{"id":30642,"date":"2022-11-17T19:44:51","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T19:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/?p=30642"},"modified":"2025-08-04T17:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T17:34:08","slug":"local-student-lands-leading-role-in-aladdin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/?p=30642","title":{"rendered":"Local Student Lands Leading Role in Aladdin"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tanya Dev<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copy Editor SCL Local\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Cover Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 8th grade, Adi Roy was stoked to receive the lead role in his school play, Aladdin. For hours every day leading up to the show, Adi would attend rehearsals, memorize lines, and rehearse scenes to ensure everything went smoothly during the performance. His practice, dedication, and love for acting was evident the day of the show. Adi stole the audience\u2019s hearts and received a standing ovation. Little did Adi know that nearly six years later at the age of 20, he would again land the role of Aladdin, only this time on Disney\u2019s National Broadway Tour!<\/p>\n

\"\"Growing up in Chatham, Adi took part in the annual musicals and plays held at school. Initially, Adi participated to have fun with his friends. However, after taking a rigorous and high-level acting class at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, Adi fell in love with acting and set his sights on pursuing a career in acting.<\/p>\n

Adi is enjoying his last few weeks in Chatham, before he has to leave for tour, traveling the country performing nearly every day for an entire year! We had the opportunity to interview Adi to learn more about this hometown star before his departure!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What was your first acting role?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI did a few shows that my theater arts teacher had scripted back in elementary school. The first role I ever played was in my seventh-grade production as Prince Eric in the show Little Mermaid Junior. It was a great introduction to acting!\u201d<\/p>\n

Tell us a little about your first Broadway debut. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI was a part of the post-opening cast for the musical, Jagged Little Pill. The opportunity opened up when the previous actor dropped out. I played Phoenix who is the love interest in the show. I had a lot of fun singing, meeting new people, and making new friends. Sadly though, after about two months the show closed down due to COVID-19. My contract was for a year and this was tough on me. I leaned on my family and friends during that time to provide emotional support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How are you going to approach the lead role in Aladdin? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a six-and-a-half-week rehearsal from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. which includes technical and dress rehearsals towards the end. I would approach it as I would approach any other role. I make sure I understand the essence of the character, essentially re-living the role and putting as much as possible into the character that\u2019s what makes a character come alive on stage. Ultimately my goal as an actor is to make my performance look real. Other than the emotional piece, it is also physically intense which means I am frequently working out and doing cardio to help build my endurance for the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What is the biggest obstacle you have had to overcome?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI am pretty young so I\u2019m very fortunate and grateful to say that I haven\u2019t had too many obstacles. If I had to choose, the biggest obstacle was probably the decision to become an actor. I say this because I come from an immigrant household where acting is usually not considered as a viable long-term career. In the end, as a family, we decided that acting was something I could succeed at and so far, it\u2019s working!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What do you enjoy most about acting?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cActing brings me a lot of happiness and joy. I definitely feel the happiest when I\u2019m on stage and when I\u2019m hanging out with people who love acting and performing just as much as me. Adding on, this might sound like a cliche but it\u2019s fun to become someone you\u2019re not. When I\u2019m auditioning for a play, I always like to choose characters that aren\u2019t like me because while it may be a challenging role, I get to be in someone else\u2019s shoes and see how life is for them!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What will you miss most about Chatham when you\u2019re on tour?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely going to miss my family. It was hard to say goodbye to them but I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll come visit me. I\u2019ll also miss my friends. While they enjoy summer together, I will be on tour the whole year. I\u2019m hoping they will come visit me while I\u2019m on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

The North American Tour of Disney\u2019s Aladdin begins in October 2022. Please use the following link to book your tickets to see Adi in action: https:\/\/aladdinthemusical.com\/tour.<\/p>\n

Adi\u2019s success is no accident. It is the result of years of hard work, self-discipline, and dedication. The Chatham community is proud to have Adi represent us and we will continue to cheer him on! We can\u2019t wait to see Adi make his mark in the world!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tanya Dev Copy Editor SCL Local\u00a0 Cover Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade. In 8th grade, Adi Roy was stoked to receive the lead role in his school play, Aladdin. For hours every day leading up to the show, Adi would attend rehearsals, memorize lines, and rehearse scenes to ensure everything went smoothly during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[],"post_flags":[],"class_list":["post-30642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-westfield-local"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30643,"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30642\/revisions\/30643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30642"},{"taxonomy":"post_flag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.localmedianj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_flags&post=30642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}