He just loves a happy ending!
Over a decade after first taking residence in Broadway’s most dazzling magic lamp, and over 4,000 “Friend Like Me” tap-dance-break sequences later, Aladdin’s Michael James Scott bids the New Amsterdam Theatre farewell with his final performance as Genie May 3.
Broadway’s longest-running Genie has been with Aladdin since its opening day in 2014; he began as a standby for original Genie, Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart. The two would sit in what is now Scott’s dressing room, for “Genie talks,” figuring out how to bring one of Disney’s most beloved roles to life on their own terms.
“It was like Genie therapy in a way,” Scott shares with Playbill. “Authenticity is extremely important to be successful in this role, because it’s so tied to who you are, that sort of personality. Once I was able to unlock that, I feel like that’s where my Genie got to the place where it is today, because I was able to unlock this unapologetic thing that is Michael James Scott. And I’m still working on it.”
(Heather Gershonowitz)
Scott explained this while prepping for a recent Wednesday matinee in the same dressing room he and Iglehart once used as their Genie brainstorming space. The plum-colored walls are adorned with framed Genie artwork and various photos of theatres he’s had the opportunity to play in (Scott has also played the Genie on the national tour, in Australia, and in London’s West End.)
One of the most endearing moments in Disney’s Aladdin, both in film and on stage, is watching the Genie come to terms with his freedom. Likewise for Scott, it’s time for him to explore the other adventures waiting outside the walls of Agrabah (which includes starring as Nurse Dubois in ABC’s Scrubs reboot.)
Below, Scott takes this Playbill reporter and our photographer, Heather Gershonowitz, behind-the-scenes on his Genie transformation. In between getting his makeup done and into costume, he reflected on what his years of experience in the role have taught him both as a performer and as a person—and how he managed to shoot Scrubs in Canada on the weekdays while performing in Aladdin on the weekends.
The conversation below has been edited for length and clarity.
(Heather Gershonowitz)
You’re coming up on the final weeks of your run here at the New Amsterdam. What are some of the emotions that have been running through your brain these past couple weeks?
Michael James Scott: It’s everything and the kitchen sink, honestly. Obviously, there’s a lot of gratitude in this moment, but there’s also a lot of worry of “What? Oh my gosh, what am I doing?” But mostly, I’m prideful. I’m really proud that I got to do this, and I’m proud that I am one of the few people to say that I’ve been able to be in a role this long and really sit in it. And even more rare, an actor of color to have gotten to do this. I don’t take that lightly.
And, to say to the next person, it is possible, and it can be done, and we can do it. That’s been pretty extraordinary for me to think about.
There are so many different versions of the Genie, from the movie to the stage. How has your Genie evolved over time?
It’s interesting. We knew that our version of the show was going to be our version; it is different from the animated 1992 version. The team went back to the original inspiration for the Genie. For my version, I did not watch the movie again, I didn’t listen to any sort of things about what Robin Williams was doing.
When we were developing this, I was the original standby. So, my brother from another mother, James Monroe Iglehart, we were the two. We were it. We were developing it as it was happening, watching in real time, seeing what would work, what didn’t work, and the idea of what people were expecting from the Genie, and this thing that people really wanted. They had their preconceived notions of who the Genie was.
And so, James and I had our little Genie talks. We literally sat in this dressing room and would talk about that kind of stuff. His version was his Tony Award-winning version. And then when I took it on, what was important for me was that it was Michael James Scott’s version, and the team really allowed that to happen. My version really started to form once I gave the permission to myself to not be anything else but Michael James Scott. It was this idea of not apologizing for Michael James Scott, because the things that were quirky and crazy were the things that got me here. That’s what has gotten me the role. I now say that to everyone: the moment you stop apologizing for who you are, the moment things just open up in life.
(Heather Gershonowitz)
I wanted to talk a little bit more about your background, I know you’re from Orlando.
I’m from Orlando! Orlandoooo! [sung in the style of The Book of Mormon’s “Two by Two”]
I’m also from Florida! I feel like there is such an enriching artistic community down there. You’ve talked a lot about your pride for that community and for being raised there. How do you feel like that environment has helped inform you as an artist over the years?
Orlando is, to me, the place where I feel like I was really supported, really believed in. Orlando is a community that really cares about young artists. I went to performing arts high school, Dr. Phillips High School, the same high school where Joey Fatone went, where Wayne Brady went. I understudied Tony Yazbeck in high school in Into the Woods. Tony was a senior, I was a sophomore, and I understudied Jack. Also, Patricia McGregor, who is now the artistic director for New York Theatre Workshop, went to Dr. Phillips High School. We did The Tempest together.
My first production was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The tour was coming down, and they hired local children’s choirs to be the kids’ choir. I actually ended up doing two cities. I was in middle school, and it was as if I had found the golden pot at the end of the rainbow, truly. That was because of a community show choir group that we got to do that. I’m very thankful for Orlando. I’m very thankful for the community. I’m very thankful for what they instilled in me and the belief in me, because they believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself, truly.
Disney Theatrical asked me to go back to Orlando on the first national tour of Aladdin to play my hometown. So, I got to go home, we did it for a month, and I got to play the Genie. That was right before the pandemic. I had so many people who came to see the show, old teachers and old friends, I was like, “I have got to come back to Orlando more.” This community got me here, and it’s really important that I get back. The last three years I’ve been the host for the Applause Awards, which is at Dr. Phillips Center downtown, that leads into the Jimmy Awards. That has been such a beautiful thing to be able to get back and see those insanely talented kids, help these kids get ready for what’s possible in New York. It’s a long answer to tell you that Orlando means a lot to me.
(Heather Gershonowitz)
[Scott sits down in a chair as Rich Fabris, of Aladdin‘s hair department comes in.] What is this getting ready process like?
This is Rich. This is to get my microphone penned down, taped down. There’s two of them here. They’re clipped into my goatee, which, P.S., the goatee is in the contract. That’s actually a part of the situation. Once we get that taped on, Rich will then put some makeup on to match my skin tone. Sometimes, my hair can get caught into the microphone and that gets [feedback noise] crazy. They constantly are checking that for me, he does a lot of trimming at this time as well to make sure we’re perfect for the show. This little clip-in gold curly goatee, this puts it all together so that we can give it a little something to grab onto. I don’t have the biggest of goatees.
And then I move over to this chair, to the lovely Cheryl Thomas, she’s the hair and makeup supervisor. The Queen, honey! We have done this together in different companies, and Cheryl has been there. I’ve seen her teach it to my makeup artist in Australia, this specific way.
(Heather Gershonowitz)
You’re starring right now on the reboot of Scrubs on ABC. How has that process been, working with both this show and then that opportunity?
It was not easy, and the teams had to really come together to agree to make it happen. Both the Scrubs team and the Aladdin team had to agree to me being out of the show, and how that was going to work. It was definitely a dance of schedules and all the things to work out with my standbys and with making sure that I was gonna be able to do the shows that I said I could do.
It’s also mind shift, to do a big Broadway show like this, and then go into doing network television. That journey and that shift of gears was pretty intense in the sense of the material and how you make that happen. The great thing is that I was on a comedy and that was really cool. There was still so much joy, so much laughter, and so many comedic people around, and that really helped. Honestly, it was actually quite interesting to do Scrubs, because it’s such an ensemble show. It felt like being a part of the theatre. I think it actually made me feel a bit at ease when I make it back to set, because we shot at Vancouver.
Just a little commute.
You know, casual. I was on that flight every week. I was shooting the show Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, part of Friday, then on a red eye back here to do two [shows] Saturday, two Sunday, and then back out on Monday.
When we did our fall and winter schedule, we did five-show weekends. We have the Friday, two Saturday, two Sunday. For me, it actually worked out in my favor that, scheduling wise, I could still do the bulk of my Aladdin shows over the weekend, which we were off shooting. Listen, that’s an actor’s dream to be able to get to do that. I don’t know if this is going to happen again. You figure out how to make that work. I have watched the episodes on the [dressing room] TV, they come on during the show. It was kind of crazy watching it live when I literally walk off stage.
(Heather Gershonowitz)
When you were younger, out of the Disney movies, was Aladdin one of your favorites to watch?
Oh, yes, it was. Definitely. In fact, my first tap solo was to “Friend Like Me.”
And I think I did a duet of “A Whole New World, as well, because I was the one guy in my dance studio. So, of course, I was always the lifter, even though I was like, “Can someone lift me?”
Are there any words of advice, alongside being unapologetically yourself, that you would give to any young aspiring performers who might look to be a Genie themselves on Broadway one day?
I just would say, believe in the thing that you have is special because no one else has it, because they’re not you. That’s it.
It’s much harder said than done, believing in yourself. It’s so cliché to say believe in yourself, and it’s hard as we get older. Everybody else can believe in you, but if you don’t believe in yourself, it’s harder to get there. Not only is it harder to get there, it’s also not authentic, right? Believe that you are special because there’s no one else like you, period.
(Heather Gershonowitz)
You brought up the tap, and I thought of your history working with Aladdin director Casey Nicholaw. This is like the pinnacle.
Casey and I, we did Mormon together, that’s when he was basically stuck with me. When we first met, we had known each other but had never gotten to work together. It was like meeting an old friend, because he’s so ridiculous and we just clicked. We were both dancers, character actors. Casey was someone who definitely saw in me things I didn’t see, literally like the Genie.
From Mormon to [Something] Rotten to this.
Actually, it was the Mormon workshop, but then it was Elf. Right after the workshop, Elf was opening in November. He was like “Can you do this?” The whole cast had already done the workshop of the show. I was like, “I mean, sure.” Literally just said yes. It’s Casey. Yes.
Saying yes has been a thing. I just said yes to the secret reading of The Book of Mormon. I had just finished doing Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall, and the great Stephen Oremus was like, “Hey, I’m directing this secret reading of something. Can you do it?” That was literally the pitch.
Casey Nicholaw, he’s like the Broadway Genie to so many friends and people he’s met over his career. That’s someone who really believed in me. I never saw myself as the Genie. It was something that was never on my bingo card to play this role, ever. But he saw it. It’s so crazy when people are seeing something in you that you don’t even see.
I got a phone call, he was like, “Hey, can you come in and be the Genie for a reading?” They had done a Seattle production, an out-of-town tryout, and they were going to bring all the changes and do a reading of everything they had done, and James Monroe was the only one who couldn’t do it. He was doing, I think, another show in Seattle, and he could not get out. So, they called me. I learned the show in a day in a half, into [Disney Theatrical Group president] Tom Schumacher’s office, had about an hour and a half session with Adam Jacobs, the original Aladdin. And that Saturday, before the matinee of The Book of Mormon, I walked into this room, a room full of executives and our creative team.
That was my audition for Genie. I didn’t have time to think, I just had to do. I got out of my own way. Step into it. That’s Broadway!
(Heather Gershonowitz)
Can you tell me a bit about your opening costume? You begin the show outside of the iconic Genie look, but this one is just as fascinating.
Fun fact: This costume was the final costume that was designed for the show. It was an addition that happened when the Genie became the narrator in the beginning of the show. What happened is, the legendary Gregg Barnes designed this costume as all the fabrics from the marketplace into one costume. You literally can see that within the pants, it’s just the most genius thing. I find this costume to be so beautiful, and I wear it for the opening number, and that’s it. This detail is so rare and so extraordinary. It’s all insanely crafted. [Pointing to costume] This is handpainted.
Going from this and then into the iconic Genie look for the show, it really is like putting on the armor and putting on the Superman suit. This is welcoming you into the world, welcoming you into this fictional place called Agrabah. He’s sort of an emcee.
(Heather Gershonowitz)
How does it feel being in a show for so long together with some of your other original castmates?
So great. Especially because, like, Don Darryl [Rivera] had a child. He has a little beautiful girl, a daughter. We watched him become a father. We’ve watched Dennis [Stowe], a Broadway veteran, he went from being in the original ensemble, he covered Jafar, then he went into being the Jafar standby, and now he’s playing Jafar. We’ve watched each other really blossom into the roles. It’s amazing to have that still a part of the show, because you do feel like there’s some of those grounding roots. It’s a different vibe, a different energy.
As you get closer to the end of your run, are there certain moments in the show for you that are resonating a little more heavily?
I say a line, like, “I’m gonna be free. I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me.’ I end up saying the most cliché goodbye lines that you could possibly say because at the end of the story, the Genie is set free. And so, it definitely hits quite differently now thinking about me ending this chapter.
Get a closer look at Michael James Scott’s transformation into Genie backstage at Aladdin.