Beats of an Arabian drum set the tone for the night. A company of silhouette dancers and the Narrators that tailored the story all along then appeared. Soon a backdrop of a desert landscape dissolved into a palace gate where the story began. The town-people were enthusiastic when the Royal family disclosed. But the contest for choosing the right prince for princess Jasmine turned into chaos. A band of street thieves were on the move. This incident brought Aladdin into a first encounter with princess Jasmine who took advantage of the situation running out of the palace. The play got more and more exiting as the story unfolded. The chase by Razoul and his guards, the evil scheme of Jafar, the amusing character of Genie, the fascinating play by the carpet and the bird Iago and a thrilling ride on the magic carpet really make this one a dreamy magical show.

For this production, we elaborated the audio engineering aspect. Music tracks were edited to suit the needs of the dancing. Some solo singing was pre-recorded to suit time availability and for practicality purposes, while chorus singing remained live. With knowledge of audio software and equipment, we were able to put a considerable amount of sound-effect-details in every moment throughout the musical.

In backdrop application, we adopted some of the latest approaches. Murals were digitalized for blowing-up to fit the 4x10 m backdrop screen. Animations were added later. Meanwhile, the moving-scenery application gave a more realistic sense for Genie and Aladdin on their magic carpet ride. When the ability of the student acting and dancing, the great costumes, the grand stage props, the backdrop projections, the smoke effects, the lighting effects and the sound effects all emulated together, we assured the audience they had just been teleported to Aladdin’s world.

Jasmine and Aladdin’s romantic ride on the magic carpet was accomplished with a green screen technique. This enabled them to fly up high enjoying many countries beneath. The wedding ceremony then got interrupted by Jafar who had found the truth of who Aladdin was and was already in possession of the magic lamp.

The peak point came when Jafar turned himself into a giant cobra that created a big commotion - bashing people all over the place inside the palace. A twelve meter long giant cobra in a ‘barongsai’ technique accomplished this task.

Thanks to Aladdin’s quick thinking that allured Jafar to wish to be a mightiest Genie, when once again a green-screen-technique was applied. Not long after this wish granted, Aladdin found and rubbed Jafar’s magic lamp. Magically Jafar got pulled into the lamp. That was the end of Jafar. Sultan finally gave his approval to Jasmine and Aladdin and Genie concluded that ‘we all free,’ free to choose what is right for us. The wedding continued. And as Jasmine and Aladdin came to a happy ending, the audience came home with a happy feeling and great memory of what they had just seen and experienced. Bravo Tunas Muda! We did it again. See you at the next musical.
::Tim Sutomo