“I am so happy,” Adi Roy says with a smile on his face I can practically hear through the phone. It’s a Tuesday, and the actor is about to begin his eight-show week in the title role of Disney’s Aladdin the Musical on Broadway.
Boasting the biggest party on Broadway, Aladdin has been enchanting audiences at the New Amsterdam Theatre since 2014. Though the magic carpet has landed in 11 countries and sparked multiple tours around the world, Roy’s introduction to Prince Ali wasn’t from the audience of a theatrical production. Nor was it the beloved 1992 animated feature on which the musical is based.
“My introduction [to Aladdin] is pretty funny and circuitous,” Roy says with a chuckle. “My first introduction to Aladdin was when I was in Aladdin Junior in middle school.” Roy played, you guessed it, the street rat himself. The experience was life-changing, and a little frightening, for the then-eighth grader.
“It [was] one of my first leads in a musical,” Roy recounts. “So I was, one, very scared. But at the same time, a lot of the friends I made that year and through that show are still friends of mine to this day.” In fact, some of those middle school cast-mates recently came to see Roy in Agrabah on the New Amsterdam’s stage, proving the bonds forged onstage at a young age can last a lifetime.
“You get to see each other's mistakes,” Roy says, reflecting on the glue that binds theatre kids. “And I know that sounds weird, but it's how you deal with those mistakes that either help or hurt [friendship]. I feel like when people see your mistakes and they support you through that, you know that you have a good support group. I know that I made a lot of mistakes in my time in high school. People really, really pushed me to go forward and pushed me to keep trying.”
The avenue of the performing arts in Roy’s schools and summer camps allowed for him and his classmates to see each other at their most creative, most inspired, quirkiest, and most vulnerable. Without those experiences, and the encouragement that came along with people accepting him for exactly as he was, a first-generation kid who wanted to act and to sing, Roy can’t imagine who he’d be today.
“I don't know who I would be without having [theatre] in school,” Roy says emphatically. “I know that colored my time in middle and high school. I don't know what life would be like without [the performing arts in school].”
Though sometimes it seems “crazy” to Roy that he is revisiting the same role of Aladdin nearly a decade later, he emphasizes it’s nothing short of a dream come true.
“To be on Broadway is kind of every performer's dream,” Roy says. “And the fact that I get to reprise a role that meant so much to me back then and still means so much to me now…getting to be a lead on Broadway for a lot of Brown kids in the audience, it's magical.”
Roy is only the second South Asian actor to play Aladdin on Broadway. The impact that has on young audience members is something he tries not to focus on (it makes him too nervous), yet the excitement from fans of all ages at the stage door is too palpable for him to ignore. “I'll get fully grown adults coming to me and saying, ‘Wow, this is really amazing. You guys really brought me back to what I was feeling when I first watched this movie,’” he says. “It's just such an amazing feeling getting to put on this show for this wide variety of audiences that all come and feel the magic of Aladdin.”
Perhaps it was that magic that also inspired Roy’s immigrant parents’ unwavering support of their son after he caught the theatre bug at a young age. Their rallying behind him and his unconventional career has been an important constant.
“Coming from an immigrant household, there was the pressure to go the normal route and do something academic,” Roy says. “My parents both have PhDs. My sister is a chemical engineer [with a degree] from Columbia.” Despite academic expectations for their son, Roy says his parents outfitted him with every artistic activity—music, choir, acting—the young boy’s extracurricular schedule could accommodate. A self-proclaimed “nerd,” theatre was the “outlet” for Roy on a difficult day, a place where he could get lost in a wonderland.
Now, that fantasy world is Agrabah, where Roy performs so convincingly it’s difficult to determine where the Roy on the phone, bursting with joy, ends and Aladdin, utterly endearing, begins. Having been with Aladdin from middle school to a North American tour in 2022 and now to a Broadway stage, Roy says it’s the spirit of play that helps keep things fresh.
“Aladdin, as much as he goes through, he's a fun guy,” Roy says. “If I'm trying to have fun on stage, hopefully that will show to the audience as well. I try to key into the joy and key into the energy that Aladdin has. If you see me backstage right before the show, I'm just jumping around, saying hi to everyone, checking in on everyone. You make connections with the people on stage, and you have fun. You play.”
To have grown up alongside Aladdin, the character, is to have learned from him, Roy explains, stating that while there are many good lessons in the show, two stick out to him in particular.
“The lessons that I keep going back to are staying true to yourself and wanting to be better,” Roy says confidently. “[Aladdin] forces me to try to stay true to myself and keep looking for ways to better myself. Now that I'm back in New York, I'm going to get back into more voice lessons, more acting lessons. And, you know, I'm constantly going to keep bettering myself.”
Adi Roy in Aladdin
Adi Roy and Sonya Balsara in Aladdin
Michael James Scott, Adi Roy, and company of Aladdin
