Jake Letts talks swordfighting, the power of Disney magic in "Aladdin"

The well-known Disney classic, “Aladdin,” is traveling all the way from the fantastical, fictional city of Agrabah across North America for the tour of the Broadway show, mixing well-known songs like “Friend Like Me,” with elements of high adventures and sword fighting just for the stage. 

The American Theatre Guild’s tour of “Aladdin” will be at the Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend from March 14-23. 

Jake Letts, playing Babkak, one of Aladdin’s swashbuckling best friends, grew up with ties to the South Bend area. He is expecting to see a lot of his loved ones in the audience and hopes to dazzle them in a city close to his heart. 

“Some of them came and saw the show in Indianapolis, but it's awesome that they will get to see it either for the first time or again, but this time without having to make too far of a drive,” Letts said. “It's awesome to get to share this with them.” 

Letts and the rest of the tour cast is currently in Toronto for a five-week stay, but Letts said that most of the time, the longest the cast stays in one place is for a week, making for a hectic environment for the actor’s debut tour. 

Letts said having to put your real life on pause and navigate a whole new style of living with other people who also had to push away their personal life for their professional life is difficult, but that most of the time the cast is able to have fun with one another while putting together the show. 

Letts said one thing that brings the cast together is sharing the experience of performing the musical for excited audiences across North America. 

He said whether it is the audience’s first time seeing the show or grew up watching it, Letts always leaves the stage feeling like he brought the audience the classic Disney Broadway magic. 

“They're leaving feeling deep nostalgia for the love of Aladdin from their childhood or excitement from their first exposure to the story,” Letts said. “The audiences, from what I can tell, always seem to have a good time.” 

Letts said performing a Disney show was different from performing any other show because any crowd of any age has a connection to Disney of some kind, from loving the movies to working as the “Aladdin” characters in the parks. 

He said this makes the performances for any audience “magical” and “eternally rewarding.” 

Letts said most of the material in the show does pull from the movie, but the newer material for the Broadway show also comes from the movie, more specifically parts of the movie that were cut for time. 

His character is one of these additions to the story, bringing back Aladdin’s trio of friends that are bonded over living on the streets and struggle, creating their dynamic as “good pals and blood brothers,” a lyric in the song “Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim.” 

Letts said being able to portray this character is one way of showing respect for those who first brought the story to life. 

“Alan Menken and Howard Ashman and their friendship was the inspiration for the relationship the trio they made with Aladdin,” Letts said. “Getting to now bring back these three characters that were created by Ashman, who's now who's now passed away, it's cool to get to kind of keep his legacy alive in that way and bring something forth that even though he didn't get to see it brought to life, is still done in his honor.” 

Letts said his favorite part of the show, as well as many of the crowd’s favorite part, is the song “High Adventure,” where his trio has to save Aladdin from the palace in the second act. He said the number has a little bit of everything: singing, dancing and even sword fighting. 

His favorite part of the number: it’s unique to the Broadway adaptation. 

“It's a song that if it's your first time seeing the Broadway musical then most likely, you don't know the song,” Letts said. “Getting to kind of be a surprise factor is one of the things I love most about being in this trio because every night is almost like an entirely blank slate with the three of us because there is no expectation that's already put on it.” 

When it came to the swordfighting, Letts said “it was going to happen because it had to happen,” running into issues of coordination when trying to add the combat to the lyrics during early rehearsals. 

However, Letts said everything now falls into place when performing the song. 

“Having to do all of that at once was a little bit like rubbing your stomach and patting your head kind of thing,” Letts said. “But we rehearsed so much that eventually it just started to happen. One thing clicks one day and you really become solid with the lyrics, and so that makes it easier for the next day for the sword fighting to really lock in.” 

With the sword fighting as big of an unexpected spectacle as it is, Letts said that he hears at the stage door that many of the audience members’ favorite parts of the show is “High Adventure.” 

Letts said that while he doesn’t want to dictate what audiences should walk away from the show with, whether that’s a message from the show or a feeling, he hopes that there is one part of the show that audiences wish they could interact with and join in the action. 

Letts said he hopes the overall story is uplifting and fun to any audience member from a new musical lover to someone nostalgic for their childhood, wanting people to take away their own messages and feelings from “Aladdin.” 

“I think that this is a show that, of course, has many beautiful messages about self-growth and friendship and responsibility and women's rights,” Letts said. “There are a lot of messages like that that are beautiful, but I think that if you see the show, I really hope that it gives you that sort of Disney magic and happy glow that really only Disney does.”