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The three black genies from Aladdin have magical stories

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NEW YORK (AP) — James Monroe Iglehart his mother took him to see the Disney animated film “Aladdin” as a highschool graduation present in 1992. Naturally, he fell in love with Genie.

Flash forward greater than 20 years, and Iglehart found himself playing the primary genie on Broadway, killing it, and on his option to a Tony Award.

“It was just cathartic to play a role that I loved so much and be able to be my full, stupid self at 20 to 25 volume and go crazy,” he says.

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“Aladdin” turns 10 this month and did greater than just grow to be a Broadway favorite for young people experiencing their first musical. It also became an incubator for black actors like Iglehart leading a significant Disney musical with joy and humor.

Genies are currently acting on Broadway and touring the UK, US, Japan and Spain, all spinning on wheels, kicking high and singing ‘Friend Like Me’. They call it the Djinn Brotherhood.

This undated photo released by Disney Theatricals shows actors Marcus M. Martin (from left), James Monroe Iglehart and Michael James Scott in New York City. Martin, Iglehart and Scott played Genie within the Disney musical. (Marc J. Franklin/Disney Theatricals via AP)

“I just tell the guys, ‘Listen, make sure you’re your authentic self.’ You don’t have to play like me,” Iglehart says. “As long as you bring your brand of silliness, comedy, heart and realness to it, the audience will accept it.”

After “Aladdin,” Iglehart began working in television and voice-over, on Broadway he played the twin roles of the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in “Hamilton,” “King Arthur” in a brand new revival of “Spamalot”. and can next star as Louis Armstrong in “A Wonderful World.”

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“It made me the actor I am today. It has given me a legacy that I can be completely proud of,” he says. “It changed my life.”

On 2014 Tony Awards, Iglehart sang, danced and hoisted probably the most coveted Best Actor statuettes in front of thousands and thousands of viewers.

Hundreds of miles away, a future genie whose life had modified looked on. “This is a unique way to start my career.”

Marcus Martin was a 16-year-old aspiring actor from Akron, Ohio, and sat transfixed as Iglehart filled Tony’s stage.

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“I was always told I would have a hard time in this business because the best roles were played by skinny white tenors, and I’m none of those people,” Martin says. “So meeting James allowed me to dream a new dream.”

He grew up going to Broadway shows along with his mom at any time when they got here to Ohio. While watching Tony’s TV show, he decided that someday he would play the Genie and commenced to memorize the music and contours. Of course, he and his mother saw “Aladdin” when the primary national tour got here to Cleveland.

He graduated from Baldwin Wallace University in May 2020 – not the perfect time to pursue a level in live performance for big groups of individuals. But he persevered. He auditioned for Disney 4 times and got his dream role.

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He is now a Genie on his second national tour.

He began in Schenectady, New York and has performed in over 50 cities, from Little Rock, Arkansas to Los Angeles. He is obsessive about acting at historic venues similar to The Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis and the Fox Theater in Atlanta.

“I’m a theater freak. I at all times say that I’m a fan first and an actor second,” he says. Martin likes to search for famous autographs on the partitions or under the desks in his recent dressing rooms.

“All the greats, and some that I even admired as a young performer, I’m now in the same place as them, sharing dressing rooms,” he says. “This is a unique way to start my career.”

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He became friends with Iglehart and a 3rd Genie joined them before Martin began running the tour. “They took me to lunch to say goodbye to me and tell me the secrets of the lamp,” says Martin.

This third genie is Michael James Scott – the genie that Martin and his mother saw when “Aladdin” got here to Cleveland. “Broadway has always been a dream.”

Disney has a gravitational pull in Orlando, Florida, where Scott grew up. As a younger man, he performed at amusement parks and special events, at all times able to be the focus in New York.

“Broadway was my dream from a young age,” he says.

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FILE – James Monroe Iglehart and the forged of “Aladdin” perform on stage in the course of the 68th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 8, 2014, in New York City. (Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, file)

Scott is already a Broadway veteran, having starred in “Mama Mia!” “Tarzan,” “Elf,” and “Something Rotten!” But he calls Genie “one of those once-in-a-lifetime roles. It’s like everything in the kitchen sink plays one role.”

He led the primary national tour of Aladdin and played Genie in London’s West End. He offered the role when the show opened in Australia, and was deeply moved when a gaggle of Aboriginal children got here to see him on their first Broadway tour.

“Genie is love, light, laughter, and people want it now,” Scott says. “Being a person that young people look up to and also a person of color and what that really means in terms of representation is something I don’t take lightly.”

He is currently a proud genie on Broadway.

“If that little chocolatey, chubby baby from Orlando, Florida could one day grow up to be the Genie from Aladdin on Broadway and around the world, anything is possible,” he says.

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As the show celebrates its tenth anniversary, Scott has an idea why it lasted so long. “It makes no apologies for being a big Broadway musical and an epic comedy,” he says. “Don’t you want to experience joy?”


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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com

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The Spelman College competition is now the latest Tiktok madness

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TikTok, Spelman, pagents


There is spring in HBCUS throughout the country, which suggests that the competition season is right. This 12 months, the Spelman College competitions have gained a brand new audience in Tiktok as a consequence of the players’ viral movies.

The competitors presented their beauty and brains in the social application and attracted latest viewers outside traditional circles. While the Miss Spelman College competition won’t announce the winners until April 14, latest fans wrote about their favorites once they immersed in the competition.

Participants became popular for his or her excellent introduction, showing their abilities to the crown. Various competitions happen throughout the school, including Miss Black and Gold and Miss Africanidad competitions.

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“Your search for the queen is officially completed,” said player No. 4, Aziyah, a younger specialist in political sciences from Atlanta. “Because, like my institution, I start without any.”

Player No. 6 was also his own case for the Crown.

“Slow and stable, this is how queen arise,” said Madison, an English major from the third 12 months in HBCU All-Women. “So I waited patiently, but it’s my moment in the end. Oh, and trust me, I’m going to have it.”

Those who’ve never experienced the culture of HBCU competitions now taste greatness, while loving every second. One asked why public opinion would just discover about this spectacle sector.

“How should I do something,” asked the delighted Tiktker Suzanne Lambert. “And what I want to know, why no one has presented it yet?”

She added: “This is my version of March Madness now.”

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Another user has spoiled, as “encouraging” is content because he promotes black perfection.

“This competition revealing” school stunning “in the best possible way. If you know you know, “said the Couture Couture Tiktker.” And all the energy that I spent on the bama rush and breaking it should be spent on this competition. “

The enthusiasm of competitions for Tiktok is much like the previous trend “Bama Rush”, during which incoming student student girls detailed their journeys to affix the brotherhood. Now the headlight light applies to those HBCU women once they race against the crown, while paying national attention.

(Tagstotransate) Miss Spelman College (T) Spelman College (T) Tiktok (T) HBCU Pageants (T) HBCU CULTY

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Own #syn son brings black mother to dating drama – literally – essence

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Thanks to the kindness of Warner Bros. Discovery

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Finding love is one. This is one other thing to do it with watching mom. From the subsequent room. OWNThe latest reality series, accepts Hashtag viral They are once celebrated black women showing an actual, intentional romance and turns it right into a full dating experiment-with only his own accent. The program premiered on Saturday, April 12, and follows three successful black men searching for love – with a really stubborn mother (or mother), who goals to go. Not figuratively. Literally. They are at home. Sitting on dates, offering unmistakable comments and, yes, sometimes throwing the entire key in a beginner connection – all within the name of affection and heritage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7X0xK92CQ

One of the bachelor in the guts of this journey is James Hatchett, a 29-yr-old cyber security engineer with the energy of somebody who’s all the time five steps-and this also applies to his love life. “I always think about things and leads forward,” says James. “It’s just me. I am a person thinking about the future. You even know … If things become serious, I will start to wonder what your name is my name, a kind of things. So I definitely think about the future when it comes to relationships.” At the identical time, James is rooted in the current – he doesn’t waste time for vibrations that don’t equalize. “If I don’t see things that work as in the future, I will cut it out there.”

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Own #Syn son brings black mother to dating drama - literally
James Hatchett and Charlease Hatchett accept Daters within the lounge

This sort of brightness can have something to do with a girl who raised him. His mother, Charlease – Aka Charlie – shouldn’t be only present within the series; She is strength. And she has a transparent vision of a partner that her son deserves: “To be honest, honesty is crucial. Based on faith is the first. The family is really crucial,” he says. “Many people say:” Well, you do not marry their families. ” I’m begging you.

But her presence within the series is that it’s about matches – it is also about evolution. For Charlie, this experience became the moment of settlement, a reminder that parenthood is its own love story, filled with chapters of edition and reality.

He remembers the way it was to bring James to the world – after which she had to leave him within the hospital because of significant heart complications. This early separation shaped her protection, she says, although she understood the difference between protection and control. “You parents are different when they are young when they are in high school … and then you have to change,” he wonders. “Now that he is 30 years old, I just try to keep faithful to what I know. If I see red flags, I talk about them – but in a way that is not confrontational. He sits down and talk. And surprising, he received a lot.”

One of its theme rules? Communication. “I deliberately did not want to raise a male child who did not know how to communicate,” he adds. “Because the lack of communication kills everything.”

For James, being was not nearly finding love – it was also a chance to understand his mother’s perspective on real -time relationships. “I think that with my mother practically dating these women, when I date them, I could see how, when these women begin to open up and reveal things about myself, my mother processes it” – she shares. “She comments on these things and it allowed me to understand how her thought process is going. I am at home with her, I live through her and start seeing how she creates her perception of people.”

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James was not all the time easy to reconcile the comments of his mother together with his own feelings. “He has his opinions, about which he talks to my dad or something, and then draws his conclusions. And I will say:” Where does it come from? “In fact he is a very honest person. When he comes to it, he wants the best for me, but at the end of the day he wants to protect me. And I appreciate it.”

Throughout the season, he bends into the strain between generational expectations and modern dates. These women don’t need to be chosen. They also select. The series shouldn’t be only the matchmaker game; It distinguishes what happens when women-women and daters-are under one roof.

And it is not just James. Each bachelor brings its own story, its own luggage and its own version of what black love should appear like. Joshua, a 28-yr-old NFL agent, brought up by Aunt Ome, a nurse who played her mother for many of her life. He is in search of a girl who has equal ambitions and coldness – his equilibrium version. 30 -year -old Chadd, financial analyst with SEC references and a prayer list. His mother Katina, a cosmetologist and minister joins him. Together they’re in search of a girl who is prepared to construct each a house and heritage. But whatever the path, the essential message is obvious: it is not nearly chemistry – it’s about compatibility, belief and whether you might be ready for a sort of relationship that asks you to develop, and not only appear.

It stands out, as he treats black love not as a spectacle, but as a holy process-man, multi-layered and deeply common. He asks questions which can be rarely posted publicly, especially black men: what do you actually need? Who taught you ways to love you? Are you ready for the kind of relationship that occupies the village?

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There will probably be moments of awkwardness. There will probably be motherly side eyes. There could also be even a couple of tears. But at its foundation is a vacation of affection that requires work, intentions and all hearts.

Saturday evenings just happened.

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This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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The dramatic metamor of Arnold Schwarzenegger

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One of the kids of Arnold Schwarzenegger has undergone noticeable body transformation over the past few years.

The 77-year-old actor began 4 children together with his ex-wife, Maria Shriver: Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt born in 1989, Christina Schwarzenegger born in 1991, Patrick Schwarzenegger born in 1993, and Christopher Schwarzenegger born in 1997.

Arnold also began the fifth child, Joseph Baen, together with his housewife. Baena was also born in 1997 in the course of the 25-year marriage of the previous Republican Governor of California.

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A number of days after the celebration of the National Day of Siblings on April 10, online fans still appear to talk concerning the oldest photo, Katherine, shared about herself, Christina, Patrick and Christopher on her verified Instagram account.

Most often he noticed that Christopher’s dramatic weight reduction was after the beginning of Fitness five years ago, in accordance with Daily Mail.

Arnold praised his son for obtaining a diploma at studies at Michigan on Instagram on Instagram 2020, which contained a photograph of psychology psychology before he dropped a major number of kilos.

“Christopher, you are a master and I love you. I know that your completion of Michigan was not a great holiday you dreamed of for years,” Arnold wrote In the social media application.

He continued: “But crossing the stage is not what makes me so proud of you: it’s your compassion, hard work, your vision, your critical thinking and selflessness make me burst with pride. I can’t wait to watch how you climb and success.”

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(L) Christopher seen on August 7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo BG004/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) (R) Christopher Schwarzenegger, for the premiere of season 3 Los Angeles “The White Lotus”, which took place at Paramount Studios on February 10, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo of Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images)

Christopher’s twenty fourth birthday in September 2021 Instagram signature. The motion movies icon emphasized that Chris is taking boxing, weightlifting, stretching and cycling.

In August 2023, Paparazzi caught Chris in a slimer frame during his hometown in Los Angeles. Usually a personal Hollywood Scion shocked observers with its slimmed figure.

#Nationalsiblingday’s image of Christopher on the web site of his sister Katherine on Instagram last week led to quite a few comments on a few years of changes in his body structure.

“Looks great, no matter how he lost weight !! handsome,” wrote the reader Daily Mail within the comments section in the shop. The second person said: “He doesn’t even look like the same person. Amazing.”

“He looked unhealthy. I am glad that he had lost some weight. A convenient lifestyle can make someone lazy and fat,” he suggested one other person. And the commentator noticed: “Now it looks amazing.”

While Chris remained within the highlight, his 4 siblings accepted being public. Patrick won a groundbreaking acting role within the third season of HBO “The White Lotus” Series of murder murders.

Katherine is the writer of kid’s books “Good Night, Sister” and “Maverick and Me”, in addition to the book “The Gift of Scority”. Like her mother, Katherine married the actor. She married the star of “Guardians of the Galaxy” Chris Pratt in 2018.

Christina produced an hourly Netflix document “Take Your Pills”, which included students and dealing adults who use hyperactivity disorders with Adderall’s attention deficit.

Christopher’s half -brother, Joseph, followed his dad, became a bodybuilder and actor. He entered the world of reality television, competing within the thirty first season of “Dancing with the Stars”.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjoz-vtwgiw

(Tagstranslate) Arnold Schwarzenegger (T) Maria Shriver

This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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