Two weeks worth of news updates today (apologises for missing last week, more on that later)!
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| Courtney Reed as Princess Jasmine, Photo by Cylla Von Tiedemann |
First up this week,
Broadway World reports that Princess Jasmine herself, Courtney Reed, will be one of the teaching artists at this summers 7th Annual Dare to Go Beyond Children's Performing Arts Camp. Courtney, along with over a dozen other Broadway stars, will be donating her time and experience to help teach the next generation of artists. This year's camp runs 28th July through to 1st August.
On August 17th
Aladdin's
Dennis Stowe joins Disney Theatrical's
Thomas Schumacher and other Broadway stars and creatives in the Broadway Sleeps Out event to raise support and awareness for homeless children. You can find out more at
Covent House's website where you can also donate to help support the cause. The participant's own support pages are linked above, Thomas Schumacher has already exceeded his target of an incredible $10,000 so let's help Dennis reach his goal!
This Friday (25th July) James Monroe Iglehart will be co-hosting "The View"! "The View" airs 11am - 12pm ET on ABC so make sure you check him out!
Here's a little preview courtesy of Aladdin's Instagram account.
The one and only Jafar, Jonathan Freeman himself, spoke with
Playbill about his theatregoing experiences and the performances that have stayed with him.
Ron Clements and Jon Musker, the directors of Disney's original, animated,
Aladdin saw the show last week and James Monroe Iglehart, quite rightfully in "Disney Nerd Heaven", shared a photo of the moment on his
Instagram.
Another Disney alumni also visited the show this week as Phil Collins headed back stage after the show to meet the cast this weekend.
Playbill was there to capture the moment.
Courtney Reed and James Monroe Iglehart took part in the 16th annual Broadway Barks event, helping to find pets a good home, and
Broadway.com was there to capture the moment.
Vanity Fair was also there and they were able to catch a few words with our favourite Genie who told them that another furry friend, his cat Zoe, had claimed his Tony Award.
Buzzfeed voted Adam Jacobs' Aladdin the "Hottest Disney Character Brought to Life" in their
"26 Hottest Performances on Broadway".
Broadway World reported that Brian Gonzales (Babkak) joined other Broadway stars for the annual
Voices of Broadway performance at the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. You can see some photos by following the link.
If you're musically inclined then you would be most rewarded to consider
this!
Aladdin's Piano/Vocal Selections will go on sale 1st August! Whilst I'm really excited for this release, part of me is a little disappointed that all of the reprises are cut. I know that's just the way they do the vocal selections these days (
The Little Mermaid was the same) but I miss the days of
Beauty and the Beast where they included everything bar the overture, the entr'acte and the incidental music.
For anyone trying to make it on Broadway,
Tara Rubin (who cast Aladdin on Broadway along with many, many other shows) spoke with Playbill to offer some audition advise.
And finally a quick vacation alert! Jonathan Freeman will be away tomorrow night (22nd July) and Merwin Foard will be playing the role of Jafar.
Ok, at the start of this post I promised an explanation for missing the news update last week. The honest truth is I was busy, but it was something blog related and (fingers crossed) I'll be able to share it with you all soon!
I've also set up a new Twitter account for the blog (@AladdinBDWYBlog) so you can follow me on Twitter for all the latest updates. Instagram is next!
And that's everything for this week. Let's end on this amazing video that Disney Theatrical shared recently where James Monroe Iglehart proves to be a real life Genie and grants some lucky fans' wishes at
Aladdin's daily lottery!
