Broadway.com's Audience Choice Awards and Tony Awards Updates

 Last week Broadway.com asked people for their nominations for their Audience Choice Awards, now the nomination votes have been counted and the final nominees have been announced and once again Aladdin is well represented with 7 nominations!

Favorite New Musical - Aladdin
Favorite Featured Actor in a Musical - Jonathan Freeman
Favorite Featured Actor in a Musical - James Monroe Iglehart
Favorite Diva Performance - James Monroe Iglehart
Favorite Funny Performance - James Monroe Iglehart
Favorite Breakthrough Performance (Female) - Courtney Reed
Favorite New Song - A Million Miles Away

You can cast your vote here!  I just want to say a massive congratulations to Jonathan, James, Courtney, Alan Menken and Chad Beguelin and everyone in Aladdin for their nominations!

And whilst we're on the subject of Broadway.com, make sure you head on over to take part in their weekend poll to vote for Aladdin and Jasmine as Prom King and Queen of Broadway!

BroadwayWorld caught up with James Monroe Iglehart shortly after his Tony Award nomination was announced.  You can see what he had to say here!  The Broadway League also caught up with him to talk about his nomination;

And you can see JMI, along with other nominees in this short video from American Theatre Wing talking about "Why Theatre?"

And finally a few vacation alerts!  Courtney Reed has posted on Twitter that she will be away from June 29th-July 6th and Brandon O'Neill has posted on his official Facebook page that he will be away from 23-29th June and 30-31st August.

A Million Miles Away

I take a few days off and everything goes crazy!!

The biggest news is 5th Avenue released the first production video over the weekend, featuring Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed as Aladdin and Jasmine singing the beautiful new duet "A Million Miles Away".

I still can't believe how perfect they are for these roles!  Just listen to their voices together and the harmonies!  I felt so cheated when the video faded out, I just wanted it to keep going!

And of course the video gives us our first close up look at one of the sets.  Considering this show is only running for a month with no plans (or at least no announced plans) for any official tour or Broadway, the set looks amazing.  Sure it's not the most elaborate set in the world, but it looks like it came straight out of the film and that's far more important.

And earlier this week Broadway World posted a photo preview of the show;


Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed as Aladdin and Jasmine, Photo by Chris Bennion

 I can hear the opening notes of "A Whole New World" just looking at that picture!!


James Monroe Iglehart as Genie, Photo by Chris Bennion

James leads the ensemble through "Prince Ali"!  And if you look closely you can also see Sean G. Griffin as the Sultan on the left!  I wonder if Jonathan Freeman's Jafar is squashed behind the door...


Aladdin, Genie and the Gang, Photo by Chris Bennion

Too many names to put in the caption!  From left to right Brian Gonzales (Babkak), James Monroe Iglehart (Genie), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Omar), Adam Jacobs (Aladdin) and Brandon O'Neill (Kassim).  Given the back drop looks like a dungeon and what little I've actually heard about the revised story in the show, I'm guessing this photo is from "High Adventure" in Act 2 as the gang break out of prison to go and fight Jafar and save Jasmine (or something along those lines!)

Adam Jacobs as Aladdin, Courtney Reed as Jasmine and Sean G. Griffin as Sultan, Photo by Chris Bennion

I'm not sure if this is their first attempt to get married (as Prince Ali and Princess Jasmine) or the actual finale, but it sure looks beautiful!

And as the perfect finishing note, on Tuesday Alan Menken paid a visit to Seattle Children's Hospital and spent some time in the playroom bringing a little Disney magic to brighten their day.

All that remains is for me to wish the cast, crew and everyone at 5th Avenue a magical opening night!  The previews have ended, the show is locked and tonight the press can officially see the show and the reviews will be out tomorrow.  I'm sure they'll be magical.