I love to make people laugh and love to make people smile. The first time I performed and heard the applause, that was the sound that I wanted to hear for the rest of my life.
When people come to our show [Aladdin], I want them to forget about that for a little while and enjoy the moment. That's what I want to give them. I loved performing since I was a little kid.
I am still nervous every show. Not in the "Wow, I'm scared, I can't go on nervous," but the "I really want to do a good job and the give the audience a great show" kind of nervous. Oh, yes, the nerves are there, but I let them push me instead of holding me back.
I remembered getting the script for the auditions [of Aladdin], I had asked someone there if improvs were allowed, and he said everyone is sticking to the script. I said to myself that they are either going to love me or hate me. I was crossing out lines and throwing in my own lines. I went into the room and started doing things. They were like, "This boy is nuts! We should keep him." That's how it all came about.
I always keep some form of cartoon or comic book with me, especially Batman - he's my favorite. The reason I keep them around is that it keeps the kid in me alive. Some older folks, they like to drink - can't wait to get old. Me? I like to stay young. I know I'm going to be get older, but I can at least be young at heart so I read these comic books so I keep myself right on that level of kid to keep me having fun on stage.
I love performing. There is an ego in me that loves to be in front of people.
I do enjoy that folks [ Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin] really get into [ Aladdin ] because I enjoy getting it. I love it where you just get to go nuts. Ninety percent of what you hear, he wrote. There's ten percent that he let me play around with in the studio and actually put in the script if it was funny enough.
I have to maintain the weight. This is the second show [Aladdin] that I have done where I am not allowed to technically lose any weight. I'm supposed to be big. It's impressive to see someone of my size.
When I was skinny, I didn't get work. When I came out of college, I didn't get work until the Iglehart gene kicked in. Most of my family are large and that's when it started happening. My acrobats moves stayed with me.
I keep "leave me alone, I'm busy " pretending to work sign with me because my dad once told me to find a job that you would do for free and I would do this job for free. But I would be a performer for free because that's all I've ever loved to do. I've worked so hard to get to the point where work doesn't feel like work. So when I come to work, I'm actually coming to play - I'm coming to recess. So, when you see me, leave me alone, I'm busy ... pretending to work.
There are people out there who pay their hard earned money to see a good show and people who work 9 to 5 and they saved their money and they want to see the best show possible.
I'm a big Batman fan and got to be on the series Gotham.
One of the great things about this genie [from Aladdin] is that when Robin Williams created him, and they created this after him, they were allowed to go crazy and when they had to go find someone to play the role live, they had to find someone who was nutty enough to go in different directions.
When you see big people, they expect them to wobble or something. The whole feeling of bigger people in this country is so negative. This works for me.
People think that [I will leave Aladdin after Tony reward], but what they don't understand is that we actually enjoy what we are doing. This wonderful company that I work for has allowed me to do other things while I'm doing this.
And also, folks live in a regular world, so when they come to our show [Aladdin], we want to take that away from them for a little bit. Just give them two hours to make up for the train that didn't come on time or the terrible news you get from TV.
