In 1992, Walt Disney Pictures proudly presented Aladdin, a romantic retelling of the folk tale of the rags to riches character of the same name. The film was a critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1992. Wikipedia tells me Aladdin won two Oscars, three Golden Globes and four Grammy Awards, and sold over 25 millions VHS copies (remember those?). Such was the success of Aladdin and its endearing legacy that in 2011, the story was adapted for the stage, making its premiere at Seattle's Fifth Avenue Theatre.

We all know the story. Aladdin (Adam Jacobs) is a loveable street rat with a heart of gold, who longs to escape the slums of Agrabah for a better life. Jasmine (Courtney Reed), daughter of the Sultan of Agrabah (Seán G. Griffin), longs to escape the confines of her father's palace and her father's law, which states that she must marry nobility before her upcoming birthday. Click. The only problem is the Sultan's villianous vizier, Jafar (Jonathan Freeman), who has his own designs on the throne. To that end, he covertly recruits Aladdin to steal a mystical lamp from the Cave of Wonders, a lamp which will give Jafar control over the kingdom of Agrabah. But things go wrong, and Aladdin meets the most powerful being on Earth: the Genie (James Monroe Iglehart).

The curious thing about the stage version of Aladdin is that in compromising for a live presentation (no Iago, Abu or flying carpet as a character, for example), writer and lyricist Chad Beguelin actually went back to the initial drafts of the film and resurrected Babak (Brian Gonzales), Omar (Andrew Keenan-Bolger) and Kassim (Brandon O'Neill). The three characters serve as friends of Aladdin and self-confessed "devices" to keep the story moving.

That leads me to the one sticking point I had with Aladdin; there was nothing wrong with it, per se, but the gratuitous tapping on the fourth wall got old after a while. It was fun at first, as meta-references always are. But frequently drawing attention to the props, stage designs and exposition devices, even in a comedic (and well-received) manner, started to grate a little.

Fortunately, the rest of the performance was spot on. Everything from the costumes to the choreography, the sets to the singing, and pyrotechnics to the stage backdrops fit perfectly in recreating Disney's brand of magic for a live experience. Even without the magic of a cinema screen, the 5th Avenue Theatre knew how to put on a show, with dazzling, blinding lights for the first appearances of the Genie and Jafar's transformation into one, then dialing the mood down for Aladdin and Jasmine's nighttime magic carpet ride, replete with starry background and levitating carpet. God bless hydraulics.

As much as Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed were the stars, as Aladdin and Jasmine respectively, the show belonged to Jonathan Freeman as Jafar (reprising his role from the 1992 movie) and James Monroe Iglehart as the Genie. With his long black and red robes and cobra-headed staff (with glowing eyes!), Freeman was the ultimate Disney villain, eliciting a chorus of good-natured boos from the audience when he took his bows at the conclusion of the play. By contrast, Inglehart bounded and leapt across the stage like a gazelle on a coffee-high, no mean feet in filling Robin Williams' animated shoes.

Start to finish, Aladdin is a fantastic presentation and experience, and another jewel in the crown for the 5th Avenue Theater. Although the story is almost 300 years old, it was given a new life with Disney's adaptation, and now finds new wings (or a magic carpet) on the stage. The Disney treatment  and pop culture nods will keep kids captivated, and grown-ups might appreciate the timeless nature of the story and elaborate visual aesthetic. And everyone's going to love the pyrotechnics.