Prince Ali (song) facts for kids

"Prince Ali" and its reprise are two musical numbers from the 1992 Disney animated film Aladdin. The first part was performed by Robin Williams in his role as the Genie and the reprise is performed by Jonathan Freeman in his role as Jafar. The song performed by Williams was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 50th Golden Globe Awards in 1993.

After Williams' death in 2014, the first part of the song received extensive airplay on UK National Radio.

Production

The film version cut a conceived intro for the song and two extra verses in the middle of "Prince Ali".

Soundtrack.net explains how "Prince Ali (reprise)" was conceived:

"Humiliate the Boy" was the last song that Ashman wrote with Menken before he passed away. It was dropped because story elements and plots changed, but basically the scene features Jafar unmasking Prince Ali to be Aladdin, and completely embarrassing him in the process by abusing him with wishes (which worked differently in this older version of the story). So while this song was dropped, Alan Menken and new collaborator Tim Rice wrote a new song called "Why Me" in an effort to allow Jafar to keep a lengthy musical number. In the final film, this is all condensed down to the quick "Prince Ali (reprise)" track.

Synopsis

"Prince Ali" is a flamboyant number sung by the Genie (Robin Williams) as he introduces Agrabah to Prince Ali Ababwa, Aladdin's royal alter ego, with a giant caravan. A reprise of the song has Jafar (Jonathan Freeman) unmask Aladdin as a poor thief. An early reprise of the song in the stage musical has the Sultan announcing to the city's residents about his daughter, Jasmine marrying the prince.

Charts

Will Smith version