In the months after the Pilot Production it was quickly announced that Aladdin: The New Stage Musical would be getting two regional productions in 2012, but before 2011 had drawn to a close it was also revealed that 2012 would see the international premiere of the show as well!
On 20th November 2011 the Columbia Tribune revealed that a European production of Aladdin was in the early stages of development. Soon after it was confirmed that Aladdin would receive its European Premiere at Denmark's Fredericia Teater in October 2012. The show was initially planned to run from 4th October through 11th November, however, due to overwhelming demand the show's run was later through to 19th November before the curtain even raised on the first performance!
The end of April saw the first casting news for the show as Have Backstage announced that Johannes Nymark, Maria Lucia and Pelle Emil would be bringing Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie to life in the the Fredericia's largest production to date. They also confirmed that the European Premiere of Aladdin would be directed and choreographed by Lynne Kurdziel and other key creative roles.
The Teaser Trailer for Fredericia's Aladdin
As well as being the first international production of the show, the Fredericia's production of Aladdin was also the first to receive its own website, www.aladdinthemusical.dk. And with this website came the announcement of the full cast;
Johannes Nymark as Aladdin
Maria Lucia Heiberg Rosenberg as Princess Jasmine (with Kristine Yde Eriksen as alternate Jasmine)
Pelle Emil Hebsgaard as Genie
Martin Loft as Jafar
Kim Brandt as Iago
Teit Samso Clausen as Babkak
Max-Emil Nissen as Omar
Kim Ace Nielsen as Kassim
Kim Leprevost as Sultan
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| Johannes Nymark and Maria Lucia Heiberg Rosenberg as Aladdin and Jasmine, Photo by Fredericia Teatre |
In the build up to the show and during its run the Fredericia released several behind the scenes videos showing the cast and crew as they took the show from script to stage. I'd like to say a big thank you to Danish fans Steffen and David who were both fantastic at keeping me up to date with this production of Aladdin. All of the videos they directed me to can be found here, here, and here (with more in the comments of the final post), but I have to say my favourite of all the links that Steffen sent me has to be this one! The Disney comics are much bigger in Europe than they are in America or the UK and this Danish one done to promote/celebrate the European Premiere features Donald Duck auditioning for a part in Duckberg's production of Aladdin and, of course, Donald being Donald he literally brings down the house!
Now, my Danish is very limited (or, more honestly, totally non-existent) so I couldn't really keep up properly with the reviews, but from what I could understand the Fredericia's production of Aladdin was very well received, earning multiple 5 star reviews. In fact, it got so many good reviews that Fredericia released a new promotional video for the show highlighting its 5 star rating and all the positive comments;
After a successful 2012 run the lyric "come back soon that's the end, till another Arabian night" certainly applied to this production as the show was so popular that a second run was announced for 2013! From 19th July through 20th August 2013, the same cast and creative team returned once again to the Fredericia Teater to take audiences on a magic carpet ride of adventure, fun and romance. This encore performance would also be the final production of the original version of Aladdin: The New Stage Musical as just a few months later the new, Broadway bound, production would debut in Toronto, but that's a post for another Arabian night...
