In the midst of a six-hour weather delay, the Broadway casts of The Lion King and Aladdin entertained travelers at LaGuardia airport with a sing-off.
The Lion King cast went first with their biggest crowd-pleasing standard, “The Circle of Life,” which they already perform everywhere they go and sounds really great when performed acapella. Tony-winner James Monroe Iglehart, who plays the Genie, was not ready to go down without a fight, though. He valiantly led the cast of Aladdin in some freestyle, joking that The Lion King has 18 years of entertaining crowds (compared to Aladdin‘s one year on Broadway), and they can’t be expected to follow “The Circle of Life.”
For the second round, The Lion King cast chose the song “One by One,” which was first included on Rhythm of the Pride Lands, a companion album to the film’s soundtrack, and then later added as a song in the Broadway show. The lyrics roughly translate to, “Hold on tight, my people… they will not succeed, we will win, they will not succeed, we will win,” appropriate sentiment for a sing-off.
In a last ditch attempt to compete with The Lion King‘s killer singing lungs (and as Iglehart puts it, 10 hit songs “on one record”), Iglehart rallies the cast of Aladdin and plays their ace, a rousing rendition of “Arabian Nights.”
Check out the full video above, and leave a comment below with who you think won the sing-off, The Lion King or Aladdin?
(Source: Elite Daily)
