Pheaturing Jonathan Freeman

 

Hey kids, welcome to the Phile for a Wednesday. How are you? A guy went off on his "racist" wife after she was "harassing" a black couple at a gas station, in footage that has gone viral on multiple platforms. Although it's unclear what exactly kicked off the confrontation, it's clear the man had hit a breaking point with his wife's "racist" behavior after she seemingly "harassed" a black couple. In the video, originally posted on TikTok, the man gestures towards the couple while saying to his wife, Erin. "You don't know him, you don't know her. You don't know anybody around here. You are not special. Get your stupid ass in the car." In the background, we hear the woman who filmed the video laughing and adding, "get in the car, Erin!" The black couple remain calm throughout the altercation, while Erin seems both unapologetic and defensive. At one point, she points to the man and calls him a "fucking crack dealer," to which her husband responds, "no he is not! Why? Because he's driving a fucking Buick?" Erin then walks off and the husband apologizes to the couple, saying "she can't handle a goddamn thing, man." The level of pity for the husband on that black man's face is both equally warranted and unexpected. I’ve never seen a man say, “I know a good divorce attorney” with a facial expression alone.

In theory, the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 would inspire more people to keep wearing their masks in public in order to flatten the curve and prevent more variants from forming. However, the act of wearing a mask is still heavily politicized, with some even going so far as to cite their religious or spiritual beliefs as a reason to go mask-free. Among the detractors is former televangelist (who was convicted of fraud) Jim Bakker, who recently posed the question: can God hear your prayers through a mask? Naturally, people brought up Bakker's history as a fraudster, suggesting this just falls in line with his pattern of contradictions. Others were just in awe of the sheer ridiculousness. It's clear that other people have a little more faith that an all-knowing God could hear through a cloth mask. 

Former president Donald Trump left his compound in Florida for a superspreader event/rally in Cullman, Alabama, and he said something his own sycophants did not like, "take the vaccines." The fully vaccinated COVID survivor who also benefited from the expensive, experimental treatment including Remdesivir, hosted a rally called "Save America." While it is unclear what Trump and co. were rallying to save America from, it is decidedly NOT the coronavirus, because the crowd did not take his suggestion that they stop spreading the disease well. "And you know what? I believe totally in your freedoms. I do. You've got to do what you have to do," Trump said. "But I recommend take the vaccines. I did it. It's good. Take the vaccines." He was then booed by the maskless crowd. "I happened to take the vaccine. If it doesn't work, you'll be the first to know. Okay? I'll call up Alabama, I'll say, hey, you know what? But [the vaccine] is working. But you do have your freedoms you have to keep. You have to maintain that," he responded. Thank you, Mr. Trump for defending the virus's freedom to spread and mutate!

Apologies for putting the wrinkly faces of two alleged sexual harassers before you back-to-back, but this is a story that needs to be told. The Albany Times-Union is reporting that during the final days of his third term, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been staying with one of his sisters in Westchester County, but left his dog, Captain, behind at the state-owned Executive Mansion. "Two State Police sources told the Times Union on Saturday that the governor had recently asked mansion staff members if anyone would be interested in caring for the dog. Captain... a high-strung mix of shepherd, Siberian and malamute... has nipped a few people since Cuomo adopted him in 2018, the sources said, and a mansion staffer recently took the dog home for a few days but decided he was too much." Cuomo resigned from office at 11:59 p.m. Monday night, but has clearly resigned from his duties as a Dog Father. He is being roasted on Twitter by both liberals and conservatives alike. After a statement from New York State Animal Protection Federation, a senior Cuomo aide has refuted the report...

Phew. All is well as long as the dog is safe... and also the women he allegedly harassed and continues to smear are, too.

The brand-new trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home came swinging onto the world wide web yesterday, unleashing an explosive montage of footage while lifting the lid on some highly-anticipated theories that fans have been weaving over the past year. The film marks the MCU version of Spidey’s third solo outing, and his sixth in total, having also appeared in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Now, it looks like he’ll be (sort of) teaming up with Doctor Strange to tackle the threats of the Multiverse. So, let’s "untangle" the trailer and take a look at some of the biggest reveals.  The trailer sees the return of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, and picks up where things were left in Far From Home’s mid-credits scene, in which he’s outed as Spider-Man by none other than J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson, owing thanks to manipulative illusionist Mysterio. Now, Peter is being investigated for Mysterio’s death, while also struggling with the fact that the entire world knows his real identity, which is causing problems for his relationship with everyone he cares about, including MJ. And this appears to be the catalyst behind the entire movie... Peter doesn’t want everyone to know that he’s Spider-Man, even if his best friend, girlfriend and aunt already know. Even in death, Mysterio continues to torment Peter, while J. Jonah Jameson is clearly relishing in the fact that he’s the one who exposed Parker in the first place, and is no doubt selling lots of papers because of it. Speak of the cigar-smoking devil... yes, J.K. Simmons is reprising his role as the chief of the Daily Bugle, for the fourth time since 2002’s Spider-Man (or five if you include his cameo in Spider-Man: Far From Home). Fans have been dying for the actor to make a comeback as the abrasive, grouchy, Spider-Man hating character, but had to make do without him in The Amazing Spider-Man movies. But now, prayers have been answered, as it looks like Jameson will be getting more screentime this time around. As for whether he’ll feature a great deal remains to be seen, but with the Multiverse open it’s likely we’ll be seeing, at the very least, two versions of J.K. Simmon’s version of the character. In the new trailer, he can be heard beaming, “That’s right, folks... Spider-Man is, in fact, Peter Parker!” In the trailer, Peter visits Doctor Strange, telling him that his life has been “screwed over” by Mysterio, and asks Strange to “make it so that he never did." Strange indulges Peter, seemingly without much resistance, and weaves a web... of portals, that is. But naturally, things go awry. “The entire world is about to forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man,” Strange says before something seems to go very wrong with the spell. He then warns Peter, saying, “We tampered with the stability of space-time. The Multiverse is a concept of which we know frighteningly little.” Exactly what happens is unknown, but in laments terms, Spider-Man: No Way Home will clearly deal with the Multiverse in question... other realities. “The problem is you trying to live two different lives,” Strange tells Parker. “The longer you do it, the more dangerous it becomes.” Though Spider-Man: No Way Home will deal with the Multiverse, it looks like we’ll also be getting a fair amount of Doctor Strange-esque sequences too, which is no surprise considering the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We’re treated to a couple of very "strange" and mind-bending sequences in the new trailer, one aboard a train, in which Doctor Strange seems to fold the train in on itself and breaking it off into a series of twisting, gravity-defying tracks, all the while Spider-Man is riding on top, and the second being a skyline shot of Manhattan sinking in on itself. Given the nature of the plot, it’s likely that Doctor Strange will play a significant role in the film, as we also see him pushing a non-corporeal version of Peter Parker out of his corporeal Spider-Man form. We also get to see a lot of skyscrapers doing very Inception-like things, which, quite, frankly is too weird and mind-bending for words to describe. As you may have already guessed from the trailer alone, it looks like the Multiverse will definitely be opening in the upcoming film. The classic story from Marvel Comics was also used in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and it’s something fans have been salivating for ever since Avengers: Endgame. Of course, the Multiverse was previously teased in Far From Home, when Mysterio told Peter he was from there (a lie, of course), and also when the mid-credits scene gave us back J.K. Simmon’s J. Jonah Jameson, famously known from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. However, it’s unknown whether this character is from the Multiverse... it’s unlikely, considering the only reason the Multiverse opens is that Peter asks Doctor Strange to help him, as a result of being outed by Jameson in the first place. When a large robotic tentacle land smashes down onto the road, it’s pretty obvious which villain we’re about to meet, but to anyone who hasn’t been following all the updates and rumors for the new movie, then it’s more than likely Alfred Molina comes as a huge surprise. The actor portrayed the villain in 2004’s Spider-Man 2 and hasn't been seen in any other movie since. While his character dies at the end of that movie, it looks like we’ll still be meeting that version of him nonetheless, likely because the new film will reunite us with him before his death. But this will also mean that his fate will be altered... as will the fate of many that orbit Peter Parker (of which there’s also more than one version). Either way, we’re thrilled to be seeing Alfred Molina step back into the boots of this iconic villain. Alfred Molina isn’t the only original villain from Sam Raimi’s trilogy returning for Spider-Man: No Way Home. While we don’t quite get to see him in the trailer, we can hear Willem Dafoe’s brilliantly maniacal laugh, made famous when he played Green Goblin in 2002’s Spider-Man. Dafoe’s portrayal of Norman Osborn was a sinister one... no pun intended... and his turn as the Green Goblin was, while cheesy at times, hugely entertaining, and gave us some of the best villainous one-liners of the original films. As for whether he’ll be heading up the inevitable team of villains in the new film remains to be seen, but we’re just glad to be seeing Dafoe donning the flight suit and stepping back on the glider once again. Exactly what the Multiverse will mean for the rest of the MCU remains to be seen, but it’s something that was already teased in "WandaVision" and will likely be explored further in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Sometimes I like to go on Twitter and look up certain words. One of those words I look up is "Foghat" and this is a tweet I saw recently...

Have you heard about the new Genie app for Disney? Well, there's another app coming out...

Hahaha. If I had a TARDIS I would like to go and meet the Queen. But knowing my luck I'd meet her when she's 18-years-old and Princess Elizabeth.  

She was in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during WWII where she drove and repaired heavy vehicles. If you fear that you are not living up to your intellectual potential, or simply aren't the most knowledgable person around... fear no more. As long as you know what the delta variant is, basic spelling, and that it's physically possible (and indeed quite common!) for a woman to know more about something than a man, you are an absolute genius compared to this person...

Fish are dinosaurs. They say "snitches get stitches," but sometimes, not snitching could lead to even worse health complications. A woman in Texas whose brother continues to be a COVID denier 19 months and over 4 million deaths later has taken matters into her own hands. When one of her nieces tested positive from the virus, the girl's siblings were not isolated from her, and were therefore directly exposed. Their dad dropped them off at school, and the concerned aunt reported them to the principal. She emailed the Phile with the subject headline "Am I wrong for calling the school about my idiot brothers kids???"

"My brother is an avid COVID denier, to the point that when his older daughter tested positive yesterday he argued the doctor was wrong. This morning, I see him dropping the other two kids off for school… texted my niece to ask if she had been quarantined from her siblings and her response was “no why?” So I sent this screen shot to the school and they asked me to contact the principal, however when I do it just goes to voicemail. Am I wrong for reporting my brothers sending two ticking time bombs to two different campuses today? The two younger kids weren't even tested, because according to my brother, 'it’s just a government plan to control us all.'" Public safety is important, especially when you know there are two kids who have been exposed to COVID and are being sent into school without masks. I’m so sorry you have to deal with this. I implore you to call the school district, and make sure you get through to the principal. The stakes couldn't be higher as children's lives are at stake. If you have a problem you want my advice on then email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com. 

On having a subway...

Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York here is...

Top Phive Things Said About Jim Bakker Claiming God Can't Hear Prayers Through Masks

5. I guess omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent don't mean what I thought they meant. 

4. Sounds like God suddenly kicked it into a low gear on the whole all powerful thing. 

3. Considering the Bible tells us to pray in our closet and NOT screaming out on the street for the approval of the crowd... AND considering that GOD knows our thoughts... I think it is safe to say that Mr. Bakker is not preaching sound doctrine; he is IGNORING the scripture. 

2. Well, it’s true, God has been a little hard of hearing on occasion. 

And the number one thing said about Bakker claiming God can't hear prayers through masks was...

1. The Holy Spirit is notoriously hard of hearing. Created the universe in a few days, but don't even try to bring up the idea of a hearing aid unless you want an earful. 

If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, let's take a live look at Pot Jeff, shall we?

Looks like a nice day there today. 

Phact 1. If Texas was an independent country, it would rank as the world’s seventh largest producer of greenhouse gases.

Phact 2. The only way the BBC could record its live broadcasts in the 1950s was to point a film camera at a television. It’s called kinescoping, and was the only way to preserve television broadcasts until videotape was invented in the mid-1950s. Because of this, the only known recording of the landmark sci-fi serial “The Quatermass Experiment” features an insect walking across the screen. 

Phact 3. The NHL was started because five of the six team owners in the National Hockey Association didn’t like the sixth guy and wanted to start a league without him. 

Phact 4. In 2012, a Nepalese farmer named Mohammed Salmodin was bitten by a cobra and bit the cobra back. The cobra died and he went about his daily business with no symptoms as if nothing had happened.. He finally agreed to go to the hospital after pressure from family, neighbors and police. 

Phact 5. An Australian guy named Bill Morgan was declared dead for 14 minutes and lived unscathed. To celebrate his survival, he bought a scratch card and won a $27,000 car. The news reporter asked him to reenact the scratch card moment to capture it on camera, so he bought another card and won a $250,000 jackpot in it. 

Today's guest is an American actor and puppeteer, known for puppetering and voicing Tito Swing in "Shining Time Station" and for voicing Jafar in Disney's Aladdin franchise, as well as the "Kingdom Hearts" franchise and the 2011 Aladdin musical. So near so Jafar. Haha. Please welcome to the Phile... Jonathan Freeman.

Me: Hello, Jonathan, welcome to the Phile, sir. How are you? 

Jonathan: I'm grand, Jason. Thanks for having me on your blog. 

Me: So, I have to ask, were you a fan of Disney as a kid? 

Jonathan: I was a fan of Disney, most everybody was when I was growing up. Adults too. The difference then and now when I was growing up in order to see those Disney animated features we'd have to go to the movie theater to see them. They weren't that available, there was no videotape. They didn't start showing them on television until much later, I don't know the timeline on any of this stuff but we could find that out easily from Disney when they started broadcasting, showing full length theaters. Everything I saw originally I saw in movie theaters, so yes, I was a Disney kid. I did go see all of them and loved them all but everybody I knew did, all my friends and my siblings and my parents, everybody went, everybody loved them. 

Me: So, you played Jafar in Aladdin. Who is one of your favorite Disney villains? 

Jonathan: Well, I had several and I had several sort of role models growing up because although their were character actors that they used they also as you know appeared in a lot of television series in the late 50s and 60s. The actors I mean. I identified the voices, I remember those voices like how do I remember that voice? Oh, he's the voice of the March Hare. My favorite villains I guess, this is probably more indication of the period I grew up though is Captain Hook. I liked Strombolli even though he terrified me and I guess the fox and the cat were considered villains too and I liked their strange weird suave characters. I would say the Evil Queen and Maleficent were certainly big favorites of mine. I think those were the first few that I attached myself too. Then there were other people from film and television too who were villains but not necessarily Disney villains... Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook, I liked all the Captain Hooks. 

Me: What did you think of Hans Conried, who played Captain Hook in Disney's animated Peter Pan? 

Jonathan: He was a brilliant actor and in my lifetime he was in a series called "The Danny Thomas Show" and he played Danny Thomas' Uncle Tonoose on that show amongst many other things too. He was a Broadway actor and did other films too. He was a wonderful actor and a great voice actor. He was also the voice of Snidely Whiplash who is a cartoon character from "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show." He's been around and he's been a part of my life for a very long time too. 

Me: How did you get involved with Disney and Aladdin? 

Jonathan: It's actually kind of a long story but it all connects and makes sense. I got involved when Howard Ashman and Alan Menken started doing their three picture deal with Disney it was interesting to everyone that was in show business and theater and Broadway because everybody knew their work and loved them. They were already known commodities in New York City to people in the business although they didn't have the huge audience they now have. Alan Menken I heard has more Oscars than anybody else in the world. He's done music for so many things. Anyway, Howard and Alan I think their three picture deal got a lot of people in New York interested. Prior to that I had done an Off-Broadway show that was called In A Pig's Valise and it was cast by Albert Tavares. It was an Off-Broadway show with Nathan Lane and at the Second Stage Theater, a small theater at hat time and it was Uptown. Albert Tavares was the casting director for that and years later Tavares was the casting director for Aladdin and Albert Tavares cast me as a villain in this show I'm telling you about and it also happened that one of my representatives at the time at the time was interested in animation and I think she had friends in animation at Disney. She'd gone to university with people who worked at Disney so she had an interest in it too. When it came time to Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid and Aladdin I guess it was because of Diana and Albert Tavares, the convergence of two people in my life who wanted me to get in on this project and they thought I'll be great for it and that's how it happened. 

Me: So, did you have to audition? 

Jonathan: Yeah, I auditioned. At the time I auditioned it was just Albert Tavares and a reel to reel tape recorder and I brought my accompaniment with me as I had to sing a song for them. They sent me some scenes to look at and work on and a preliminary drawing of Jafar for some sort of visual aid and that was it, that's how it happened. After my first audition months and months went by and then I had a call back and then another month or two went by and just before Christmas of 1990 I booked the job and I went to work in January 1991. They rushed me in to demo a song. I have the dubious distinction to have recorded the last song Howard Ashman wrote called "Humiliate the Boy," which was a song written for the film of Aladdin but not used. I think you can see it on-line as a pencil test. 

Me: Oh, cool. I need to look that up. 

Jonathan: There's a great album you should get called "The Music Behind the Magic," it's four discs. One disc is "The Little Mermaid," one disc is "Beauty and the Beast" and two discs are "Aladdin." It's a lot of music that are not in the films but they working on at the time for the films. It's very interesting, it's very, very interesting to hear the development of the music. You hear Alan talking about an idea and you hear them at the piano noodling around and trying out sone lyrics and you hear someone demoing it and then you hear the final cut off the film. It's a great album but not that easy to find anymore. 

Me: Okay, I will try and find that CD or vinyl if it's on vinyl. So, the first drawing of Jafar that you saw, how much of that changed to what we saw on the screen? 

Jonathan: A great deal changed but there were a few things that remained. Those are the things I probably keyed into that I seemed important to met. A certainly heavy livid look in his eyes. I always say when I looked at it it looked like somebody who smoked opium because he had the heavy opiumated eyes and a sort of psychotic look to them. He was very smooth, in some very early drawings there were some drawings of Jafar, preliminary stuff but drawing is Jafar where he was very short and squat and sort of rag-tagged looking, scruffy kind of nasty and smelly looking. The drawing that I got of Jafar made Jafar look very suave, which I think he still is. That remained, a sort of cultured gentleman who is no good. 

Me: So, who was Jafar's principal animator? 

Jonathan: A wonderful animator named Andreas Deja who definitely did Jafar justice, I'll say that. I don't think there's anything about Jafar that is not perfect. Andreas really understands the medium and besides from what ever intuition he has he works very hard at it too. 

Me: Did he pull you aside anytime to get any of your characteristics done for Jafar? 

Jonathan: Well, sure. I pulled him aside. I was so excited to go to work on a Disney animated feature, that's all I ever wanted to do since I was a kid was be the voice of a Disney villain. So it was very exciting for me. I guess a lot of people go in and record their stuff and leave and I asked if it'll be possible to see the animators, go to the studio and see what was up and see what was going on. They said sure and it didn't seem to be a problem, but they seemed a bit surprised. Maybe a lot of people didn't ask that much or maybe weren't that interested in it as much as I was but I was very interested. I spent a good deal of time every time I went out, at that time there was no phone watching either so I had to physically get on an airplane from New York and go out to the Disney lot on Dopey Drive and Goofy Lane to Studio B and do the work. So it was a journey all the time and I worked for a year and nine months on it. It was a long haul. So I don't know if Andreas grabbed me or I grabbed him but I was very interested in the work and his work especially. 

Me: So, were you alone when you did the recording? 

Jonathan: When I worked in the studio voicing the stuff sometimes I'm able to work with my scene partner, sometimes I work with a reader, and as it progresses sometimes I work alone going from line to line to line to line. All the editing as you know is done in the voicing process. 

Me: Did they use your mannerisms at all? 

Jonathan: They filmed me or taped me, whatever it is, they had a couple of cameras going so they got a lot of mouth stuff and they got a lot of hands and a lot of eyes and they got a lot of stuff they used. They got a lot of idiosyncrasies and mannerisms I think. I don't know, the best example I always use, I could use Jafar but I prefer to use inanimate objects like Mrs. Potts. I always think that if you saw that teapot as just a still drawing you might not think it looks like Angela Lansbury, but when it's animated and not just because it's her voice, it's because her mannerisms and her idiosyncratic voice and her little chuckles and things only Angela Lansbury would've done all of a sudden you'd say that teapot does look like Angela Lansbury. They captured some of her idiosyncrasies in that. I think that's what they do and they're quite brilliant at it. The first time I noticed it is when I saw a pencil test of the very, very first sequence of Jafar just before he grabs the throat by the throat and says, "You're late." You see him taking the breath before he says, "You're late." Besides the fact it was exciting to see, I was like "oh my God," that's exactly what I did, I wanted them to play it many times over for me. To look at it was exciting. That's one of the things that make people like Andreas and those beautiful animators so great because they do capture those things. It does make them seem more alive and less of a cartoon, more like a possibility of it being a real person I think. 

Me: I heard before they got Gilbert Gottfried you actually recorded some lines for Iago, is that true? 

Jonathan: I did. They're on that album that I told you about. 

Me: Why do you think they changed it and brought in Gilbert? 

Jonathan: I'm not exactly sure, you can ask somebody else like Ron Clements or John Musker what their intention was. But originally, this is what I remember, I'm not sure memory serves so well almost 30 years later but I remember at the time the parrot was just going to squawk like a parrot and the parrot was going to imitate all these other people. Like when he imitates Jasmine in the garden, he imitates Jafar I think a couple of times. I'm not sure they at that point thought further than that or maybe they just hadn't found the right person yet, they hadn't hired Gilbert yet. On that same recording of "Humiliate the Boy" you hear me play Iago too, talking like a parrot and squawking around, giving voice to a character that wasn't fully formed yet or like I said maybe they haven't found or gotten Gilbert yet. I don't know everything that goes on behind the scenes. I only know where some of the bodies are hidden. 

Me: Hahaha. When they bought in Gilbert what did you think? 

Jonathan: It was great. I think it helps the character of Jafar through the writing and playing of it. Once they got Gilbert who was very psychotic as that parrot it helped me smooth Jafar out a little bit. I was able to have something to play against. And he was able to have something to play against. I could be calm and he could be hysterical. Those are two good opposites to out together. 

Me: Did you record with Gilbert? 

Jonathan: Oh, sure. A lot. I recorded with Gilbert probably more than anybody else. I think everybody else only had a couple of days in the studio with people I had scenes with. But Gilbert and I were in the studio quite a bit together. 

Me: What was he like? I am trying to get him on the Phile but time is running out.  

Jonathan: He's very funny and what he didn't want people to know he's a very nice man and his wife is a very nice woman and they have lovely kids. That's not the Gilbert Gottfried that most of the world knows perhaps. He's actually a very nice guy and I like him a lot. It was a pleasure to work with him. If there were more than three people in the studio it would contemplate an audience and he'd put on a show. 

Me: Okay, so, what about Robin Williams? What was he like? 

Jonathan: Well, he worked only very briefly with me and he was terrific. I never heard anybody say that he wasn't terrific. I didn't know him and I can't tell you I was great friends with him, I didn't work with him as much as I worked with Gilbert. I think it was a great coup for them to get Robin Williams to play that part. I'm not sure, you have to do an interview with Eric Goldberg perhaps, but I think they struggled a bit with what they were going to do with the Genie. 

Me: Struggle? How so? 

Jonathan: The struggle Disney always has which is one of wanting to be politically correct, needing to be politically correct. Traditionally genie's are slaves or black African slaves in literature or some of the films of Aladdin. There's a lot of different versions of Aladdin, there's actually other animated cartoons of Aladdin, there's even Popeye and Olive Oyl doing Aladdin. All of those versions genie is black African slave because he is a slave to the lamp. That's his tragedy, he really does want to be freed. So I think they struggled with rather that was the right thing to do. I think if I remember it correctly they said let's not have him be black, let's have him be blue or green. I believe it was Eric Goldberg's idea to use Robin Williams and I think he had one of Robin's old comedy albums. I think Eric Goldberg took the album and animated and used that to animate too. It was a section of where he jumped back and forth into many different characters as he used to do so brilliantly and as he does in the film. I can't imagine anyone else fitting the bill. Not even Will Smith. 

Me: You later on got involved with the Broadway production of Aladdin. I have to show a pic...

Me: How did that happen? 

Jonathan: These characters live on in many different things, electric parades in Disneyland and Tokyo, Walt Disney World, board games, there was The Return of Jafar. At the time that we made the movie there was no such thing as Disney theatrical, it wasn't invented yet. I guess Beauty and the Beast was the first theatrical project to be done on Broadway. It was very successful. I think they always wanted to try and do Aladdin on Broadway and perhaps they thought it was too difficult, there were small versions of the show in the Disney theme parks. It was just a question of the time being right, the emergence of the exactly right elements had to be in place for them to feel that they can go ahead with it. About ten years ago we started doing readings at Disney Theatrical just around the table, different versions of it. And I also think partially Alan Menken was interested in trying to resonate some of the material, the ideas for the film that they had worked on that didn't get used in the film. Howard died early on in the process and they brought in Tim Rice who was a wonderful collaborator. A lot of things happen, that's how things happen in making a new musical. 

Me: That's cool., Jonathan, thanks so much for being on the Phile, I really enjoyed this. 

Jonathan: It was my pleasure.

That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to Jonathan for a cool interview about Jafar. The Phile will be back tomorrow with actor Stuart Pankin. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.

Give me some rope, tie me to dream, give me the hope to run out of steam, somebody said it could be here. We could be roped up, tied up, dead in a year. I can't count the reasons I should stay. One by one they all just fade away...