With all the Tuacahn announcements recently (and more from there very soon!) I've fallen behind on international news! Aladdin'sGenie over at Aladdin Central has found an article from The Philippine Star announcing the casting of the Aladdin and Jasmine in Atlantis Productions' Asian Premiere of Aladdin: The New Stage Musical.
"Playing the title role of Aladdin is PBB contestant and actor Tom Rodriguez. Tom has appeared in Maalaala Mo Kaya, Angelito, My Driver Sweet Lover, Here Comes the Bride, and Petrang Kabayo.
Chosen to play the iconic role of Princess Jasmine is recording artist K-La Rivera, who received an Aliw Award nomination for Best Actress for her critically-acclaimed performance as Nina in In The Heights."
Courtney Reed, who originated the role of Jasmine in last summer's World Premiere at The 5th Avenue, had also previously starred in In the Heights so K-La is in good company!
More casting will follow soon with the show to premiere in November at the Meralco Theatre.
Semi-excited for this, but their Little Mermaid last year was pretty um not so pleasant to look at, but the performances were good.
ReplyDeleteAtlantis is excellent at bringing over all these great musicals (RENT, Avenue Q, Little Mermaid, Shrek, Rock of Ages, In the Heights, Next to Normal). You name it, they probably brought it here (except for the really big spectacle shows like Lion King and Wicked).
My concern is they engage in what could be considered as stunt casting by placing local TV/ Film stars in roles. They sell well because many are celebrities.
Then again that's not so different with Broadway. And they still nab some top-caliber talent like Lea Salonga who recently did God of Carnage with them, other bulwarks of Philippine musical theater like Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, and Jett Pangan, a local rock icon who did many shows with them (I most especially loved him in "tick, tick...BOOM!).