Ben Jackson, left, and Danny Hayward play foes in Disney’s Aladdin Jr. (Courtesy photo)

In the ancient Arabian city of Agrabah, a story is about to unfold. A lowly street urchin wanders the town, stealing food and pestering the brightly clad townspeople. A beautiful princess walks among them, unrecognized, to experience the life of a commoner. She’s slipped away from the confines of her castle, and the threat of an arranged marriage. And a power-hungry employee of the Sultan is quietly plotting to take over the throne. There is deception all around, and it takes a flying carpet, a magic lamp, and a rambunctious but dutiful genie to influence the fate of these three characters.

Superstar Productions is bringing this story to life Saturday and Sunday when it stages Disney’s Aladdin Jr. at the Littleton High School Performing Arts Center. Twenty-one Harvard students in grades 5 through 8 will act out the roles of Aladdin (Danny Hayward), Princess Jasmine (Maddie Rice), the evil Jafar (Ben Jackson), the genie (Marcelle Hazoury), and a town’s worth of boisterous royal subjects, guards, and narrators.

Good friends Danny Hayward, 12, and Ben Jackson, 13, find themselves cast as onstage adversaries for the third time in as many years. “I’m always the bad guy,” says Ben.

The seventh-graders reminisced about their first roles on opposite sides of the fence, when, as fourth-graders, they appeared in Bye Bye Birdie. Ben played songwriter Albert Peterson, charged with reigning in his bad-boy client, Conrad Birdie. In the story, a teenage contest-winner is chosen to give Conrad “one last kiss” before he heads off to war, and Albert is along to ensure the teen idol behaves.

The chemistry between the two actors was obvious and electrifying, so they found themselves cast as leads again last year in Superstar Productions’ staging of Beauty and the Beast. Danny had the title role, and Ben played the town bully, Gaston. For the first time, the two vied for the heart of the female lead. Gaston used cunning and trickery to attempt to win Beauty’s hand. It was the kind-hearted but misunderstood Beast who won her heart. Danny and Ben laugh now when recounting their final battle scene. In hand-to-hand combat Danny gave a final shove to Ben, who was supposed to tumble down a set of stairs and out of sight, presumably to his death. Ben instead tumbled right off the top step to the stage floor below, landing with a very audible “oomph” heard by one and all thanks to his body microphone.

This weekend, the actors find themselves once again cast as adversaries: Danny as the deceptive but kind-hearted rascal Aladdin, and Ben as the evil grand vizier Jafar. In addition to the beautiful princess, the two are also captivated by the magic and promise of a genie in a lamp. Dress rehearsals show that Danny has perfected the look of sweetened innocence and will win the hearts of his audience. And Ben will once again break out his evil laugh, first seen in Beauty and the Beast, which both captivates and chills the audience. Asked if they’d like to pursue acting as a career, each looks off with a smile, weighing the idea. “If the right part were to come along, yes,” says Danny. Ben nods in agreement.

Tickets are on sale now for this weekend’s performance. Shows are at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 28, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 29. Seats can be reserved by calling 978-456-6933 or by sending an e-mail to superstartix@charter.net. Kate Hoch is director of Superstar Productions, and Harvard resident Deborah Sauvé is producer of this show.

For more information about Superstar Productions visit www.superstarproductions.org.