Michael James Scott will give his final performance as Genie in Aladdin on May 3, ending a run that has lasted more than a decade and carried him from Broadway to the national tour, Australia and London’s West End.
On a recent Wednesday matinee, Scott spoke while preparing in his dressing room at the New Amsterdam Theatre, where he has spent years bringing the role to life since joining the show on opening day in 2014. He said the final weeks have brought gratitude, worry and pride, the kind of mix that comes with stepping away from a part he has played more than 4,000 times, including the demanding “Friend Like Me” tap-dance-break sequence.
Scott did not start out as the first Genie audiences knew. He began as a standby for original Genie James Monroe Iglehart, and the two worked through what Scott called “Genie talks” in his dressing room to figure out how to shape the character. “It was like Genie therapy in a way,” he said, describing the process of building a version of the role that felt alive on stage rather than copied from anywhere else.
That approach helped define a performance that became one of the longest-running in the show’s history. Scott said it is rare for anyone to stay in a role this long, and even rarer for an actor of color. “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,” he said. “And even more rare, an actor of color to have gotten to do this.” He added, “It is possible, and it can be done, and we can do it.”
The production itself was always meant to stand apart from the animated 1992 version, Scott said, and he made a point of not returning to the film or studying what Robin Williams did in developing his own Genie. “Authenticity is extremely important to be successful in this role, because it's so tied to who you are, that sort of personality,” he said. “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.”
Scott is not leaving the stage so much as shifting to other work, including starring as Nurse Dubois in ABC’s Scrubs reboot. He said he shot the series in Canada on weekdays while still performing in Aladdin on the weekends, a schedule that left little room for anything but stamina and focus. After more than 4,000 performances, his final turn as Genie will close one chapter at the New Amsterdam Theatre and open another, with the role he made his own now handing the spotlight to someone else.