Being part of the Aladdin, Jr. musical was a recent experience and accomplishment. We started rehearsals in September 2023. We had to use Flex and ELB to learn how to sing together, which parts to synchronize, and which parts to sing or not sing. Then, after school, we practiced dance moves, scripts, and momentum every Monday, Thursday, and Friday from 3 to 4 p.m. In February, we started to rehearse seriously, practicing the whole musical and modifying our performance as we went, making last-minute changes, costume fittings, and learning our lines and songs with no scripts. 

Towards the end, the cast considered changing a scene to make it look better but couldn’t because it was too last minute—only two days before the production day. I wouldn’t say I liked dancing in a scene. I felt like doing it was awkward and embarrassing, just walking around the scene holding our swords and not doing anything. Still, overall, the final production looked terrific, and all the cast members were great. 

The part with the floating carpet turned out especially well, considering it required a lot of people to hold on to the metal. Aladdin and Jasmine had to step onto the carpet and sit on it for a while, which I think was quite scary because it did not seem sturdy and there were many times during the practice where they almost fell, but I think it turned out to be one of the best moments in the show. 

Everyone in the cast did well contributing to making the scenes come out beautifully. If we had managed our time better, we could have made dance scenes less awkward and more well-rehearsed, with everyone at the same tempo. There were some minor things I didn’t quite find enjoyable throughout the show, but overall, I feel like the show was great and was a magical moment.