Aladdin: The New Musical Comedy Broadway Previews to Begin February 2014

"This spring, discover a Whole New World in a Whole New Way."

Wish finally granted!  Over 2 years after the Seattle Pilot Production, Disney Theatrical have today announced that Aladdin: Broadway's New Musical Comedy will begin it's Broadway Previews on February 26th 2014.

Both Playbill and Broadway World are reporting that this confirmation came via a Group Sales email and that Disney Theatrical are eyeing an official opening night of Thursday March 20th 2014.

The show's official website, www.aladdinbroadway.com has also undergone a make over today, officially launching the show's new title logo and tagline, that were originally revealed earlier this month at D23's Broadway and Beyond Evening, along with new artwork of Genie and the lamp.  The official site now also has links to ticket sales for both the Toronto Preview Run and Group Bookings for Broadway for groups of 15 or more.  Regular Broadway tickets will go on sale this Fall.

The group sales email, revealed by Broadway World, offers the following description of the show;

Disney's new musical comedy, Aladdin, brings the classic story from the screen to the stage for a theatrical experience beyond anything you've ever dreamed.  With just one rub of a magic lamp, Aladdin's breathtaking journey sweeps you into an exotic world filled with big laughs, bold adventure and true love.

Aladdin features all your favorite songs from the film as well as new music written by Tony Award winner Alan Menken (Newsies) with lyrics penned by the legendary Howard Ashman (Beauty and the Beast), Tony Award winner Tim Rice (The Lion King, Aida) and Chad Beguelin (The Wedding Singer).

This new musical from the producers of The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast will be directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Spamalot).  Aladdin also boasts an incomparable design team, with sets, costumes and lighting from multiple Tony Award winners Bob Crowley (Mary Poppins), Gregg Barnes (The Drowsy Chaperone) and Natasha Katz (Once)."

The full advertisement can be seen below;

Still no casting announcement but hopefully we'll hear something much sooner than later now that things seem to be moving into high gear as the show inches closer to it's Toronto premiere this November.

And finally, I missed this last week, the Ed Mirvish theatre made this tweet last Friday;

@Mirvish - It's a whole new world at The Eddie! Tickets for @aladdin are now on sale! #aladdin #mirvishtheatre #toronto #mirvish

Now we've know tickets have been on sale for a few months now, and they're tweeted about them before, but what's more exciting about this tweet in the photo that came with it.  Looks like The Eddie has had a face lift for Aladdin.

Well that's all for tonight (and today is technically yesterday now, here in the UK).  Hopefully I'll be back with the cast announcement real soon!

D23's Got Your Back!

As most people who read this blog will probably know, last weekend was Disney's D23 Expo and on Friday night a small group of past Disney Theatrical stars gathered together to put on a special Broadway and Beyond concert celebrating all of Disney's Broadway productions past and present.

After performing songs from everything from Beauty and the Beast through to Newsies (including rarely heard pieces from King David and Der Glockner von Notre Dame) the night ended with a look to the future as the cast performed the new song "Somebody's Got Your Back" from Aladdin.

I was planning on posting the video here, but I've since learned that the event was strictly no cameras allowed and most of the videos have already been removed, presumably at Disney's request.  What I hope is ok for me to share with you is the new and improved logo for the show.

Sorry for the picture quality but a YouTube screen shot is the best available right now as the official site and Facebook page haven't been updated with this yet.  As you can see the colour scheme remains largely the same (the logo looks slightly more yellow than gold now) but the font has changed from a standard font to one that looks much more Aladdin.  Definitely a change for the better!

That's all for this time, but the rumours over on the Broadway World message board seem to indicate that casting may be announced later this month so I hope to have an update for you real soon.