" in studio with Peabo Bryson. Still, she made it through the sessions, all these years later, you can barely hear her sickness on the tracks. Bryson could not join, but Belle brought in "a long time friend of mine... as of yesterday" to fill his shoes: Norm Lewis a.k.a. King Triton from Broadway's
The Little Mermaid. Lewis also played the first African-American Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, as well as Javert in the 2006 stage revival of
Les Misérables. (You can also see him in the 25th Anniversary Concert on Blu-Ray/DVD.) The two of them performed "A Whole New World" together, and then all the attendees rejoined the stage for a very impromptu dance of "Friend Like Me," which was the true closing of the panel.
As the audience shuffled out - probably ten or fifteen minutes past the 7:00 end time, security was already directing everyone off the show floor and towards the exit as the Expo was done for the day. Most of the talent left via backstage, but Sims, Andersen, and their dancing posse walked the show floor to get to the exit. Most of us audience members recognized them immediately since they were still sporting their costumes from the panel, and cheered them on as they walked through. I wanted to get a picture with them, but by now a crowd had gathered, and we had plans to hit Disneyland once we changed out of Expo clothes, so I let them go.
Albert
ETA: After posting this, I went back and finally watched Dwayne's highlights video to see if what I wrote matched up with with he published, and for the most part, it does. (And I'm glad to see he got the full "One Jump Ahead" reprise clip, I only managed to record a short snippet of that on my phone.) Towards the end of the video, you can hear me among the voices congratulating Sims and the dancers, as I was with Dwayne when he recorded them leaving.
My bad. Thank you for quoting me so I couldn’t miss it. Her voice has aged, ofc. I thought the middle was a bit rough, but she really picked it up at the bridge and final chorus.