Actor, singer and dancer Jerald Vincent loves to play kings and beasts on stage.
He portrayed Nubian King Amanassaro in Aida, was the first and only African American to play the role of “Beast” in “Beauty and The Beast: The Musical” and he’ll be enchanting audiences as Sultan in “Aladdin” when it graces the Benedum Center stage, Aug. 22 through Sept. 9.
“Aladdin is unique to itself because of the type of story,” said Vincent, the father of two sons who hails from Kansas City but resides in Los Angeles. “The Sultan is the ruler of an entire land and the opulence of what has been created on stage by Disney, the writers and creators is pretty amazing. If you think about it, it starts from a script of writing of an adaptation by wonderful creatives and then all the craftsman come together to create an entire world. What they’ve created on stage is absolutely breathtaking! I don’t have to play the Sultan, I AM Sultan. I exhibit power and caring and all of those things, but the number one thing is my relationship, growth and well-being of my daughter, Jasmine.
“I get to play a full father and create those textures of that character throughout this show,” continued Vincent, who is now in his third Disney production and on his fifth national tour. “My stage time is not that much but it’s very important when I’m on the stage because it keeps driving the story forward with Jasmine and whatever is going on in her life, as well.”
Based on the 1992 Disney movie of the same name, “Aladdin” tells the story of a poor man from the streets of the fictional town of Agrabah who is granted three wishes by a genie in a lamp. Aladdin uses the wishes to romance princess Jasmine and thwart the Sultan’s evil grand vizier.
Aladdin comes as part of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh Series. Tickets begin at $35 and can be purchased by visiting www.trustarts.org or by calling 412-456-6666. There is a VIP ticket option that includes the best seats in the theater, a commemorative souvenir program, and a complimentary VIP show merchandise item.
Vincent was bitten by the theater bug as a teenager and started his career almost immediately, earning his Actors’ Equity card at the age of 15 during a performance of “Oklahoma!” where the casting director told him he was ready and would do well. From there he booked his first touring production, “Funny Girl,” between his junior and senior year of high school at age 17, which allowed him to graduate early. Then he headed to Los Angeles where he landed a regular recurring role of the TV show, “Fame,” opposite Debbie Allen and Gene Anthony Ray. Next, he appeared in the dance scene at the end of the Eddie Murphy classic, “Coming to America.”
Other credits include “Naked Gun: 33 1/3: The Final Insult,” opposite Leslie Nielsen and “The Flintstones” opposite John Goodman, Rosie O’Donnell and Halle Berry.
“Getting to work with Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall, it was quite an eventful movie. It’s one of those movies that have stood the test of time, that’s for sure,” Vincent told the New Pittsburgh Courier. “It’s still just as funny today as it was then. I’m from the era where everyone learned how to sing, dance and act that was just the way it was. I come from the generation of Ben Vereen, Sammy Davis Jr., all that generation of people and I was working with Paula Abdul at the time, and she asked me to come and do the movie so I actually got the chance to do the big dance sequence in the wedding,” Vincent recalled. “So I got to put on some of those African headdresses and get out there and kick up my leg from when I was doing ‘Fame’ back in the day.”
Vincent credits his God-given talents, his guardian angels and the Miller-Marley Dance Studio for the good fortune in his career.
“I always thought I could do anything. I always thought there was nothing but possibility in this life. I was the kid who always wanted more, and I did what I had to do to get it. I drove across country from Kansas City to California by myself,” Vincent said. “My perspective was if there was a wall I figured a way to get around it by either going over it or under it or through it. There was never the thought to go back home. I was fighting for what I wanted.”
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