Disney's Broadway Hits to Air on Christmas Day!

The cast of Disney's Broadway Hits, Photo by Manuel Harlan

Last week BBC Radio 2 aired the fantastic Disney's Broadway Hits concert as part of their Friday Night is Music Night series (and you can still listen to the full show right here!)  I can't put into words how much I loved hearing this concert again, but now Sky Arts is going one better with a real Christmas treat for you!

Tomorrow morning Sky Arts will be airing Backstage with Disney on Broadway: Celebrating 20 Years at 9am followed by Disney's Broadway Hits at London's Royal Albert Hall at 10am!!  What a Christmas present!!

I can't wait to watch this again and again!  As someone who had tickets to see Tarzan but the show closed a month before I was due to see it, seeing Josh Strickland sing some of those songs in person was something I'd waited over 10 years for and he didn't disappoint.  Finally seeing Ashley Brown live was electrifying.  Hearing songs from Aida and King David live was something I never thought would happen.  The Aladdin finale with Trevor Dion Nicholas and the West End cast raising the roof and bringing the audience to their feet is out of this world.  And, of course, Alan Menken himself singing "Proud of Your Boy", dream come true.  This concert is truly magical so make sure you don't miss it!

Merry Christmas!

Aladdin Stars on Tonight at the London Palladium!

Things are starting to look magical in London's West End and tonight the countdown to Aladdin's West End premiere really kicks into high gear as Trevor Dion Nicholas and some of Aladdin's fabulous ensemble take to the stage on Tonight at the London Palladium!!

Time you got to see what our Genie @AstonishingTrev can do! #TonightAtTheLondonPalladium, Wednesday night on @ITV. 📺https://t.co/EmUps8DAcu

— Aladdin The Musical (@AladdinLondon) April 25, 2016

Make sure you catch the full magical performance tonight at 20:00 on ITV.


Aladdin begins previews at London's Prince Edward Theatre on 27th May and officially opens on 15th June.  Tickets are available here.

What is Aladdin? - Broadway's Aladdin on Jeopardy TONIGHT!!

James Monroe Iglehart as Genie, Photo from Jeopardy Tumblr

That's right!  Tonight's edition of Jeopardy will feature a Broadway's Aladdin as one of its categories!

According to Playbill this is only the third time in the show's long history that an entire category has been dedicated to a single Broadway show.  And that's not all!  For the first time ever footage from the show will be used in the clues as the New Amsterdam Theatre welcomed the Jeopardy team into Aladdin's Broadway home.

In fact the Jeopardy tumblr has a special back stage look at Aladdin so make sure to check it out!

You can find out when tonight's episode of Jeopardy is airing in your area here (US only).

Aladdin's Media Day Round Up

Last week the cast of Aladdin made two very special appearances on ABC television.  Appearing live direct from Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre they performed the show's opening number Arabian Nights on "Good Morning America" and the second act opener Prince Ali on "The View".

I'm sure that most of you have probably seen the videos already (and if you live in the US you were probably lucky enough to see them live on TV) but they're certainly worth watching again!

First up, GMA went behind the scenes to meet the cast and even learn some of the dance moves from the show;

Then came a very special live performance of Arabian Nights!

Now for some reason (which I honestly can't figure out) The View's live performance of Prince Ali is region locked.  If you live in the US you can view the performance here.  And if you don't, well there's always YouTube;

I wouldn't normally dream of posting an unofficial YouTube video of footage from the show but since this was a specially recorded performance that has been aired on TV for promotional purposes I think it's ok to make an exception.  Hopefully the official, higher quality version will be uploaded to Disney Theatrical's YouTube channel sooner rather than later so we can all enjoy it as it should be seen.

That night ABC's "Nightline" went behind the scenes with Director/Choreographer Casey Nicholaw and the cast;

There some fantastic footage of both behind the scenes and the show itself in the Nightline video and I think Casey sums up the show when he agrees that it does have a raised eyebrow, "it's a fun night and it's a fable".

But that wasn't the end to Aladdin's media frenzy as Courtney Reed also stopped by CBS's "The Couch" to talk about the show;

That's it for the media day round up!  This weekend I'll be doing a massive news round up trying to catch up with everything I missed whilst I was away and over the Easter break including the reviews!

Broadway's Aladdin on TV & The Actors Fund Celebrates 20 Years of Disney on Broadway

On Tuesday 15th April Broadway's Aladdin will be making two very special appearances on ABC.  First they will be performing Arabian Nights on "Good Morning America" and then Prince Ali on "The View".  Playbill is reporting that there will also be a first look preview on "Good Morning America" on Monday 14th.

But it gets better!  If you live in New York and can get to the New Amsterdam Theatre that morning then the show's official website is offering you and five friends the chance to be part of the audience for this live recording!  And if that wasn't enough everyone who attends will receive a special gift and one audience member will receive a pair of tickets for that evening's performance of the show!  So head on over to www.aladdinthemusical.com/ontv for your chance to be a part of this special event!

That evening will also see Director and Choreographer Casey Nicholaw appear on ABC's "Nightline" along with stars Adam Jacobs, Courtney Reed, James Monroe Iglehart and Jonathan Freeman.

I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope that Disney Theatrical puts these up on their YouTube channel since we don't get ABC here in the UK.

And speaking of special events at the New Amsterdam Theatre, D23 is reporting that on Monday 27th April the theatre will play host to a special gala celebrating the 20th anniversary of Disney on Broadway.  This one night only event to benefit The Actors Fund will showcase the very best of Disney on Broadway with special cast appearances and production numbers from all of Disney's shows from 1994's Beauty and the Beast through to 2014's Aladdin.  Tickets range from the special low priced $20 for 20 years balcony tickets right through to $1500 full gala tickets which include the post-show cast party.  Tickets are available from The Actors Fund website.


I will be doing (hopefully sooner rather than later) a big round up of all the reviews and news that I missed whilst I've been away but obviously this piece was time sensitive so it jumped to the front of the queue!