Broadway News Round Up 36

James Monroe Iglehart as Genie, Photo by Cylla Von Tiedemann

Welcome to the latest news round up for Broadway's Aladdin!  Finally back on a weekly schedule (let's see how long it lasts this time!)

First off I just want to say a massive congratulations to last week's Tony Award winners, including Aladdin's Bob Crowley who won Best Scenic Design of a Musical, along with Benjamin Pearcy and Leo Warner, for An American in Paris, and Natasha Katz who won Best Lighting Design of a Musical for the same show.  Casey Nicholaw's Something Rotten! may not have taken home Best Musical (check out their fantastic new poster below) but, like Aladdin, it did take home Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical so congratulations to Christian Borle!

Something Rotten's new poster, image from @RottenBroadway on Twitter

And speaking of the Tony Awards, CBS may not have screened the Creative Arts Awards (which James Monroe Iglehart co-hosted) but you can now watch all of the awards online right here!  One day I hope JMI gets to host the Tonys.  I don't care about the time difference, that I would stay up for!  James even made Fashionista and AM New York's looks at the glitz and glamour of the red carpet!  He also hit the nail right on the head when discussing the appeal of live theatre with Ralphie Tonight on the red carpet and just when you think it couldn't get any better, the Genie meet the Little Mermaid;

Last week Broadway's Aladdin featured on ABC's The Bachelorette.  Now Wetpaint has some more photos from the episode, Business 2 Community has posted a short article on the episode and if you live in the US you can watch the whole episode right here on Hulu.  Or if you just want the Aladdin section Good Morning America has posted a special behind the scenes look at that part of the episode and Broadway World has the video of the Aladdin part of the show featuring Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed (both videos are sadly only viewable in the US).  Finally, the Bachelorette herself has also posted a blog about her Broadway experience over at People!

Finally this week, James Monroe Iglehart discussed his recent 54 Below show with Playbill as he and other Broadway stars talk about how they put their cabaret shows together.

Disney's Aladdin Nominated for Best Musical!

Boy does it feel good to be writing that title!  I woke up this morning to the news that Aladdin has been nominated for 8 Outer Circle Critics Awards including Outstanding New Broadway Musical!  You can see a full list of all the nominations by clicking the link but here's a list of Aladdin's nominations;

Outstanding New Broadway Musical - Aladdin
Outstanding Book of a Musical - Aladdin
Outstanding New Score - Aladdin
Outstanding Choreographer - Casey Nicholaw
Outstanding Set Design - Bob Crowley
Outstanding Costume Design - Gregg Barnes
Outstanding Lighting - Natasha Katz
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical - James Monroe Iglehart

And if that wasn't good enough, this afternoon the Drama League announced the nominations for the 80th Drama League Awards where Aladdin has once again been nominated for best musical!

Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical - Aladdin
Distinguished Performance Award - James Monroe Iglehart

Whilst this may look like a shorter list of nominations, the Drama League only gives 5 awards - Best Musical, Best Play, Best Musical Revival, Best Play Revival and the Distinguished Performance Award (which an actor or actress can only win once in their career) so Aladdin is actually represented in all possible categories.  The awards are also much more competitive, with 9 musicals competing for the Best Musical award and an incredible 50 actors and actresses nominated for the Distinguished Performance award.  That James has even been nominated for this is an incredible testament to his performance and it puts him in amazing company (this years nominations include Broadway and West End stars such as Idina Menzel and Ramin Karimloo and household names such as Bryan Cranston, Patrick Stewart and Denzel Washington).  And sure I'm a little biased but I honestly think he has what it takes to win :)

I just want to say a massive congratulations to the cast, crew and creative team of Aladdin, and especially to James Monroe Iglehart.  You've all earned this and I wish you every success when the winners are announced.

Opening Night - Direct from the Purple Carpet

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, after seeing Aladdin we spent some time with relatives in America so I only got back home earlier this week.  So without further ado it's time to play a little catch up, starting with the Aladdin's Purple Carpet Opening Night!

Following a very wet Wednesday night the sun was shining on Thursday as Disney Theatrical rolled out the purple carpet at the New Amsterdam Theatre for Aladdin's Broadway opening.

Jane and I arrived early enough to watch as the carpet was rolled out, pulled up and rolled out again to make sure that everything was just right for when the evening's guests started to arrive.

As well as getting a great spot to watch as everyone arrived, getting there early also meant I had the opportunity to briefly meet and thank Disney Theatrical's Dennis Crowley.  Back in 2011 it was Dennis who put me in touch with Bridget Summers at The 5th Avenue Theatre for Aladdin's Pilot Production, truly changing this blog for the better.

The first to arrive on the purple carpet was writer and lyricist Chad Beguelin;

He was soon joined by others from Aladdin's creative team;

Composer and Disney Legend Alan Menken

Composer Alan Menken and Writer/Lyricist Chad Beguelin

Musical Supervisor/Incidental Music/Vocal Arranger/Conductor Michael Kosarin and his family

Lighting Designer Natasha Katz and her family

Director/Choreographer Casey Nicholaw and Hair Designer Josh Marquette

Walt Disney CEO and Chairman Bob Iger;

Bob Iger with his wife Willow Bay

Head of Disney Animation and Pixar Studios John Lasseter;

John Lasseter with his wife Nancy Lasseter

And a host of Disney's Broadway stars both past, present and future;

Gavin Lee, Bert in Mary Poppins on Broadway and in the West End

Andy Richardson and Luca Padovan, Crutchie and Les in Newsies on Broadway



Corey Cott, Jack Kelly in Newsies on Broadway

Liana Hunt, Katherine in Newsies on Broadway

Josh Strickland, Broadway's Tarzan

Josh Strickland (Broadway's Tarzan) and fiancé Todd DuBail who played both Clayton in Tarzan and Kassim in Aladdin at the Tuacahn

Zachary Unger and Luca Padovan, Les in Newsies on Broadway

Andrew Keenan-Bolger, the original Omar from Aladdin's 5th Avenue Pilot Production and Newsies' original Crutchie, with Submissions Only co-creator Kate Wetherhead 

John Tartaglia, Lumiere in Broadway's Beauty and the Beast and Genie in The Muny's Aladdin

Laura Michelle Kelly, Mary Poppins on Broadway and in the West End

Harvey Fierstein (book writer, Newsies) with Gabriel Ebert

Patrick Page, Scar in Broadway's The Lion King and soon to be Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Patrick Page and Michael Arden, Frollo and Quasimodo in the upcoming The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Sierra Boggess and Sherie Rene Scott, Ariel and Ursula from Broadway's The Little Mermaid

So the guests had arrived.  Backstage the cast and crew were ready;

It was show time!

Then it was time for the cast to take their well earned bows!

The Cast of Aladdin, Photo from Zimbio

You can find many more curtain call photos (as well as professional purple carpet arrival photos) at Zimbio, Playbill and Broadway World (purple carpet and curtain call).

For me, the best part of the purple carpet experience was getting to shake hands with and say thank you to Chad Beguelin and Casey Nicholaw before they met with the press photographers.  It was fantastic moment for me, just to be able to say thank you to two of the men responsible for finally bringing Aladdin to the Broadway stage.