this is "nightline." tonight it is wedding day for 2,000 couples heading down the aisle with fiancees hand picked by their parents. we are inside the controversial unification church. and this future husband and his future wife meet each other for the very first time. >> aladdin on broadway. the prince of thieves stole our hearts in one of the biggest movie hits ever. but broadway is a whole new world. but does the genie still have his magic touch? >> and boston, city on edge. two attended backpacks. detonated by a bomb squad. and a man taken into custody just hours ago on the one-year

anniversary of the marathon attacks. but first, the "nightline" top five -- which starts right now! >> the one day sale wednesday. with incredible door busters from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. save on dress shirts and ties. $12.99. get two bras for $19.99. and 60% off girls and boys dress socks. and save on blenders, juicers, nutribullet and more. so what is number one?

good evening. thank you for joining us. would you let your parents pick your spouse? how about your religious leader?

for members of one controveral movement, marriage is part of their messiah's grand vision. beautiful couples pair off thousand at a time and a bride shares her most intimate day with 2,000 other brides. while the all-night scramble for hair and makeup is just the beginning of the challenges ahead. 2,000 couples, arriving in a stadium outside seoul, south korea, for a mass wedding. some have known each other for just months. others for only a few days. [ speaking foreign language ] these are young members of the unification movement, some times referred to as the moonies after founder sun yung moon. a name the church regrets. the mass weddings started in the 1960s amid controversy. with critics claiming that followers broke away from their families to join a new religion. now the children of the original

followers, the first-ever born into the church make up the majority of those marrying here today. ♪ among them, glen and fiancee ju-li. >> i want to be a little bit different. i want to stand out. >> yeah. >> we met them two months before shopping for glen's wedding suit at a local mall in new jersey. >> wouldn't it be great if i had a second neck. >> looks good. >> you like the xs. >> reporter: an aspiring artist flew to new jersey to meet glen after matched by their parents. they never laid eyes on each other before. ♪ ♪ glen who is the lead singer of an indy band struggled for a while with his parents's any faith. what was like it growing up in the unification chur snch

what was like it growing up in the unification chur sncurch? >> it was great. posed troubles and issues. people call it a cult. so you are very afraid that people are going to view you negatively. >> reverend moon's central vision to unify the world through multicultural marriages. glen's parents chose judili for their son from a church database. how do you explain the concept to the outside world? >> some times i feel a little bit self-conscious. but it is nice that they get to be part of such a big decision in my life. glen and judili had time to get to know each other. romena from albania has never bet her fiance before. even though she will be marrying him in less than a week. >> in our movement we really think and feel deeply that marriage is not just for my sake and for my personal satisfaction, but it is something bigger, something that can bring the world together, if

we really want to commit ourselves. >> how do you feel? >> nervous! >> how are you? >> thank you. >> my heart is throbbing right now. i am nervous. i am excited meeting my spouse for the first time for eternity. she is a lot more beautiful in person. i am excited. >> these young couples continue to embrace the church's teachings on purity despite

headlines about reverend moon, his alleged extramarital affairs, a child allegedly born out of wedlock, not to mention his conviction for income fraud back in 1982. we asked the movement's u.s. president about the allegations. >> the reverend moon i know and followed for almost 40 years its the man who deeply loves his wife and family. our church believes in the importance of maintaining the marriage bond. do people some times make mistakes, yeah. >> so you are not denying that he had an affair? >> you know, i have no knowledge of that personally. but to me the main point is, is the spirit of god working through reverend moon and i think thousand of people have felt it is. that's why they continue to come. >> before the couple's know it, the big day arrives. bride and grooms from all over the world lean ine up for buses. some were matched days ago in a special ceremony with reverend moon's widow for the purest most

devout members. >> where are you from? >> where are you from? >> you can speak japanese? >> no. >> how is your french? >> no, no french. >> how long have you known each other? three days. but you met three days ago. uh-huh. you have a lot of faith. where will you live after you get married? we don't know. we don't know. ohhing my gosh. >> reporter: as couples arrive at the enormous unification owned stadium. they await the most important guest. who on this day is traveling in a bentley motorcade. reverend moon's widow lives in a hill top estate, a castle modeled after the u.s. capitol building. in the arena it is minutes to show time when we bump into her again and ask her to remind us

of her fiance's name? [ speaking foreign language ] >> oh, my gosh, you don't remember his name? >> reporter: but there is no turning back now. soon begins one of the more unusual wedding programs. watching this all is true mother from her throne. though reverend moon died two years ago there is still an empty chair. most people here believe he is the messiah. but at last the moment the thousand of bride and grooms have been waiting for.

4,000 people, some virtual strangers are now married couples. >> our moment. in a sea of bride. >> reporter: many of whom will sleep apart for 40 more nights as a final act of faith. but as true nother would say they will have eternity to get to know each other. next, a film favorite comes to broadway. but, the movie is not always easy. can aladdin pull the genie out of the bottle again? nobody told us to expect it... intercourse that's painful due to menopausal changes. the problem isn't likely to go away... ...on its own. so it's time we do something about it.

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join us, and thrive. a classic fantasy with a wish granting genie and flying carpet. tonight taking you behind the scenes of one of our parent company disney's biggest smash hits. aladdin, the lovable thief is stealing the show in a broadway musical. will fans flock to see a cartoon prince come to life? here is abc's elizabeth vargas. >> reporter: an iconic disney tale has come to life on broadway. with millions of dollars at steak, the question is can the magic of aladdin translate to the great white way. >> lady, can you try something for me. >> reporter: "nightline" was backstage in the anxious days

before opening night. >> come on down, come on in. >> reporter: directors were making tweaks to the production, searching for a winning formula. >> guys, let's go again. >> follow me! >> i just told them, you know, we're frozen. not going to change anything else. that day i didn't change it. >> had my last chance at that point. >> i like it. >> the beloved 1992 movie earned more than $500 million and won two oscars for best song and score. aladdin was a mega hit by every standard. still a classic. were you at all anxious about taking that on. >> of course, we see it doesn't work to take something that was a movie and put it on stage. you have to figure how to make it soar and be relatablen en in live audience. >> no detail is too small for the old school song and dance

man, best known for a raunchy musical comedy that won him a tony. >> aladdin asks for a totally different thing. for me it's what the show need. it's what i give it. >> reporter: at first what a show desperately needed was more music. the movie only featured five songs. but luckily, casey and the creative team, salvaged more songs from the the disney vault. aladdin's scrappy best friend were cut from the film to make way for abu, the monkey. hasty brought the trio back to help humanize the story. but can a mere mortal replace the shape-shifting blue genie? james iglehart, a rising star plays the part with a manic, improbable gusto. >> i have to be honest, i was

exhausted watching you. >> itch you saw a skinny dude jumping around. you wouldn't be impressed. but damn near 300 pound, you go "that's amazing!" >> iglehart is a childhood fan of aladdin who dreamed of playing genie. >> this is the biggest thing that ever happened in my career. >> reporter: so big when the directors called to offer him the life-changing part he had a camera rolling for posterity. >> it is finally yours! >> what? >> yes. >> ha-ha-ha! >> i'm going to be the genie on broadway! that is so freaking awesome! >> what are you talking about. >> on set she was star struck to learn his co-star who played jafar voiced the role in the 1982 movie. >> i will teach you some respect. >> i remember the first reading. he first spoke.

i literally stopped being manley for a moment. i was like, oh, my god, i became a teenage girl. >> is it fun to be this evil inc incarnate? >> what do you think? would you look it? >> yeah. >> ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha! >> usually early, not until after 8:00 p.m. when it cam to aladdin and jazminedeviated from the movie. don't worry they still fall in love on a magic carpet. >> you can't cut that out of the story. >> no, you can't. you can't deliver a mattress on a stick for sure. >> as for how it flies, the aladdin team would not divulge trade secrets. >> it is super magical. people are watching it. how are they doing that? >> their faces are like this. >> here, wow. >> and not just the cast that shines, says casey. >> when the tap dancers come

out. you cannot believe how much sparkle comes off of them. >> reporter: backstage, we get a sense of what it takes to run the ambitious show. >> do i get extra pay for this. >> totally fun. don't look up. look straight ahead. >> though he did never show us the legendary carpet. at least we did get to test this, top secret special effect. >> oh! >> oh, my god. >> you pulled out every single stop. >> pretty much every one. >> well are pretty shameless. a lot of low comedy with very elegant. costumes and sets. >> a slightly raised eyebrow. >> we will give tight you. of a fup nign night. a fable. here it is. for "nightline," elizabeth vargas on broadway. >> for more of the manic check out aladdin the musical on broadway. next, my "nightline" co-anchor,

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good evening. from boston where we spent several hours tonight watching a bizarre ending to the one-year anniversary of the marathon bombing. the bomb squad carrying out two controlled detonations of bags left near the finish line. [ explosion ] they have now charged this man, kayvon edison, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and possession of a hoax device, a rice cooker. in the end the whole thing was a scare. there were no explosives in the bags. it was however an unfortunate finale to a day in which boston's grit and grace was on full display. i have to say as a local boy, much of what i saw today filled me with pride.

>> one of my favorite moments, today, involved a woman who lost a leg a year ago but strode confidently on stage and made a joke. >> no milestone is too small to celebrate even walking into a nonhandicapped bathroom stall for the first time doing a happy dance. >> yes, here in boston it is okay to laugh. that's what heather abbott, a survivor does when she talks about her four prosthetics, a waterproof one and one for high heels. >> i do have some options when it comes to legs. >> you have a sense of humor about this. >> it helps me to laugh about it some times. ♪ ♪ >> of course there was more than joking today. there was music, and moving sentiments about all of the beauty that the bombing unleashed. >> we would never wish the devastation and pain well have experienced on any of you. however we do wish that all of

you at some point in your lives feel as loved as we have felt over this last year. thousand gathered today at the finish line of the marathon for a moment of silence at the exact time that the bombs went off. and there was one clear message -- that the courage and compassion we saw in the rinse to the attack way outweighed the destructive impulses of the attackers themselves. a man whose body was riddled with shrapnel says the attack changed his view of the world and made hemim a better man. >> the bomb was one second of the worst. and endless second of the best. >> there were two alleged bad guys here. and just countless good guys. >> countless, from what i see. 99% of us are good. and -- it's sad that sometimes it takes a bad thing to happen

for us to express how we truly feel. >> reporter: there is one more big display of boston strong coming up soon. monday, 118th running of the boston marathon. there will be 9,000 more runners this year than last year. and a million spectators expected. double the average. the theme of the race this year is we will run again. on behalf of juju chang and everybody at abc news. thank you for watching night ni- "nightline." and much more news coming up on "gma" thank you again for watching.

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