James Monroe Iglehart as the Genie
Last night I took Bekki to watch Disney’s Aladdin at the Ed Mirvish Theatre downtown. As expected the musical numbers are amazing and they picked a great Aladdin. My favourite moments in the play happened when they “broke the fourth wall”.
That is not a spoiler. It is not an actual wall they are destroying. “Breaking the forth wall” is a technique of metafiction where the characters acknowledge the audience. It was used in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and more recently transitioned to comic books and video games with Deadpool.
Several times yesterday the characters on stage acknowledged the audience. They actually do so in the first five minutes to address the fact that one of the central characters from the animated film is missing from the play – it would be impossible to include him. Instead they changed the plot in a way that reminded me One Direction – like I said, no spoilers.
In my opinion James Monroe Iglehart stole the show yesterday. The performance he delivered topped anything I have ever seen on stage. We sat on the second row but I could feel the mood changing all around us during his part. It was inspiring, motivating and up lifting. I wished intermission would come soon to talk about what we had just seen.
Add the carpet ride in the second act and I am pretty sure we are looking at another big hit on Broadway. It will not top The Lion King, but for different reasons. Aladdin is not as kid friendly and the story itself is a little weaker but in my opinion it was a better show. I watched The Lion King four times and I am probably going to watch Aladdin once more if they return to Toronto. I really want to see another actor play the genie.
I am really curious to know if James Iglehart really a remarkable actor or if it was just a great role. After the play we went to Spring Rolls for dinner and ordered their Mirvish Special. If you show them your ticket to Aladdin, they will bring you a special menu:
Prix Fixe Menu
The actual course is three dishes plus desert… it includes three glasses of wine and one dessert wine, so four glasses of alcohol per person. I could not believe it when I saw it. I thought the wine was going to added to the bill but nope. Included. Great deal!! What a steal!!
We talked about the show during dinner. It made me think a lot about an assignment I wrote earlier this year for one of my classes: ten traits of top performers. Since writing that paper I read about ten books, I have been listening to a podcast called “School of Greatness” and I have set several new life goals.
Earlier this year I did not include several things that right now I truly believe are essential in order to make you a top performer in your field. For instance, I think you need to have a mentor, you need to be part of a mastermind group, you need to be someone’s mentor and you need to have an essential work in progress: a succession plan. I am going to rewrite that assignment and post here soon.
The past weeks have been busy. I am writing a book, working on a website to promote our princess party business (preview picture below) and today Bekki started an intensive course for international certification as an English teacher.
Cinderella – Winter Costume
Next Friday I fly to Brazil. I have six days to find a PS4 here in Toronto. It is retailing here for $499 and I have a buyer in Brazil who is going to pay $1,500 dollars. I have inside info on a place that might have it so I am heading there now.
Before I fly next week I am going to make a post under “business” here. The book I am writing ties in with our other website and our podcast. It is a kids book and I have an illustrator in Brazil… things are shaping up for a great 2014.
Silvio Kusakawa 
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