NEW YORK (AP) — Some years ago, when Sonya Balsara and Adi Roy were in middle school, they were cast in kiddie versions of the musical “Aladdin.” Little did they know it would be very good preparation — for the same roles on Broadway.
More than a decade after hitting their marks in the show as pre-teens, Balsara is playing plucky Princess Jasmine and Roy is the show’s urchin-turned-titular hero now on Broadway as the Disney hit musical celebrates its 10th anniversary.
“I think about that little girl who had a little speck of a dream to do all of this,” says Balsara. “If she could see what we did now, I think that she would be just beyond elated.”
Both actors are of Indian heritage and in their 20s. They both grew up in music-filled homes, attended New York University and put in long hours to prepare for this big moment. How big? Their faces are on billboards in Times Square.
“That’s every immigrant parent’s dream — their son or daughter or children are doing something like that,” says Roy. “I can only hope to keep making them proud.”
Jasmine’s road
Balsara grew up in the Bay Area, with classical music playing even while she was in the womb.
Her mother is a professional classical singer who sang Baroque arias, Bach and Mozart while pregnant. Her dad is a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California who plays in a rock band and sings Pink Floyd, the Beatles and Steely Dan.
At her house, rock, classical and Bollywood were all played. So, it was no surprise that she was directing, producing, casting — and starring, naturally — in her own production of “Oklahoma!” in the fourth grade.
“It was always very encouraged to explore, and I was very encouraged, luckily, to explore what my personal passions were and dive deeper into them,” she says.
At age 11 at a local children’s theater program, she was cast as a braces-wearing Jasmine in “Aladdin Jr.” She provided part of her own costume, and the set’s flying carpet for “A Whole New World” was someone holding a cloth on sticks. No matter.
“That is what theater is made of — it’s the creativity.”
A fateful moment came when she was a sophomore in high school and was being driven by her dad to A.P. Bio lab at 6:30 a.m. He suggested she had to make a choice — acting or a more conventional route.
“I was like, ‘If I don’t give acting in theater a shot, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.’ That was sort of like a turning page for me,” she says.
Balsara took acting classes in San Francisco on Saturday mornings, then graduated NYU, went on auditions and worked at a law firm during the day and finally booked her first professional theater gig: Maria in “West Side Story” in Tokyo.
She auditioned multiple times for Jasmine on Broadway and finally got the gig on her third or fourth attempt. She’s been Broadway’s fourth full-time princess since January 2023.
Now, when she flies, she uses a harness and really flies.
Aladdin’s route
Roy’s path to Broadway was more circuitous. He landed the role of Ali on tour after about six auditions and hit the road in the fall of 2022 for 20 months, visiting more than 60 different cities, like Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
“I love to key into the joy that Aladdin brings,” he says. “Even in his saddest of times, there is a twinge of joy. He’s always trying to be that person that brings everyone up.”
Roy grew up in New Jersey, and it was his older sister who was always playing show tunes. She introduced him to one of his favorite shows, “Hadestown,” when it popped up in London.
Their home was also filled with music, so he got Bollywood movies at dinner, pop tunes with friends and show tunes at school. “I got a little bit of everything,” he says. He attended theater camps, like one at the Paper Mill Playhouse.
He would take the bus to Broadway to see shows like “Kinky Boots” with Brendon Urie, Jake Gyllenhaal in “Sea Wall/A Life” and “Hadestown” for his 17th birthday. He landed an agent, attended NYU until switching to an online school while he toured and made his Broadway debut in “Jagged Little Pill.”
After learning he’d been picked to be the fifth full-time Aladdin on Broadway, Roy began shadowing the outgoing Prince Ali — Michael Maliakel — and adjusting to the New Amsterdam Theatre.
His first night was a blur: “I was just so excited to be there and happy to do it, that I just kind of let the adrenaline take me. And, thankfully, the show happened — I think it happened.”
The next generation
While on tour, Roy, was mindful that “Aladdin” was likely the first live stage show for any number of children in the audience.
“This could be the moment that a kid falls in love with theater, and, in 10 years, they might join us on stage in another show or this show,” he says. “Who knows?”
Balsara says she looks out into the audience and tries to connect with any kids in the first five or six rows, knowing the show might be extra special for them. She also meets fans at the stage door.
“People tell you, ‘You changed my life today.’ I’ve had that happen more often than you could imagine,” she says. “Indian families come to the stage door and say, ‘To see you on stage means that my kid can do anything.’”
Balsara has become friends with other “Aladdin” princesses, like Courtney Reed, the original Broadway Jasmine, who gave her tips she still remembers.
“There’s a sisterhood. It’s a unique experience,” she says. She can’t wait to increase that sisterhood when it’s time to welcome a new princess. “I’ll give the tiara to the next, and it’ll be beautiful when that moment gets to happen.”
It might even be to someone with experience from middle school.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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