Aladdin and Jasmine, Together Again!

Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed as Aladdin and Jasmine, Photo by Mark Kitaoka

Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed, better known to readers of this blog as Aladdin and Jasmine from last summer's world premiere production of Aladdin: The New Stage Musical, are to share the stage once more in the Paper Mill Playhouse's production of Once on this Island.  Like Aladdin, this is a limited production running only from 30th May until 24th June.

Courtney will be playing the role of Andrea and Adam will be playing the role of Daniel in this exciting re-invention of the original production by the Tony Award winning director Thomas Kali (who also directed In the Heights, which Courtney Reed starred in).

Tickets are now on sale at the Paper Mill Playhouse's website so if you can make it to New Jersey whilst this is on, be sure to go see it!  For more information on the production, check out the Broadway World article here.  Special thanks to Tipawan for bringing this to my attention!!

In related news (and I'm sorry for not reporting on this earlier) The Newsies, which made it's world premiere at the Paper Mill Playhouse last year, has extended it's limited Broadway run through to 19th August.  Tickets are on sale here.  The Newsies stars another Aladdin alum, Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Omar) as Crutchie, a role he originated at the Paper Mill Playhouse.  More details are available here.

Andrew Keenan-Bolger (left), Phto by T. Charles Erickson

I can only hope that after this next round of regional productions and international premieres, Aladdin: The New Stage Musical goes on to share the same level of Broadway success as The Newsies, which has just been nominated for Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical (Jeff Calhoun), Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Jeremy Jordan), Best Book of a Musical (Harvey Fierstein), Best Original Score Written for the Theatre (Alan Menken/Jack Feldman), Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Tobin Ost/Sven Ortel), Best Choreography (Christopher Gattelli) and Best Orchestrations (Danny Troob)!  Disney's new play Peter and the Starcatcher is also up for several awards, including Best Play and a Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play nomination for Andrew's sister Celia Keenan-Bolger!  Alan Menken's other new musical, Leap of Faith, is also up for Best Musical, meaning he's worked on half of the category!