For Shoba Narayan, Playing Princess Jasmine Is About Honoring Brown Girls Like Her

glamour.com:

Wicked, , and Aladdin.For the first half of the song, the room is silent, listening. Then she hits a riff, her voice climbing, dropping, flipping with gymnastic precision.

Her eyes are closed, and the sound she makes is like a skyscraper, a satin ribbon, a bike chain looping seamlessly over smooth pavement.The crowd explodes.

There are shouts, and there is applause. A fist pumps the air. A woman’s voice says, “WHAT.” Spontaneous laughter ripples through the crowd.

Close to the camera, an awed voice says, “That’s good.”This week, Narayan will preside over the reopening of live theater on Broadway after as Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin.