“Aladdin ““ A Musical Spectacular”
Disney’s California Adventure Running indefinitely (714)
781-4565
With the less-than-successful addition to Disneyland,
“California Adventure,” Mickey and friends needed a
miracle, or at least a good marketing scheme: enter “Aladdin
““ A Musical Spectacular.” Following in the same vein as
“Lion King’s” Broadway success, the Disney
sorcerers (and their apprentices) have creatively translated the
feature-length animated cartoon to an exciting 45-minute stage show
in the snazzy Hyperion Theater. While squeezing the story into
about half the time ultimately ends up making the plot seem rushed
and sacrifices the development of the characters and their
relationships, blah blah blah ““ who cares? It’s a
freakin’ Disney story! Everyone knows that what counts at
Disneyland is the visual spectacle. And with Aladdin and Jasmine
flying on a carpet through the theater and Jafar spontaneously
transforming to a 20-foot-tall hissing cobra, our ol’ pals at
Disney make animated special effects come to life. While the Disney
folks had to get creative when making the magic carpet a human (who
surprisingly moves like you’d expect a carpet to move),
characters like Genie and Iago boringly emulate the original voices
of Robin Williams and Gilbert Godfrey. But recreating Genie’s
persona might be confusing and traumatizing to the unassuming
youngsters. And Genie does have a few new jokes ““ though most
of them are only mildly funny, it’s enough to keep
7-year-olds, and all of us who have the maturity of 7-year-olds,
entertained. -Amber Noizumi
“Angry Young Teen-Age Girl Gang” Theatre
Unlimited Through May 4 (323) 769-5677
They’re not very angry, the actors are certainly not
teenagers, and they’re not really a gang. Despite the
misleading title, what many of these actors are is talented in this
mostly entertaining musical. Set in 1950s urban America,
“Girl Gang” follows the story of Didi (Dana Meller),
the innocent young family-violence victim who gets mixed up with
the “wrong” boys. Ending up in a reform school
(that’s more like summer camp), Didi finds friendship and
family in a group of misfit girls and their virtuous (and
not-so-virtuous) advisers. The show features a few very talented
actors in some wickedly funny roles, but Mark W. Knowles’
plot eventually spins into an all-too contrived after-school
special. The clichéd main character is saved by Meller’s
strong voice, but like many of the actors’ performances, is
often overacted. The play successfully experiments with
cross-gender role-playing, bringing an ironic comical aspect to
characters like the well-intentioned Sister Dolores (played by Dan
E. Campbell), and bad-boy womanizer Reggie (Nancy Sullivan).
Unfortunately, many of these characters are overused, depriving
them of their value of providing subtle comic relief to an
otherwise in-your-face plot. Writer/director Knowles graces the
stage with a cameo as the quirky beatnik “Serge,”
performing the awkward song “Le Chat Noir” with a few
too many borderline-obscene pelvic thrusts. Despite some saccharine
missteps, the play does come together in a few key scenes. The
opening song “Cigarette Attitude” successfully starts
off the show, and the climactic “Fall Reprise” shows
off the cast’s ensemble singing talent. Strong leads and a
few fun scenes ultimately make “Girl Gang” an
entertaining night. – Alexis Matsui