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.

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!

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!

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.