As previously reported, Aladdin will premiere Nov. 1 at Toronto's Mirvish Theatre for a run through Jan. 5, 2014. According to a new Disney Group Sales e-mail, Aladdin will begin Broadway previews Feb. 26, 2014, at the New Amsterdam Theatre towards an official Broadway opening of March 20, 2014, Playbill.com has confirmed.
Casting has not been announced.
The stage production, which expands the 90-minute film into a two-act format, has music by Alan Menken, lyrics from the film by the late Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, as well as new book and lyrics by Chad Beguelin (The Wedding Singer, Elf). Menken previously told Playbill.com that the stage production incorporates many ideas he and Ashman conceived for the 1992 film that never made it to the screen. Among them are a trio of Aladdin's friends, Omar, Babkak and Kassim, as well as a handful of early songs including "Proud of Your Boy."
An earlier pilot version of Aladdin premiered at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in the summer of 2011. Nicholaw, who directed and choreographed that staging, will return for the upcoming production.
While the Toronto production will reunite Nicholaw with several key members from the Seattle creative team, Disney promises a brand-new production of Aladdin that has been reshaped and redesigned since the 2011 stage premiere. According to Disney, the Broadway staging will be an entirely new production, "featuring a new script, tunestack and a wholly original design scaled to the Broadway stage and an epic story."
The creative team includes Bob Crowley (Once, Tarzan), who will design the scenery. Also included are Tony Award-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes (Kinky Boots, The Drowsy Chaperone), Tony-winning lighting designer Natasha Katz (Beauty and the Beast, Aida), dance arranger Glen Kelly (The Producers, Drowsy Chaperone), musical supervisor Michael Kosarin (Beauty and the Beast, Sister Act), sound designer Ken Travis (Memphis, Newsies, A Christmas Story), illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer (Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast), hair designer Josh Marquette (Kinky Boots, The Book of Mormon) and orchestrator Danny Troob (Newsies, Cinderella).
Visit aladdinbroadway.com.
