Check it out here;
And here's the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USig3ZxnkH4
Early days, but it looks great!
This blog is dedicated to Disney's Aladdin: Broadway's New Musical Comdey. Following a successful Pilot Production at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in 2011, and regional and international productions in 2012, Disney announced that Aladdin would be coming to Broadway in 2014. Aladdin had it's pre-Broadway engagement at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre and opened on Broadway 20th March 2014.
Showing posts with label Mirvish Theatre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mirvish Theatre. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 October 2013
Behind the Scenes Video - Bringing Aladdin to the Stage in Toronto
The news keeps coming today! Mirvish Productions have just posted a behind the scenes sneak preview at Aladdin, including interviews with Composer Alan Menken, Writer/Lyricist Chad Beguelin, Director/Choreographer Casey Nicholaw and President & Producer of Disney Theatrical Thomas Schumacher.
Check it out here;
And here's the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USig3ZxnkH4
Early days, but it looks great!
Check it out here;
And here's the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USig3ZxnkH4
Early days, but it looks great!
680 News Interviews Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed
Well that was faster than I expected!
Fresh from Twitter;
AdamJacobsNYC - First of many Aladdin interviews! RT "@680News: [VIDEO] @Aladdin actors excited to bring Disney musical to #Toronto
His tweet linked to 680 News' interview with himself and Courtney Reed where they discuss playing Aladdin and Jasmine in the upcoming production of Aladdin. Enjoy :)
Expect this to be the first of many updates over the next few weeks. Here we go!
Fresh from Twitter;
AdamJacobsNYC - First of many Aladdin interviews! RT "@680News: [VIDEO] @Aladdin actors excited to bring Disney musical to #Toronto
His tweet linked to 680 News' interview with himself and Courtney Reed where they discuss playing Aladdin and Jasmine in the upcoming production of Aladdin. Enjoy :)
Expect this to be the first of many updates over the next few weeks. Here we go!
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
Aladdin Moves to Toronto - First Day of Tech and Win Tickets with Canadian Living!
After a month of rehearsals in New York, this week saw the cast and crew of Aladdin pack their bags and head off to Toronto and the Ed Mirvish Theatre for their final month of rehearsals ahead of November's opening night! Today is the first day of Tech Rehearsal and from everything I've read online it's going great! This is going to be an amazing show!
If you live in Canada then make sure you enter Canadian Living's Aladdin competion. You could win a trip for 2 to see the show, including tickets, hotel and return airfare. The competition is only open to Canadian residents (guess I'm not wishing hard enough for these competitions to be international!) and you can enter once a day until November 11th, so go ahead and make a wish, say a prayer and you could be seeing the show for free.
That's all for now, but with the show opening next month expect the news and updates to pick up the pace as we count down to opening night.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
First Teaser Release for Aladdin: The New Musical Fantasy
This week Disney Theatrical and Mirvish Productions have released the first teaser trailer for Aladdin: The New Musical Fantasy.
And then another quote, "Arabian nights, like Arabian days..." and finally the link to advance ticket sales that I posted about last week.
In related news Courtney Reed, Seattle's original Princess Jasmine, last night took part in a a special evening celebrating the Life and Lyrics of Howard Ashman. Courtney and fellow Broadway stars performed Howard's songs, including some of those from Aladdin, to benefit GMHC and other AIDS service organisations in the tri-state area. The evening also saw Howard's sister, Sarah Ashman Gillespie, and partner, William Lauch awarded with the first annual Howard Ashman Award by GMHC. The award is designed to "honor musicians and songwriters who have made significant contributions to world culture and have utilized their success to make a difference in the fight to end the epidemic." I hope the event was a success and will continue to be in the years to come.
Like the guy in the video says, "at last" Aladdin is on its way :o)
Must admit, I wasn't expecting to see anything like this so soon. Hopefully this means that casting news isn't too far away!
Not much to report on the social media side of things. The official @Aladdin has tweeted "I can show you the world..." and the official Facebook page followed suit with a new image;
And then another quote, "Arabian nights, like Arabian days..." and finally the link to advance ticket sales that I posted about last week.
In related news Courtney Reed, Seattle's original Princess Jasmine, last night took part in a a special evening celebrating the Life and Lyrics of Howard Ashman. Courtney and fellow Broadway stars performed Howard's songs, including some of those from Aladdin, to benefit GMHC and other AIDS service organisations in the tri-state area. The evening also saw Howard's sister, Sarah Ashman Gillespie, and partner, William Lauch awarded with the first annual Howard Ashman Award by GMHC. The award is designed to "honor musicians and songwriters who have made significant contributions to world culture and have utilized their success to make a difference in the fight to end the epidemic." I hope the event was a success and will continue to be in the years to come.
Monday, 27 May 2013
On Sale Today - Aladdin: The New Musical Fantasy Preview Run at the Mirvish Theatre!
We are now officially less than six months away from the World Premiere of Disney Theatrical's new production of Aladdin: The New Musical Fantasy and priority tickets for the show's pre-Broadway preview run at Toronto's Mirvish Theatre have gone on sale today!
General sales don't start until June 9th, but if you've signed up to Mirvish's newsletter then you'll have seen this in your inbox today;
The advert links you to the ticket site here. So what are you waiting for? If you're planning to see the show during it's preview run this is the perfect opportunity to beat the crowds and grab some fantastic seats at a show that will truly transport you into a whole new world of fun, adventure and romance.
If you'd rather speak with a person (or if you're an international buyer and can't use the website - not sure about the Mirvish but I know I had to call Tuacahn to book my tickets last year and when I went to see The Little Mermaid in Denver during its preview run) then the numbers to call are 416-872-1212 and 800-461-3333 and quote "Mirvish".
I hope everyone gets the tickets they want! These are exciting times, hopefully casting news is just around the corner now (still crossing my fingers for as much of the original cast as they can get back!)
General sales don't start until June 9th, but if you've signed up to Mirvish's newsletter then you'll have seen this in your inbox today;
If you'd rather speak with a person (or if you're an international buyer and can't use the website - not sure about the Mirvish but I know I had to call Tuacahn to book my tickets last year and when I went to see The Little Mermaid in Denver during its preview run) then the numbers to call are 416-872-1212 and 800-461-3333 and quote "Mirvish".
I hope everyone gets the tickets they want! These are exciting times, hopefully casting news is just around the corner now (still crossing my fingers for as much of the original cast as they can get back!)
Sunday, 17 February 2013
More Auditions, Preview Tickets, a New Poster and a New Song for Jafar?
Firstly, if you went to any of the Aladdin auditions over the last week then I hope they went well and that you had a good time.
It looks like Disney is casting a pretty wide net for this show as Playbill have added another four open chorus calls for Orlando (March 2nd/3rd), LA (Feb 26th/27th), Chicago (March 12th) and Toronto (March 16th). If you're going - good luck!
Toronto's The Star has published an article entitled Aladdin, Once, Les Miserables highlight new Mirvish season. According to the article this is the Mirvish's 50th year and they're celebrating by presenting their largest subscription program ever, including "the world premiere of the new Disney stage musical Aladdin". The article goes on to state that "Aladdin will have its premiere tryout here at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, on its way to Broadway, as previously reported in The Star, with Tony Award winning director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw helming the proceedings."
This week also saw The Mirvish launching their own page for Aladdin complete with a new poster and banner for the show!
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The poster's a little small (hopefully a larger version will turn up soon) but it's great to see new artwork turning up so soon!
The Mirvish's page includes the following description of the show;
"In an exotic, faraway land, one man’s life is about to change with the lucky rub of an ancient lamp—and you’re invited to join the magic carpet ride.
Welcome to ALADDIN, Disney’s new Broadway-bound musical, adapted from the hit film and featuring some of the best-loved music by Academy® and Tony Award®-winning composer Alan Menken and lyricists Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin, with a book by Beguelin.
Brought to you by the producer of Toronto’s record-breaking hits The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, ALADDIN will be directed and choreographed by Tony® -winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon) and will feature the award-winning and acclaimed design team of Bob Crowley (sets), Gregg Barnes (costumes) and Natasha Katz (lights), with illusions by Jim Steinmeyer.
With its timeless story, extravagant sets and costumes and a host of memorable characters and songs, ALADDIN will transport you to a place you only know in your dreams. Go ahead, make a wish. And discover a whole new world, in a whole new way… at ALADDIN."
Individual tickets aren't on sale yet (I'll update as soon as they are), but if you live in Toronto and love theatre then why not consider getting a season subscription for all 7 of the 2013/2014 season shows? Information on the Mirvish's 2013/2014 subscription can be found here.
And finally, Playbill has published an interview with none other than Alan Menken himself at the Junior Theatre Festival. The full interview can be found here and Mr. Menken talks about Newsies, the process of adapting his film work for the stage and, of course, bringing Aladdin to Broadway;
"At the same time Howard Ashman and I were writing "The Little Mermaid," we were writing "Aladdin." So we had a whole score that involved Aladdin's mom, and his sidekicks, Babkak, Omar and Kassim, and it had a lot of plot elements that we don't have in the movie. And the movie was great, but I said, "If we are going to do this theatrical adaptation, for me, the perk would be to try to bring in the songs that Howard and I wrote for the movie that never made it in.
So we have "Proud of Your Boy," a number that Aladdin was originally to sing in the movie to his mother directly, but now it's to his mother in heaven. There's a number "Babkak, Omar, Aladdin and Kassim," which is kind of the friends' Vaudeville number that they do in the streets of Agrabah. There's a song called "High Adventure," where they perform a rescue at the end of Act Two, which is so much fun. It's one of those numbers I was dying to see on stage. There's "Call Me Princess" for Princess Jasmine, which was a real early throw-away, but we were able to make use of that thanks to my new collaboration with Chad Beguelin (Elf, The Wedding Singer), who wrote the book.
He was brilliant in finding ways to adapt songs we had originally written into the new book, and we also wrote three new songs together with him as my lyricist. We wrote one new song for the Genie, one new song for Jafar and a new duet for Aladdin and Jasmine — and we still have all the original songs from Howard Ashman and Tim Rice from the film. So much creative energy has gone into this new Aladdin, I love it. We had a production in Seattle that was one of the highlights of my life and we've even improved it since then."
Now, I may be reading too much into this, but have we just had the first bit of information on a new song for this new production? In the above quote Alan Menken mentions 3 songs written by himself and Chad Beguelin for the show; a song for Genie (Somebody's Got My Back), a duet for Aladdin and Jasmine (A Million Miles Away) and a song for Jafar (???). Sure Jafar had a "new" song in the 2011/2012 productions, but Why Me is one of the unused Menken/Rice songs that was done for the movie, not a new song by Menken/Beguelin. So is the Jafar song he mentions a new one for this production? And if so, what does that mean for Why Me? Is this going to be an addition or a replacement? I guess we'll have to wait until November to find out!
And it's always great to hear Alan Menken call the 2011 Pilot Production of Aladdin one of the highlights of his life :)
It looks like Disney is casting a pretty wide net for this show as Playbill have added another four open chorus calls for Orlando (March 2nd/3rd), LA (Feb 26th/27th), Chicago (March 12th) and Toronto (March 16th). If you're going - good luck!
Toronto's The Star has published an article entitled Aladdin, Once, Les Miserables highlight new Mirvish season. According to the article this is the Mirvish's 50th year and they're celebrating by presenting their largest subscription program ever, including "the world premiere of the new Disney stage musical Aladdin". The article goes on to state that "Aladdin will have its premiere tryout here at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, on its way to Broadway, as previously reported in The Star, with Tony Award winning director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw helming the proceedings."
This week also saw The Mirvish launching their own page for Aladdin complete with a new poster and banner for the show!
The poster's a little small (hopefully a larger version will turn up soon) but it's great to see new artwork turning up so soon!
The Mirvish's page includes the following description of the show;
"In an exotic, faraway land, one man’s life is about to change with the lucky rub of an ancient lamp—and you’re invited to join the magic carpet ride.
Welcome to ALADDIN, Disney’s new Broadway-bound musical, adapted from the hit film and featuring some of the best-loved music by Academy® and Tony Award®-winning composer Alan Menken and lyricists Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin, with a book by Beguelin.
Brought to you by the producer of Toronto’s record-breaking hits The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, ALADDIN will be directed and choreographed by Tony® -winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon) and will feature the award-winning and acclaimed design team of Bob Crowley (sets), Gregg Barnes (costumes) and Natasha Katz (lights), with illusions by Jim Steinmeyer.
With its timeless story, extravagant sets and costumes and a host of memorable characters and songs, ALADDIN will transport you to a place you only know in your dreams. Go ahead, make a wish. And discover a whole new world, in a whole new way… at ALADDIN."
Individual tickets aren't on sale yet (I'll update as soon as they are), but if you live in Toronto and love theatre then why not consider getting a season subscription for all 7 of the 2013/2014 season shows? Information on the Mirvish's 2013/2014 subscription can be found here.
And finally, Playbill has published an interview with none other than Alan Menken himself at the Junior Theatre Festival. The full interview can be found here and Mr. Menken talks about Newsies, the process of adapting his film work for the stage and, of course, bringing Aladdin to Broadway;
"At the same time Howard Ashman and I were writing "The Little Mermaid," we were writing "Aladdin." So we had a whole score that involved Aladdin's mom, and his sidekicks, Babkak, Omar and Kassim, and it had a lot of plot elements that we don't have in the movie. And the movie was great, but I said, "If we are going to do this theatrical adaptation, for me, the perk would be to try to bring in the songs that Howard and I wrote for the movie that never made it in.
So we have "Proud of Your Boy," a number that Aladdin was originally to sing in the movie to his mother directly, but now it's to his mother in heaven. There's a number "Babkak, Omar, Aladdin and Kassim," which is kind of the friends' Vaudeville number that they do in the streets of Agrabah. There's a song called "High Adventure," where they perform a rescue at the end of Act Two, which is so much fun. It's one of those numbers I was dying to see on stage. There's "Call Me Princess" for Princess Jasmine, which was a real early throw-away, but we were able to make use of that thanks to my new collaboration with Chad Beguelin (Elf, The Wedding Singer), who wrote the book.
He was brilliant in finding ways to adapt songs we had originally written into the new book, and we also wrote three new songs together with him as my lyricist. We wrote one new song for the Genie, one new song for Jafar and a new duet for Aladdin and Jasmine — and we still have all the original songs from Howard Ashman and Tim Rice from the film. So much creative energy has gone into this new Aladdin, I love it. We had a production in Seattle that was one of the highlights of my life and we've even improved it since then."
Now, I may be reading too much into this, but have we just had the first bit of information on a new song for this new production? In the above quote Alan Menken mentions 3 songs written by himself and Chad Beguelin for the show; a song for Genie (Somebody's Got My Back), a duet for Aladdin and Jasmine (A Million Miles Away) and a song for Jafar (???). Sure Jafar had a "new" song in the 2011/2012 productions, but Why Me is one of the unused Menken/Rice songs that was done for the movie, not a new song by Menken/Beguelin. So is the Jafar song he mentions a new one for this production? And if so, what does that mean for Why Me? Is this going to be an addition or a replacement? I guess we'll have to wait until November to find out!
And it's always great to hear Alan Menken call the 2011 Pilot Production of Aladdin one of the highlights of his life :)
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Good Luck!
Just a quick update this morning to wish the very best of luck to anyone auditioning for Aladdin today and next week.
Make some magic everyone!
Make some magic everyone!
Monday, 28 January 2013
Casting Calls Go Out for Broadway's Aladdin
Oh boy does it feel good to be writing that!
Late last week Playbill posted the official Equity listings for Aladdin, including Principal Auditions, Chorus Call for Dancers and Chorus Call for Singers for auditions early next month. Full listings can be found by following the links.
The listings describe the show as;
"Based on the much loved animated film, Aladdin: The New Stage Musical tells the story of a street-smart commoner whose whole life changes with one rub of a magic lamp. This new Aladdin incorporates all of the beloved songs from the film's Oscar®-winning score plus never-before-heard Menken/Ashman songs restored from early drafts of the score. It marks a return to the authors' original vision: a loving homage to the Hope-Crosby road pictures with a score invoking the jazz sound of stars like Cab Calloway and Fats Waller."
For those who are successful at the auditions (and those of us who want to know when we can expect to hear the first real hints about the new production) the show dates given are;
Rehearsals begin in NYC: Fall 2013.
Playing in Toronto: Early Winter 2013/2014
Rehearsals in NYC: Winter 2014.
Begin performances in NYC: Spring 2014
The principal roles on offer are;
Aladdin
20s, any ethnicity. Clever, resourceful street urchin with a heart of gold; best friends with Babkak, Omar and Kassim; seeks a life beyond the confines of poverty. Soaring bari-tenor voice.
Jasmine
20s, any ethnicity. Intelligent young princess with insight beyond her years and station; seeks a life beyond the confines of privilege. Fantastic belter that can mix through the break to soprano.
Babkak
20s, any ethnicity. Chubby, romantic desert dweller, part of Aladdin’s band; the “Crosby” of this Arabian “Road” picture, although perhaps with a bit more flair. Power tenor.
Omar
20s, any ethnicity. Nervous, thin, reedy desert dweller, part of Aladdin’s band; the “Lamour.” Bari-tenor.
Genie
30s-40s, any ethnicity. Quick-witted, fast-talking, ancient genie who knows all time and place; an old-school song-and-dance man.
Sultan
50s, any ethnicity. Kind-hearted, widowed ruler of Agrabah; gets so caught up in following the law and tradition that he overlooks his daughter Jasmine’s desires and gets swindled by his own vizier.
For those of you who can remember these listings are almost identical to those released for 5th Avenue's Pilot Production back in January 2011. The only additions are "any ethnicity" and the vocal descriptions.
More interesting is who's missing. Namely Jafar, Iago and Kassim.
Back when 5th Avenue's Casting Calls were released only Jafar was missing and the role was famously filled by Jonathan Freeman, making him the first actor from one of Disney's animated classics to bring his own character to life on stage. Obviously nothing has been confirmed (or even rumoured) but my best guess is that Jonathan Freeman will once again be bringing Jafar to life when Aladdin hits Broadway. Now that really would be a wish come true!
 |
| Could Jonathan Freeman be bringing Jafar to life on stage once more? Jonathan Freeman and Don Darryl Rivera as Jafar and Iago in 5th Avenue's Pilot Production |
For all the lastest news on the show, including casting, make sure you like the show on Facebook, follow @AladdinBroadway on Twitter and sign up for email updates from the show's official website www.aladdinbroadway.com!
And finally two quick updates from around the web. Firstly The New York Times confirms that Proud of Your Boy WILL be in the show (didn't really doubt it but with the re-writes it's great to have that confirmed) and says that the expected budget for the new production is between $12 and $15 million dollars, which is significantly more than budget of the Pilot Production in 2011. And secondly, Yahoo News' Mark Kennedy has posted an interview with Disney Theatrical's Thomas Schumacher where he says that he wants the show to have a lot of humour and a lot of heart. If it's anything like the production I saw at the Tuacahn last year, it will certainly have both.
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
A Whole New World in A Whole New Way - Aladdin Comes to Broadway!
It's official!! Disney Theatrical last night confirmed that Aladdin will open on Broadway in 2014 at the New Amsterdam Theatre!! The show's new tagline is Broadway's New Musical Fantasy.
First things first, make sure you head over to the show's official website, www.aladdinbroadway.com, and sign up for their email updates.
Now for those who've waited long enough and don't want to wait until next spring, good news! Both Playbill and Broadway World are reporting that Aladdin will have have it's pre-Broadway preview run at Toronto's Mirvish Theatre this November! The show will premiere in Toronto November 13th and run through to January 12th 2014. No dates have been announced for Aladdin's Broadway premiere other than "Spring 2014".
Both Playbill and Broadway World are reporting that, according to Disney, this version of Aladdin will be an entirely new production "featuring a new script, tunestack and a wholly original design scaled to the Broadway stage and an epic story."
Disney have confirmed that most of the creative team from Seattle's 2011 Pilot Production will be returning, along with some new additions;
Alan Menken (Composer)
Howard Ashman (Lyrics)
Tim Rice (Lyrics)
Chad Beguelin (Book and Lyrics)
Casey Nicholaw (Director/Choreographer)
Bob Crowley (Scenic Design)
Gregg Barnes (Costume Design)
Natasha Katz (Lighting Design)
Ken Travis (Sound Design)
Jim Steinmeyer (Illusion Design)
Josh Marquette (Hair Design)
Michael Kosarin (Music Supervisor/Music Director)
Danny Troob (Orchestrator)
Glen Kelly (Dance Arrangements)
Casting and ticketing information has not yet been announced (like I said at the start, make sure you sign up for Disney Theatrical's email alerts!).
I'm so excited right now! Guess I'd better start saving for next year's holiday! To paraphrase Joey, "Broadway baby!!" (I've been watching way too much Friends recently). It's going to be a whole new world, hope I see you there!
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