So as you might already know, this past weekend was the D23 Expo 2019, Disney's biannual fan event. And among the many panels being held, one was about the music of Aladdin.
The panel was maybe most memorable for bringing together the casts of various iterations of Aladdin to share stories about the making of them.
Here are my favorite 11 things I learned during the “A Musical Celebration of Aladdin” panel:
1. Scott Weinger, who did the speaking voice for Aladdin, first auditioned for the role when he just was 15 years old.
2. Scott recorded his audition on a tape and sent it in. He didn't hear back for Disney until a year later.
3. After being cast, Scott was asked if he could sing, so he lied and said he could. They auditioned his singing with "Proud of Your Boy," a song that Aladdin sings to his mom that was cut during the early stages of the movie.
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Alan Menken, who co-wrote the lyrics and composed the music for the film told Scott there was no way he would be singing in the film. Luckily, everyone working on the film liked Scott and they said they would find a "singing voice" for Aladdin.
4. Brad Kane, who did the singing voice for Aladdin, auditioned by singing "Proud of Your Boy" and, like Scott, he did not hear back from Disney for over a year.
5. The animators did such a good job replicating everyone's facial movements that they even animated in Brad talking out of the side of his mouth when singing, "Next time gonna use a nom de plume," during "One Jump Ahead."
6. When Linda Larkin signed on to voice Jasmine there were no songs the character was going to sing — "A Whole New World" was added later into the film's production.
7. According to Scott, both he and Linda walked into the premiere of Aladdin thinking that they might have been secretly replaced.
8. The lack of songs for Jasmine was corrected when Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular premiered at Disney California Adventure; Alan Menken wrote "To Be Free" for the character.
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Deedee Magno, who originated the role of Jasmine in the production, said that you can actually hear a piece of the melody of "To Be Free" in the animated movie, in the scene where Jasmine releases the doves.
9. When Aladdin was being developed for Broadway, "Proud of Your Boy" was worked into the musical. Except now, Aladdin sings the song to his mom who is dead.
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In the original version of the animated movie Aladdin's mom was alive and he was trying to not disappoint her.
10. In the scene in the live-action Aladdin where Genie tells Aladdin, "I can just make you a prince," the prince you see in the background is actually the film's choreographer, Jamal Sims.
11. And finally, Mena Massoud (Aladdin) revealed that his favorite scene from the live-action movie was cut. It was a duet between him and Naomi Scott (Jasmine) called "Desert Moon."
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Honestly, the song is actually very pretty and it's a shame it got it cut from the film — here's to hoping it might show in a potential future sequel:
