The Final Countdown - Aladdin Begins Toronto Previews this Friday!

This Friday the doors of the Ed Mirvish Theatre will open, the audience will enter, the lights will go down and the pre-Broadway run of Aladdin will begin.

Today is the show's sitzprobe day, after a month of rehearsals in New York and 2 weeks of Tech in Toronto, the cast will be singing with a full orchestra for the first time.  It's an exciting day for any show and I think James Monroe Iglehart summed it up best when he tweeted "Nothing like Menken Music with Orchestra!"
 

Toronto born Jaz Sealey will play Prince Abdullah and understudy Kassim


News keeps coming in from around the web as well.  On Friday the Toronto Star published an article that includes interviews with/comments from Thomas Schumacher, Casey Nicholaw, Chad Beguelin and James Monroe Iglehart, and also has some nice rehearsal pictures from New York (this piece was written before rehearsals moved to Toronto).  The Winnipeg Free News and CBC News have both released pieces focused on Jaz Sealey, the sole Canadian member of the ensemble who portrays Prince Abdullah (if you've ever heard the formerly deleted song "Call Me a Princess" you'll recognise the name) and understudies Kassim.  Both are great articles that give some insight into the audition process, the tone of the show and the creative process of building a show from the ground up.

The World Premiere of this new production of Aladdin: Broadway's New Musical Comedy will be this Friday night!  The official opening night is 21st November and the show will continue through January 5th 2014 before moving to Broadway where previews begin 26th February.  Tickets for the Toronto production can be bought here.  If you can make it to Toronto to see the show then I would urge you to do so.  Not only do you get to see the show before it hits Broadway, but you can also catch a glimpse of the creative process at work as tweaks and improvements are made throughout the shows run (The Little Mermaid had a new ending before the show left Denver).  Plus, it's a great show, the Tuacahn production was the most fun I've had at the theatre in years, true Disney magic at work.