Bonita Springs Florida Weekly

GENIE Granted WISH

MARCUS M. MARTIN PORTRAYS GENIE IN ‘DISNEY’S ALADDIN’



Marcus M. Martin (Genie) & Company in the North American Tour of “Aladdin.”

Marcus M. Martin (Genie) & Company in the North American Tour of “Aladdin.”

WISHES DO COME TRUE.

Every night, on stage, Marcus M. Martin portrays a genie granting Aladdin three wishes.

But the very fact he’s onstage in that role is in itself a wish fulfilled … and an answer to prayer.

Mr. Martin, who’s in the national Broadway touring production of “Disney’s Aladdin,” saw “Friend Like Me” performed during the 2015 Tony Awards.

“This is actually my dream role,” he says over the phone from his hotel room in Indianapolis. “I was 16 years old when the show first appeared on Broadway. I was watching the Tony Awards and the cast performed ‘Friend Like Me.’ I thought, ‘That is a role I could play! I know I could do it.’

“I’d never seen a role that gave someone like me permission to live in the fullest of who I am, down from personality, even to looks. There are not a lot of great roles waiting for plus-sized Black actors out there. I decided I was going to play this role someday.”

It also fit his personality.

Jake Letts, Ben Chavez, Adi Roy and Colt Prattes in the North American Tour of “Aladdin.” DEEN VAN MEER, DISNEY / COURTESY PHOTOS

Jake Letts, Ben Chavez, Adi Roy and Colt Prattes in the North American Tour of “Aladdin.” DEEN VAN MEER, DISNEY / COURTESY PHOTOS

“I identified with that (role),” he says. “I resonated with it. The charisma and the charm, those were things I was told to turn down in other settings. But I had permission to amp that up in this role.”

The six-minute number allows the Genie to show off his powers to Aladdin, as he conjures up dancing girls out of thin air, gives Aladdin the ability to tap dance, and also makes him disappear and reappear in a trunk.

It’s a big, all-out number, with tap dancing and magic tricks and scat singing.

Mr. Martin describes it as “a good, classic, old-fashioned Broadway spectacle number with big dancing and flashy costumes.”

In reviews of previous productions, The Wall Street Journal and the Toronto Sun have pointed the role of the Genie and his number, “Friend Like Me,” as being the best thing about “Aladdin.” The late Terry Teachout, theater critic for The Wall Street Journal, said that “nothing in the first act can touch it” in the Broadway production.

Senzel Ahmady (Jasmine) & Company in the North American Tour of “Aladdin.”

Senzel Ahmady (Jasmine) & Company in the North American Tour of “Aladdin.”

For the touring Broadway production, Mr. Martin says the Disney creative team allowed him to “add some of my own Marcus-isms, my own personal flair. Being in a situation like this, it very well could be nerve-wracking, pressure to re-create what’s already been done. But Disney does a great balance of honoring the legacy of what’s already been done and (allowing you to) add your own thing to this legacy. It’s great. It’s a rare opportunity.”

Ironically, the music for “Aladdin” is by Alan Menkin with lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin; earlier in his career, Mr. Martin played Audrey II in “Little Shop of Horrors,” which has music by Mr. Menkin and lyrics by Mr. Ashman.

Mr. Martin is in constant action during his big “Friend Like Me” number.

In preparation for it, he practiced singing the song while running on a treadmill. He wanted to build up his stamina and endurance, he explains, so he could perform the song eight times a week.

“Being a performer is similar to being an athlete in a lot of ways,” he says.

He also wanted to present a more nuanced Genie.

“I really wanted to get under the surface,” he says. “You see the glitz and the glamor and the flash and comedy, but there’s also so much in the person and underneath it all and what he’s going through. He’s feeling trapped. He’s only at the mercy of whoever he’s serving at that time, whoever has the lamp, and that’s a tough feeling.

“I’m connecting with it as an African American male. He calls (Aladdin) the master of the lamp. I’m mirroring that with experiences I’ve had as an African-American used for what I can provide and not who I am.

“While it’s fun to play all of the glitz and glamor and surface things, the fun stuff is really sinking into some of the deeper things that are below the surface. Our show highlights it without making it a big thing. There’s a moment in Act II when it happens: there’s a silence and a look. The weight of that doesn’t have to be said, but you definitely feel it.”

That was part of the appeal of the role for him.

“I love challenges,” Mr. Martin says. “It’s easy to just play the happiness and the comedy but there’s more to the Genie than that. That opportunity was something I identified, and wanted to take advantage of as an actor.”

If a Genie appeared to him and promised to grant him three wishes, he really doesn’t know what he’d wish for.

“I’m living my wish right now,” Mr. Martin says. “I’ve only been out of college for a little over two years; I’m living my dream life right now. I have a great village of loved ones around me, I have my health. I’m living my dream life. This is it.”

For nine years, this is what he wished and prayed for.

“I don’t want to take this for granted,” he says. “Now that I’m here, I’m relishing this for now. I’m having a great time. I’m going to be the best person and performer I can be, and where God decides to take me next, that’s where I’ll go.” ¦

In the KNOW

‘Disney’s Aladdin’

When: Dec. 14-23

Where: Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach

Cost: $42-$104

Information: 561-832-7469 or www.kravis.org

When: Jan. 17-22

Where: Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples

Cost: $79-$140

Information: 239-597-1111 or www.artisnaples.org

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