Review: THE ADVENTURE OF ALADDIN at Stockholm Waterfront

During Christmas and New Year it is tradition in many countries to have special family musicals, pantos or plays, and that is the case in Sweden as well. It is normal either based one of the book by children author Astrid Lindgren or a well know fairy tale. The producer team Dröse&Norberg has this year chosen "The Adventure of Aladdin". I don't think the story need any further presentation as Disney made a film of it several years ago and the musical is running on Broadway and West End. Everyone know the story about Aladdin who finds the magic lamp and reveals the genie it in and is granted 3 wishes. However, Dröse&Norberg has taken the traditional story and creates a new musical with 12 newly written songs (music by Martin Landh and lyrics by Robert Dröse). They also change the names on some characters and add some new. The musical had it's opening night on boxing day in Stockholm and will play in Stockholm some more dates and then tour around Sweden. As it is a touring musical the scenery and technical effects has to be less advance than what you find in Disneys´ musical. No flying carpet, but instead a very clever solution with a tuctuc with a driver and the carpet on top. So the carpet is "alive" which add a fun character to the story. The carpet is named Zlatan and was played by Bill Sundberg on the evening I saw it. He alternates with Mattias Olofsson.

Aladdin is played by Charlie Grönvall and this is his debut in a musical and he does it great. He has that boyish naïve look and appearance as well as great voice. It seems like he inherit the music gene from his parents Nanne and Peter Grönvall, as well as from his grandfather who is no one less than Benny Andersson.

Another debutant is Renaida Braun as the Princess Safa. The princess Safa is a modern princess who knows what she wants.

Even if the story is named after Aladdin, I think the characters who makes the greatest impression are the bad magician El Zallham, his friend the dromedary Jabaar and of course the genie. My absolute favorite from the show is the Genie, played by Claes Malmberg, one of the most famous comedian in Sweden. He is just so fun, crazy and the kids love him. His lines are so funny and to be honest I do not know if he followed the script or just rambled on. But so funny. He might not be the best singer, but the way he performs and sing his songs makes up for that. The Magician El Zallham is played by Markoolio (Marko Lehtosalo), an artist very popular among kids. This is the first character where he is mean, but he does it great. Mean and fun. If the kids love the genie they "hated" El Zallham. Jabaar is played by Kim Sulocki who is one of the funnies musical actors in Sweden. He can make any role he plays into a really funny one and this is no exception. He is also a very good singer and performed one of the funniest songs in the show.

The lead characters as well as the ensemble is very well cast. There are some really good dance and song numbers.

This is a family musical which I think all members of a family will enjoy. It is funny and the new songs are cheerful and there are a few ballads where specially Charlie Grönvall and Renaida Braun have the opportunity to show that they are good singers. It is the kind of musical you leave with a smile on your face and feeling good.

The Musical will tour around Sweden and the last date and town so far is the 22nd of April in Kristianstad.

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