As a Black woman, Taylor Mackenzie Smith remembers the first time she saw herself represented on a theater stage.
Smith’s parents took her up to New York City to see her first Broadway show, Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” In the lead role was R&B singer Toni Braxton. She remembers Belle’s iconic yellow dress, Braxton’s voice, herself clapping, and an overwhelming sense of emotion that led to tears seeing the star make history as the first Black lead in a Disney musical.
Smith, a dancer and Cascade native is the only Black woman cast member in the Disney musical “Aladdin,” currently at the Fox Theatre. The touring production of the Tony-winning show is in Atlanta through Sunday.
There’s a full-circle moment for Smith during a wedding scene where she’s wearing a yellow dress and tiara, smiling at the crowd. “To be a brown-skinned woman, an African American woman up on a stage in a tiara, and have people come up to me and say, ‘you looked just like Belle out there,’ it’s still overwhelming,” she said.
On Thursday afternoon, Smith and her co-stars — Marcus M. Martin (Genie), Senzel Ahmady (Jasmine) and Adi Roy (Aladdin) — shared their stories with students from Ron Clark Academy and ATL Satarangi, Georgia Tech’s all-girl Bollywood fusion dance team, in the theater’s Marquee room. The event was part of a larger effort give students of color interested in the arts a chance to interact with working professionals.
During the discussion moderated by journalist Ronda Racha Penrice, students were able to ask questions which ranged from how interacting with a diverse cast informs their work, challenges presented by different stage venues, and teachable moments that influenced their artistry. (Side note: Yes, the kids are alright when it comes to posing pertinent questions).
Credit: Jamie Spaar
Credit: Jamie Spaar
The conversation comes at a time when the theater industry, Broadway in particular, is still struggling with diversity. Studies show that non-white representation is at about 38%. Event organizers said moments where discussions about representation are open and actors can share their stories are key to promoting progress in the industry.
Like Smith, the importance of representation is not lost on her co-stars like Ahmady, who is working in her first professional role. The 1992 version of “Aladdin” has always been her favorite Disney movie, and carried a bigger meaning. “Growing up, Jasmine was the only princess of color for a good amount of time. When I looked up on that screen, I saw myself,” the actress of Philippine and Afghan descent told students. “I get to be her for other little brown girls now.”
Credit: Jamie Spaar
Credit: Jamie Spaar
Long before his scene-stealing turn as Genie, Martin remembers being told he was too big to be a leading man. Growing up, he was the heavyset kid who fell in love with the stage seeing a local production of “The Wiz” in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. His first Broadway experience was seeing “Memphis,” which also served as his introduction to the work of Tony-winning actor James Monroe Iglehart. Watching Iglehart, a big Black man, take on a leading role set Martin down a more encouraging path.
That Iglehart went on to be cast as Genie in the original Broadway production of “Aladdin” meant everything to him. “I was always told that how I looked, the way that my body was, would put me at a disadvantage,” he said. “To have an example of the exact opposite of that gave me permission to dream.”
Credit: Jamie Spaar
Credit: Jamie Spaar
From the moment Martin enters the stage till his number ends, audience members are in awe of both his pure physicality and the finesse with which he cycles through movements. Whether he’s sharing ballet moves with trained dancers in the ensemble, doing “The Griddy,” shouting out Ludacris and Lil Jon or walking it out like Atlanta’s own DJ Unk, Martin says he never shies away from celebrating Black culture. So, he had to “sprinkle a little ATL” into his performance. “It’s also great to have audience members that look like you in the audience that understand the references,” he said. “I try to bring my authentic Blackness to everything that I do.”
It is the present-day awareness of Blackness that Smith carries with her. She remembers being a kid growing up in Atlanta, going the Fox Theatre to see “The Nutcracker.” Her father tells her stories about the theater’s segregated past, when Black patrons entered through a separate entrance and the only concession was a water fountain. Walking through the theater’s doors for the first time as a visiting performer was emotional. “I’m about to go walk in and perform for Disney’s ‘Aladdin’ when my people couldn’t watch the show,” she said.
That sense of history and the promise of potential by pairing working artists of color with young performers is what the local educators hope will click in the minds of these aspiring actors, said Kirk Brown, Ron Clark Academy’s chief development and communications officer. “The fact that we have a Black man that’s in a leading role and there are other people of color in this musical in leading roles as well, just does so much for the culture, does so much for representation, does so much for kids and their imagination and their belief about what they can become,” he said.
Smith’s youth dance instructor from Norma’s Academy of Dance in Fairburn is coming to see the show this weekend. For the first time, the teacher will see the student she pushed towards musical theater do it professionally. In addition to seeing Braxton’s performance, that early nudge toward the stage by someone working in the craft was all the little girl from southwest Atlanta needed.
Now, talking with fans and performing, she’s the one doing the nudging.
“That is something that I carry with me every night because I look for the Black and brown children in the audience, and I’m like, ‘I got you girl’,” she said. “Let’s do this together, and I can’t wait to see you next to me in a few years.”
IF YOU GO
“Aladdin”
Through Sunday. $29-$119. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 855-285-8499, foxtheatre.org.
