The three black genies from Aladdin have magical stories

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.

“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.

“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.”

“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.

“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.”

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.

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.

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?”