When Senzel Ahmady was growing up in California with her sisters, they would watch “Aladdin” together. It was their favorite movie and Jasmine was “her” Disney princess.
“It was my favorite movie when I was a kid,” she said. “So when they made it into a Broadway musical — I think I was in high school at that time — I just knew I always wanted to be in it. The opportunity arose while I was going to school and I just couldn’t turn it down.”
She was studying at New York University when Disney’s Broadway national tour of “Aladdin” was holding auditions. She said she decided to audition to meet the team and get her name out there. She told herself she was too young to actually be cast, but it would be a good learning experience.
But it turned out she was exactly where she needed to be to fulfill her dream. Now she’s touring the country as Jasmine in Disney’s Broadway national tour of “Aladdin.” She’s been with the show since Oct. 2022.
“For us, growing up, Princess Jasmine was a big part of our lives. Every single time I went to Disneyland with my family, I had my own Jasmine costume that I would wear around the park,” she said. “And now, I get to wear my own now at 21 years old.”
That iconic blue Jasmine costume is her favorite outfit to put on six days a week.
“The way they adapted it to the show is so beautiful,” she said. “It’s just so sparkly. There’s so many diamonds on it. When the spotlight hits it, it’s so pretty. It’s every little girl’s dream.”
Ahmady said she hopes she can inspire little girls who come to the show — especially little girls who look like her.
“Growing up, myself, I didn’t see a lot of Middle Eastern girls in musical theater. I’m so happy that I get to be that for little girls who are growing up now and they get to see representation in this industry for themselves, if they want to end up doing it in the future,” she said. “This applies to so many more industries, and not just to the musical theater industry. I think that it’s exciting to be able to tell stories like ‘Aladdin’ with people that are of that descent. It’s more truthful and it’s also just more truthful for us and it’s more fun for us, too.”
Ahmady is of Afghan descent. Her dad was born and raised in Afghanistan. Her heritage makes the show even more personal.
“To see a princess that was derived from a bunch of different Middle Eastern cultures, it kind of felt like growing up that Jasmine was my Disney princess,” she said.
Not only that, but Ahmady said she loves Jasmine’s boldness and strength. She said she didn’t always see female characters portrayed that way and it makes the princess even more special.
“[Disney gave Jasmine] agency in this story. She’s not your typical Disney princess. She fights for what she believes in and she ends up getting it in the end. She just ends up falling in love with Aladdin — I like to say 'on the side.' Her whole trajectory in this story is fighting with her dad about wanting to marry somebody that she truly loved and she ended up getting that in the end, which I love about her story,” she said.
Ahmady said that wit and fighting spirit rings true for Middle Eastern women and girls.
“It’s kind of a similar narrative to a lot of Brown girls growing up. I feel like the relationship that Jasmine has with the Sultan… is kind of very similar to the relationship I had with my dad growing up. In that sense, this story feels so truthful and I love that,” she said.
While the show strives to remain true to the people it represents, Ahmady said she knows she has a duty to remain true to the original Jasmine, too. She said playing an iconic character is really fun, but equally as scary.
”Everyone already knows the story of ‘Aladdin.’ They’re not really coming to see what happens. You kind of have to keep the audience on their feet; at the same time, you want to give them the character that they all love so much, but I kind of want to show them my own take on Jasmine — give them a Jasmine that’s a little bit modern to this time. It’s hard balancing out, but the payoff is definitely worth it,” she said.
There are plenty of elements of the show that are unique to keep people engaged, though.
The original animated film is 1 hour and 30 minutes. The Broadway musical is 2 hours and 30 minutes.
To fill out the show a bit more, Ahmady said there are new songs and characters that didn’t make the cut in the classic film.
“A lot of the stuff that they added were actually things that they wrote for the original animated feature and they got rid of them just because they felt like it didn’t really fit at the time, or time constraints — they couldn’t put that many songs into an hour-and-a-half movie,” she explained. “So, it’s kind of cool. I like to think of the musical as the full version of what Disney wanted ‘Aladdin’ to be.”
But, the musical doesn’t skimp out on iconic moments, songs or Disney magic.
The show is complete with a flying magic carpet. Soaring off the stage is Ahmady’s favorite part of the show.
“I know it sounds cliche but I really love ‘A Whole New World’ so much. Getting to fly,” she said. “There’s a magic carpet and we fly off of the ground and that moment still gets me. I think we’ve done about 350 shows now and that moment still gets me every night.”
It’s not as scary as some would think, though. She said the first time she was on the carpet was during a rehearsal. They were still building the magic carpet in a warehouse.
When she got on to practice flying, all of the lights were on.
“You could see how far off you were from the ground and it was terrifying,” Ahmady said.
But when she’s performing, that fear goes away — with the help of a darkened theater.
“People ask me if it’s scary during the show but I think because all the lights are off and it’s really dark in the theater, you honestly can’t really tell that you’re that far off the ground,” she said.
Ahmady and her carpet are setting off to multiple tour stops this year — including the Overture Center in Madison, Wis. (Oct. 10 - 15), the Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee (Oct. 17 - 22) and the Aronoff Center for the Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio (Nov. 14 - 19).
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