This blog is dedicated to Disney's Aladdin: Broadway's New Musical Comdey. Following a successful Pilot Production at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in 2011, and regional and international productions in 2012, Disney announced that Aladdin would be coming to Broadway in 2014. Aladdin had it's pre-Broadway engagement at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre and opened on Broadway 20th March 2014.
It's May!! That means that Disney's Broadway spectacular Aladdin officially begins previews in London THIS MONTH!!
The entire cast and creative team have been hard at work for a month now to make Aladdin ready for its West End debut. We've met Aladdin and Genie, now it's time to give a royal welcome and roll out the magic carpet for London's very own Princess Jasmine, Jade Ewen!
I love the preview of Jade and Dean singing "A Whole New World" and can't wait to hear the full song live later this month!
Aladdin begins previews at London's Prince Edward Theatre Friday 27th May and officially opens on Wednesday 15th June. Tickets are available here!
It's time to give a warm Agrabah welcome to London's very own Aladdin, Dean John-Wilson!
I can't get over how amazing it is to hear Dean singing "A Whole New World" and "Proud of Your Boy" and to just know the show is coming to life in London next month!
And on a personal note, excellent choice of favourite song! It's mine too! I'm so happy that this show brings "Proud of Your Boy" out of the Disney Vault for the whole world to hear. It's just an incredible piece of music that so many people can connect to on such a personal level.
Aladdin begins previews at London's Prince Edward Theatre on Friday 27th May and officially opens on Wednesday 15th June. Tickets are available here.
Today is press day for Aladdin: Broadway's New Musical Comedy and to celebrate Disney Theatrical have released a new First Look video on their YouTube channel showing the casts' photo shoot for their character portraits;
And that's not all! They also released several of the character portraits from the shoot! (I just want to say a big thank you to Disney Theatrical for providing the amazing high quality images)
Adam Jacobs as Aladdin, Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann
Courtney Reed as Princess Jasmine, Photo by Cylla von Tiedemaan
James Monroe Iglehart as Genie, Photo by Cylla von Tiedemaan
Brandt Martinez, Photo by Cylla von Tiedemaan
Tia Altinay, Khori Petinaud and Rhea Patterson, Photo by Cylla von Tiedemaan
Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed as Aladdin and Jasmine, Photo by Cylla von Tiedemaan
As today was Press Day I think it's safe to say that the marketing campaign for Aladdin's Broadway debut has officially moved into top gear and we can expect a lot more news to come over the next few days and weeks as the show begins previews at the New Amsterdam Theatre.
Tickets for Aladdin: Broadway's New Musical Comedy are now on sale at the show's official website. Broadway previews begin next Wednesday, February 26th, and the show officially opens on 20th March!
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.
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.
With last month's focus on The Muny's short run and then the 1st anniversary of the show, I didn't post some fantastic updates from Tuacahn!
Whilst I don't think they celebrate 4th July in Agrabah, Aladdin and Jasmine both joined in the festivities for St. George's annual 4th July parade.
Samuel Warburton and Haley Carlucci as Aladdin and Jasmine, Photo by Tuacahn
Tuacahn's production of Hairspray also had a float in the parade showcasing Tracy Turnblad and Link Larkin. You can check out the full gallery at Tuacahn's Facebook page, including Tracy and Link on a magic carpet ride when the cast decided to switch floats!
Samuel Warburton and Haley Carlucci as Aladdin and Jasmine, Photo by Tuacahn
I know quite a few fans felt that there weren't enough production photos released from 5th Avenue's pilot production of Aladdin, but that's certainly not the case this time around! As some of you have no doubt already seen, at the end of last month Tuacahn uploaded a massive gallery of production photos to their Facebook page. Make sure you check them out asap! Here's a selection;
Proud of Your Boy - Dan Domenech as Aladdin, Photo by Tuacahn
Call Me a Princess - Haley Carlucci as Princess Jasmine, Photo by Tuacahn
Can your friends pull this out their little hat? - Edward Juvier as Genie, Photo by Tuacahn
Why Me? - Michael G. Hawkins and Jeff Asch as Jafar and Iago, Photo by Tuacahn
Street Rats on 3! - Paul C. Vogt, Randy Aaron, Todd Dubail and Dan Domenech as Babkak, Omar, Kassim and Aladdin, Photo by Tuacahn
And if you want an idea of some of the effects and the scale of this production;
The Cave of Wonders appears, Photo by Tuacahn
Genie leads Prince Ali's parade to the stage, Photo by Tuacahn
Seeing these reminds me just how lucky I was to be able to see this show at the Tuacahn. It really is the perfect setting for the show and the cast is amazing. And yes the parade does include peacocks;
Prince Ali's peacocks, Photo by Tuacahn
And finally, last week KSL news confirmed that Aladdin has been breaking Tuacahn box office records all summer and posted a video interview with Dan Domenech (Aladdin), Haley Carlucci (Jasmine), Edward Juvier (Genie) and Director Scott Anderson which includes production footage from the show! Check it out here!
If you've not been and are able to get to the Tuacahn in the next 2 months, I really can't recommend it enough! This show (and Hairspray) is well worth the trip. It's a fantastic production at an amazing venue. Where else do the cast come out (in costume!) to greet the fans after the show?! Tickets are still available at the Tuacahn's website and the show runs until 19th October. Take the magic carpet ride, you won't regret it!
So it goes short and sweet... - Dan Domenech and Haley Carlucci as Aladdin and Jasmine
Dan Domenech and Haley Carlucci as Aladdin and Jasmine, Photo by Tuacahn
Just a short update tonight. At the weekend I posted links to Playbill and Broadway World's photo galleries for The Muny's production of Aladdin, now I'm happy to say that they've finally posted galleries for the Tuacahn's production as well. You've probably already seen some of these pictures with the reviews but there's a bunch of new ones too. And I can say that the photo of A Whole New World doesn't do justice to the feeling you get when they soar overhead, it's just something else. Playbill's gallery can be found here and Broadway World's here.
And The Muny have posted two new videos to YouTube featuring interviews with the director Gary Griffin and John Tartaglia who plays Genie.
7th July, one year ago today Aladdin: The New Stage Musical had it's World Premiere performance at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre. It was the start of two weeks of preview performances leading to the show's official Opening Night on July 21st (I'm hoping to have something special to celebrate the show's official anniversary later this month, so fingers crossed!). One year later and the show is going strong with two regional productions currently being performed at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre and The Muny, and two international productions planned to debut later this year.
To celebrate this special anniversary I thought it would be appropriate to feature something new from each of the three productions so far.
The 5th Avenue
James Monroe Iglehart as Genie, Photo by Chris Bennion
It's hard to believe that a year later I've actually found some "new" material from 5th Avenue's World Premiere production of Aladdin but I was on JMI's website (for the first time in way too long, I really need to check it more frequently) and he's posted a fantastic gallery of production photos that I haven't seen anywhere else. As the majority of these aren't from the small batch released for the show's publicity I'm not going to re-post them here as it's possible that James paid photographer Chris Bennion to use them on his site. The gallery can be found here and includes some great shots from Prince Ali, Somebody's Got Your Back and the show's Finale.
Tuacahn Amphitheatre
Dan Domenech as Aladdin, Photo by Tuacahn
I missed posting this whilst I was away. The Spectrum has posted another great review of the Tuacahn's production of Aladdin, concluding that ""Aladdin" lives up to its promise to take the crowd on a magical ride to "a whole new world."" Also of note is the photo gallery included with the article which includes a good selection of images from the production. If The Muny and international productions can get good reviews like the Tuacahn is, maybe there's still some hope that Disney will consider taking this show to Broadway or on a National Tour! Having seen the show last month I have to say it is well worth the trip (even if you do live "A Million Miles Away"), the Tuacahn have put on a spectacular show in what I can honestly call the most beautiful theatre I have ever been to.
The Muny
1st Night Bows, Photo by The Muny
Just opened last Thursday, The Muny's production of Aladdin only has 1 week left to run (making the line "so it goes short and sweet" very appropriate for this production) so expect to see quite a bit of coverage this week as reviews and photos flood in from around the web. Playbill and Broadway World have both posted photo galleries from The Muny's opening night, whilst The Muny has posted two videos on YouTube, the first featuring some behind the scenes footage from rehearsals;
KSDK have posted a video preview here which includes interviews with the cast and more footage from the show's opening night.
And the reviews are also starting to come in. Harry Hamm for CBS St. Louis gave the show 5 stars. He's done a short audio review for the show (which you can listen to here), calling it "an immensely entertaining, funny, clever, hip show" and a more detailed written review which can be found here. St. L Today gives a slightly more mixed review, citing problems with the staging of A Whole New World and a lull in the first act, but still calls the show "beautifully staged, performed with vigor and bursting with surprises". And I'm sure there will be more reviews coming in over the next few days.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank once again everyone who's helped and supported me with this blog over the last year, especially the staff at both 5th Avenue and the Tuacahn, and the cast of the original production who generously gave me so much of their time and allowed me to have exclusive content on this blog. THANK YOU!
Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed as Aladdin and Jasmine, Photo by Chris Bennion
Just a quick update today as the Tuacahn have very kindly provided me with an promotional image of Dan Domenech and Haley Carlucci as Aladdin and Jasmine in their current production of Aladdin: The New Stage Musical.
Dan Domenech as Aladdin and Haley Carlucci as Jasmine. Photo by The Tuacahn
The iconic image of Aladdin and Jasmine on a magic carpet ride is similar to a promotional image use by the 5th Avenue last year (and the poster released by Atlantis for the upcoming Asian Premiere) and is perhaps my favourite image released by the Tuacahn so far (and also my new backdrop). It also offers a good look at two of the incredible costumes from this production.
Once again, many thanks to the Tuacahn for providing this image.
Check back tomorrow for updates on the upcoming Denmark production and last week's casting announcement from The Muny.
Aladdin: The New Stage Musical may be ending it's incredible premiere run in Seattle this weekend, but the cast are still finding time for a few high adventures of their own. Like when they visited the SANCA School of Flight for some trapeze lessons! Here's another video blog from Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Omar) of his time in the air.
In an article related to Aladdin, Seattle Weekly talks with Paul Hansen (5th Avenue's percussionist) about his work and his amazing set up for the show (seriously, 35 percussion instruments!)
And thanks to Don Darryl Rivera (Iago) we finally get a better look at some of the absolutely fantastic this show has! In an article for Playbill he guides us through a 2 show day with 23 great photos and some hilarious captions. You simply have to check out the article, but you can find the main costume pictures below.
Sean G Griffin as Sultan, Don Darryl Rivera as Iago and Jonathan Freeman as Jafar, Photo by Don Darryl Rivera
Adam Jacobs as Aladdin, Don Darryl Rivera as Iago and James Monroe Iglehart as Genie, Photo by Don Darryl Rivera
I can't believe that in just a few days this production will have finished! If you're lucky enough to be able to get to Seattle tonight or this weekend, make sure you go and see this show! There's only 5 shows left and in the words of the Sultan "you've only got 3 more days" so make sure you check it out whilst you still can! Tickets are available here!
Adam Jacobs as Aladdin and Courtney Reed as Jasmine, Photo by Chris Bennion
Maybe I'm being a bit premature with the title of this post (no reviews have come out yet), but pretty much everything said about this show so far has been positive, so I'm certain the reviews will be the same.
I'll update this post as the reviews come in, but before that make sure you check out the new video posted by King 5 where Adam Jacobs (Aladdin), Courtney Reed (Jasmine) and James Monroe Iglehart (Genie) talk about the show and we're treated to some amazing footage which includes "Friend Like Me" and "High Adventure"! I can't put into words how awesome this show looks and how much I wish I was in Seattle right now! So stop reading this and go watch it!!!!!
1st Update - Still no reviews but a very short interview with none other than Alan Menken has been posted by Talkin' Broadway, so make sure you check that out as the Disney Legend talks about Aladdin: The New Stage Musical and what he has planned for the future (including one show that should make Don Darryl Rivera very happy!)
2nd Update - No reviews yet (time difference sucks!) but Seattle Times have posted a beautiful article about Alan Menken's visit to Seattle Children's Hospital and 5th Avenue have posted another edition of The JMI Show on their youtube page where our favourite Genie interviews Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Brandon O'Neill and his old friend Brian Gonzales!
3rd Update - Well the first reviews are in and they run the full range from positive to negative, which is pretty standard for a Disney production! Most seem to agree that the show is good, but has areas where improvements could be made. It seems Aladdin: The New Stage Musical is, like its title character, a diamond in the rough (at least in the eyes of the critics).
Seattle Times - World Premiere Aladdin Lands at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre
Broadway World - Disney's Aladdin at 5th Avenue Theatre - Very Disney Park
The Broadway Critic - Aladdin @ 5th Avenue Theatre (note this review is from 10th July preview, whilst changes were still being made to the show)
Examiner - Aladdin Stage Show Offers "Unbelievable Sights" and "Indescribable Feelings" (note this review is from 16th July preview whilst changes were still being made to the show)
It's midnight now, so I'm off to bed! Maybe there will be more reviews in the morning.
I'm really not worried by the reviews, pretty much every Disney show (bar maybe The Lion King) received mixed reviews and most of them went on to long and successful runs. Beauty and the Beast ran for 13 years on Broadway and still tours around the US and the world, Tarzan may not have been the success Disney hoped for on Broadway but with some re-working it went on to huge success in Europe (and recently started regional productions in the US I believe!), Mary Poppins is still going strong on Broadway and whilst The Little Mermaid closed way before it should have (that show was criminally under rated) it's now being re-worked (like Tarzan) for a European release and will hopefully start it's long promised US Tour in the near future. And it's important to keep in mind that Aladdin: The New Stage Musical had only a fraction of the budget of those shows!
4th Update - Two more reviews, both of which are largely positive!
MiceChat - MiceChatter Igrules visists Disney's Aladdin Show in Seattle (note this review is from 9th July preview, whilst changes were still being made to the show)
5th Update - Four more reviews which are all positive, including one from someone who says they hadn't seen the film before going to the show (which gives a nice new point of view) and a heartfelt post by Howard Ashman's sister Sarah from her site Part of His World.
On Tuesday Ron Clements and John Musker (the writer/directors of Disney's The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules and The Princess and the Frog) got to see their film come alive on stage in Seattle!
These two men (along with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman) are responsible for launching Disney's renaissance in 1989 with The Little Mermaid and without them you more than likely wouldn't be reading this now. We owe them all a huge debt of gratitude for the work they did (and continue to do) at Disney. I can only imagine how good it must have felt for them to see the original vision for Aladdin brought to life at The 5th and I'm delighted they got the chance to be there. 5th Avenue have posted more details (and more pictures) in their backstage blog here.
Ron and John with the cast of Aladdin, Photo by 5th Avenue
As well as showing us the amazing Ron and John meeting the cast, the above photo also gives us our first look at the FANTASTIC costumes for the show! Aladdin (Adam Jacobs) and Jasmine (Courtney Reed) look beautiful in their wedding outfits, Genie (James Monroe Iglehart) looks great as he sets off to see the world (he's freeeee!!), Iago (Don Darryl Rivera) looks good in human form, and Jonathan Freeman is Jafar brought to life!!
The additional picture on The 5th's site shows the full ensemble in their end of show costumes.
Andrew Keenan-Bolger also tweeted that he has learnt a new song that will be going in the show tonight, and he has kindly confirmed that the song is a "fun new reprise of "High Adventure"!
Have to apologise now as I unintentionally took a few days off this week (wedding stuff has been keeping me very busy) and didn't post these as soon as I could have;
Theater Mania has posted an interview with director Casey Nicholaw where he discusses Aladdin: The New Stage Musical and his approach to staging the songs for the show, his previous work on The Book of Mormon and Elf, and what it was like winning a Tony Award!
D23 (the official Disney fanclub) have posted a short feature on the show; "Wishes Come True in Seattle", it's nothing we haven't seen or heard already but it's nice to see Disney promoting the show. I'm really hoping they do a full feature on the show in the next issue!
And I think that's me all caught up! To paraphrase Aladdin, tomorrow "it will go short and sweet, I'll be wed down the street" so I probably won't be able to update anything for the next few days, but I'll be back in time for the show's official opening on 21st July, so hopefully we can expect lots more pictures and videos as things get locked in place!
Edit - It was brought to my attention a while back that the 5th Avenue blog page I linked to above has been taken down for some reason and I was asked if I could post the other picture. I was waiting for 5th Avenue to confirm this was ok, but they're really busy so I've not had a response yet. However, given that I've not been asked to take the other picture down (and Broadway World has both pictures up as well) I think it's ok for me to post this. Sorry for the long delay!
Ron and John with the cast of Aladdin, Photo by 5th Avenue
Aladdin: The New Stage Musical finished it's first preview a few hours ago, and from what I've been told it was spectacular! Hopefully we'll be hearing a lot more (pictures, song list, etc.) over the next day or so!
To celebrate the opening, The Seattle Times has posted a video of the recent sitzprobe (the first sit down rehearsal with the cast and full orchestra) which features JMI giving another brief interview and gives a preview of "Arabian Nights". Check it out here!
Kaci Aitchison from Q13 went back to the set of Aladdin: The New Stage Musical this morning for a final look behind the curtain before the show opens tomorrow night!
Three new videos can be found here, including short interviews with James Monroe Iglehart (seriously the more I see this guy, the more convinced I become that he's going to be the BEST Genie ever!) and writer Chad Beguelin.
I don't think I've ever been this excited about a show, especially one that I have no chance of seeing (still keeping my fingers crossed for Broadway...). Even just the brief glimpses of the stage in the videos made me grin like crazy!
I can't decide if tomorrow is going to be a very late night for me or if Friday will be a very early morning, the time difference is a "royal pain" (to quote Jasmine) but I guess that's all part of the fun!
I'm sure I'll do this again tomorrow, but I just want to wish the cast and crew, and everyone at 5th Avenue, the best of luck for opening night! Make some magic everyone!
5th Avenue have posted another video preview on their youtube channel. This one is taken from their Spotlight Night a few weeks ago and features James Monroe Iglehart talking about how he got the role of Genie and making the part his own.
The more I hear James talk about the role, the more I'm convinced he's going to be the perfect Genie. I mean, just watch him in the video - he's fantastic!
I really hope this show comes to Broadway with as much of this cast as possible! I may not be able to get to Seattle, but if it ever hits New York (or even a National Tour) I'll be on the first flight!
AladdinsGenie from Aladdin Central has found an interview with Don Darryl Rivera (Iago) and Brandon O'Neill (Kassim) done on the John Curley Show a week or so ago and made it available on youtube.
And 5th Avenue's twitter page has posted a link to a preview article in the Seattle Times which includes a VERY exciting quote from Director Casey Nicholaw about the show's future after it finishes its run in Seattle! Keep your fingers crossed, if Aladdin: The New Stage Musical does better than expected then it could have a Broadway future!
Yesterday 5th Avenue released a very special video on their youtube page - a new installment of The James Monroe Iglehart Show!
In the first of what will hopefully be many interviews, James (Genie in Aladdin: The New Stage Musical) speaks with director, and recent Tony Award Winner, Casey Nicholaw!
I'm not going to spoil anything here, but there are a few revelations about the show, including one about Iago!
James is an excellent interviewer, so watch and enjoy;
A few years ago I never thought Disney would bring Aladdin to stage, now the show is only 1 WEEK away from opening! Seriously, if you have the chance to go, make sure you go! This is a dream cast for the show and if Disney sticks to its original plan, this will be your one chance to see a Disney produced version of the show before they license it out. Tickets are on sale here and the show opens NEXT WEEK!
I'm expecting the next month to be extremely busy as the show opens and more images, videos and reviews are released, so stay tuned, it's gonna be one fantastic magic carpet ride!
The 5th Avenue Theatre have posted their 3rd preview of Aladdin: The New Stage Musical on their youtube page.
The video gives us a brief glimpse at some of the dances and short interviews with Courtney Reed (Jasmine), James Monroe Iglehart (Genie), Don Darryl Rivera (Iago) and Sean G. Griffin (Sultan). It's great to see that the cast are all so enthusiastic about this show!
And after confirming a new song for Genie in our interview last week, James now confirms a new duet for Aladdin and Jasmine!!! I'm so happy about this! I only hope that they do a video/preview of the new songs so that those who can't make it to Seattle get chance to hear them!
Fresh from a successful Spotlight Night, 5th Avenue have posted the video of Jonathan Freeman (Jafar) and Don Darryl Rivera (Iago) performing "Why Me", one of the "lost" Menken/Rice songs, on their youtube page.
Video by The 5th Avenue Theatre
Originally written for when Jafar became master of the lamp, this song was ultimately replaced by "Prince Ali Reprise" in the final film as it was felt it was too late in the film to introduce a completely new song. Now it's been re-worked to take place much earlier in the story, when Jafar and Iago are searching for the "diamond in the rough".
It's great to hear Jonathan Freeman as Jafar again! It really makes me feel like a kid again, and I can just tell this is going to be something really special. And speaking of special, make sure you have a watch of this video from Seattle's King 5 news. The video contains a nice shot of The 5th Avenue Theatre (complete with all its new Aladdin banners) and talks about the history of the theatre and how, in the last 10 years, 5 new shows that were originally produced at 5th Avenue went on to to be successes on Broadway, including 2 Tony Award winning Best Musicals, one of which was Memphis, which starred Aladdin's Genie; James Monroe Iglehart!
If you can see the show and still haven't got tickets, make sure you stop by http://www.5thavenue.org/ and book them as soon as you can! The Spotlight Night was moved to a bigger venue due to the overwhelming demand for seats, so this run is almost sure to sell out as the event gets closer! And be sure to keep an eye on both 5th Avenue's youtube page (linked above) for more possible teasers from the Spotlight Night (I hear A Whole New World was performed and I can't wait to see that!!) and this page which hosts full videos of previous Spotlight Nights. With any luck the full Aladdin: The New Stage Musical event will be viewable in the near future!
Edit: I'm very sorry to say I mistakenly credited this song to Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, it's actually an unused Alan Menken and Tim Rice song. I've now corrected it.
