Twisted

The story of “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp” is known to Western audiences through The Thousand and One Nights, a compilation of fantastical tales from the Near and Middle East. The tales are told within a framing narrative in which Scheherazade, the new bride of a murderous king, regales him with nightly stories to forestall her intended execution. The collection’s version of Aladdin’s story was added by French translator Antoine Galland in the early 18th century.

In the original tale, Aladdin, a poor boy, lives with his mother in China. A sorcerer promises to make Aladdin rich if he retrieves a lamp from a cave, but Aladdin keeps the lamp for himself and commands the genie inside to make him and his mother wealthy. As Aladdin prospers, he woos and wins the sultan’s daughter, though he must defeat the sorcerer, and later another magician, with magical aid, the help of the genie, and the cleverness of his new wife. The story derives its lasting appeal from its rag-to-riches plot that features an ambitious and not entirely scrupulous protagonist who uses trickery to get what he wants.

Western adaptations, inspired by the Arabic-sounding names of the main characters, moved the setting to Persia in retellings like the 1924 silent film The Thief of Baghdad, starring Douglas Fairbanks. In this version, Ahmed, a thief in love with the daughter of the caliph of Baghdad, competes with other suitors to win her hand with the aid of a magic powder. The 1940 live-action film of the same name introduces Jaffar as the villainous grand vizier, or chief advisor, who usurps the throne of Baghdad from the rightful prince, Ahmad, and steals the woman Ahmad loves, the Princess of Basra. The betrayed prince joins forces with a clever young thief, Abu, who releases a genie from a bottle and uses his wishes, a flying carpet, and his wits to restore Ahmad to his kingdom and reunite him with his beloved.

Disney released an animated version of the story in 1992, making Jafar both the ambitious sorcerer and the villainous grand vizier to the Sultan of Agrabah. The sultan wishes for his beautiful daughter, Jasmine, to marry a man who will protect her and the kingdom. Jafar enlists a street thief, Aladdin—who has a sidekick in the form of a capuchin monkey named Abu—to find the lamp that holds an all-powerful genie. When Jafar attempts to compel Jasmine to marry him, Aladdin tricks Jafar and frees his captives. In return, the Sultan allows Jasmine to choose her own husband, who she decides will be Aladdin. A live-action version of the same film, released in 2019 and directed by Guy Ritchie, is a musical that closely follows the plot of the animated feature, but offers a new frame story, in which the genie has fallen in love and established a family of his own.

The musical theater parody Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier, created by StarKid Productions in 2013, retells the Disney version of the story with Ja’far as the protagonist and unsung hero with good intentions who matches wits with Aladdin, a thief and murderer. Ja’far sacrifices his freedom to save the kingdom and Princess Jasmine and is rewarded with a happy ending where he is reconciled with his beloved wife, Scheherazade. While McIntire borrows the title for her own story, she keeps her version of Jafar as a villain, though he is also the protagonist and romantic hero.