Aladdin, the hit musical based on the Academy Award®-winning animated film, recently celebrated its 9th anniversary on Broadway. The hit musical opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre to critical acclaim on March 20, 2014 and quickly established itself as one of the biggest new blockbusters in recent years.
Hailed by The New York Times as “fabulous and extravagant,” the Broadway production has broken 16 New Amsterdam Theatre house records and spawned nine productions on four continents. Worldwide, it has welcomed more than 16 million people and can be seen currently on Broadway and on tour across North America, as well as in Tokyo, Mexico City and Madrid, with a UK tour slated to open this year. The Broadway production recently played its 3,000th performance and joined the list of Top 20 longest Broadway runs.
Also for the record books, with the opening of Some Like It Hot and the ongoing success of Aladdin and The Book Of Mormon, director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw now has three musicals running on Broadway. Nicholaw has achieved this rare feat two times during Aladdin‘s run and, additionally, twice had a whopping four concurrent runs. (His other shows were Something Rotten, Tuck Everlasting, Mean Girls and The Prom.) In addition to his remarkable Main Stem activity, Nicholaw has launched seven national tours over the nine-year run of Aladdin.
The current cast of Aladdin stars Michael Maliakel making his Broadway debut in the title role, Michael James Scott as Genie, Sonya Balsara as Jasmine and Dennis Stowe as Jafar. The show also features Milo Alosi, Zach Bencal and Brad Weinstock as Aladdin’s sidekicks Kassim, Babkak and Omar, JC Montgomery as Sultan and Don Darryl Rivera as Iago. Korie Lee Blossey, Jeremy Gaston and Wes Hart stand by for several principals.
ABOUT ALADDIN
Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, under the direction of Thomas Schumacher, Aladdin features music by Tony Award® and eight-time Oscar® winner Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, Sister Act), lyrics by two-time Oscar winner Howard Ashman (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid), three-time Tony Award and three-time Oscar winner Tim Rice (Evita, Aida) and six-time Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin (The Wedding Singer), with a book by Beguelin, and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon).
Aladdin, adapted from the animated Disney film and centuries-old folktales including “One Thousand and One Nights,” is brought to fresh theatrical life in this bold new musical. Aladdin’s journey sweeps audiences into an exciting world of daring adventure, classic comedy and timeless romance. This new production features a full score, including the five cherished songs from the Academy Award-winning soundtrack and more written especially for the stage.
The animated film Aladdin was released by Disney in 1992 and was a critical and box office smash, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year.
The film won the Oscar for Best Original Score and introduced the hit song “A Whole New World,” which won the second of the film’s two Academy Awards as Best Original Song. The Peabo Bryson/Regina Belle recording of the tune soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Aladdin is designed by seven-time Tony-winning scenic designer Bob Crowley, seven-time Tony-winning lighting designer Natasha Katz, two-time Tony-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes and sound designer Ken Travis.
The production team also includes illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer, hair designer Josh Marquette and makeup designer Milagros Medina-Cerdeira. The music team is headed by music supervisor and music director Michael Kosarin, who also created the vocal and incidental music arrangements, joined by orchestrator Danny Troob and dance music arranger Glen Kelly. John MacInnis is the associate choreographer, Jason Trubitt is the production supervisor and Myriah Bash is the general manager. Anne Quart serves as co-producer.
For more information, visit AladdinTheMusical.com.
