In Fyling Hall’s Drama Department, Miss Johnson and her Y8 students have undertaken a musical spectacular. After watching Disney’s ‘Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular’ pupils were given a choice to either write a detailed review of the performance or to design a costume or set for the show (by hand, away from the computer, then send in as a photo). Children were asked to take 45 minutes to watch the performance and a minimum of 30 minutes to review or design for the performance. Work was then submitted in the Assignments area and Miss Johnson’s feedback was given by next lesson. The assignment was also discussed on the group chat to ensure that all understood the assignment.

Just take a look at their creations and reviews!

Phoebe’s A Musical Spectacular Review

A musical about a boy from the streets who finds a genie and wishes to become a king so he can impress princess Jasmine. However, to do this he must defeat Jaffar before he becomes an evil sultan.

Aladdin and Jasmine were very good but there was room for improvement. The genie however was very funny and kept people engaged in the performance, the actor who played the carpet was very talented, they didn’t speak but were able to express themselves.

I found that the Genie stood out. They used lots of over the top body language, for example in the song it was very dramatic. He also made his emotions very clear using tools like facial expressions. When Aladdin said he wouldn’t give him is last wish, you could tell that he was very sad, if I’m honest it was maybe a bit much. The Genie was also very good at lightening the mood, he used references to other TV shows and movies, which you don’t see very often but it really worked. He would also use the audience’s reactions to make jokes, which I found quite entertaining. However, at one point he maybe lingered on stage longer than was needed when Aladdin had gone off to find Jasmine, but even them he kept in character.

Acting the role of the carpet must have been tricky, not being able to speak, but it really worked. When Aladdin didn’t understand the carpet, they counted on the audience knowing the story, which was a little risky, but it was a clever idea. Body language was amazing in all parts of the play, but it did kind of needed to be. I thought it was a nice idea having someone dress up as a carpet. When I first started watching I thought it would just be a carpet, so it was a very pleasant surprise.

It is definitely worth watching if you’re looking for something for the whole family to enjoy. Children will find the costumes and props very entertaining. The songs are well known so the whole family could sing along. Overall it was a very pleasing performance.


Oscar’s Musical Spectacular Review

Aladdin a Musical Spectacular, is a musical of Disney’s movie Aladdin. It’s about a boy named Aladdin who has no money and steals to survive. He finds a magic lamp which has a genie in it that grants him 3 wishes. He wishes to become a prince so he can marry the princess. The princess likes him as normal person, and they get married. He frees the genie by wishing for his freedom.

The performer who took the role as Aladdin was very immersed in the character. He showed this by being very emotional and believable.

The actor who portrayed the Genie was very funny therefore making it appealing to the younger audience. Throughout the role of the Genie there were multiple references to modern day things, for example there were references to internet viral videos and pop stars. He also broke the fourth wall on a few occasions for example when he asked the audience some questions, this had the effect of connecting the audience to the performance.

The musical used the effect of ‘pathetic fallacy’ in some of the scenes, for example; during the scene where Jaffar took Aladdin to a cave to retrieve the lamp, it was thunder and lightning, therefore setting the mood as scary.

One very interesting part of the set was the magic carpet, instead of being a prop, it was played by an actress and throughout different scenes she was observed to be dancing around, even at sad times of the play.

The animals in the performance were large puppets that were controlled by people on the stage. These people were not acknowledged by the other characters therefore giving the effect of the animals being real and life-like. The best animal of the performance was Jaffar’s parrot, called Lago. He had the most life-like movements, particularly when he was flying around the stage.

The costumes of the actors looked like they were from that time in history and looked high quality and realistic.

The designs of the stage sets, set the scene very well for the actors to perform, this made it easy for the audience, old and young to understand, for example during the cave scene with Aladdin, when he knocked over some artefacts, rocks came tumbling down. This was made by a separate screen with the images of rocks on it (with a sound effect) being lowered to the stage.

Overall, I think this performance is appealing to all ages, making it great for a family. The quality of the acting was very well done throughout the performance, supported by good dancing and singing.