Adam Jacobs, Courtney Reed Reprise Roles to Headline Cast of Broadway’s ‘Aladdin’

Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed will reprise the roles of Aladdin and Jasmine, respectively, which they originally held in the Seattle premiere of Disney’s Aladdin, for Toronto and Broadway productions of the show.

Jacobs and Reed have both graced the Broadway stage before. Jacobs has appeared as Marius in Les Miserables and Simba in The Lion King. Reed has appeared in Broadway productions of In the Heights and Mamma Mia!

Other cast members in the show include James Monroe Iglehart who will reprise his role as the Genie, Jonathan Freeman who will play Jafar (a role he voiced in the animated film), Don Darryl Rivera as Iago, and Tony nominee Clifton Davis as the Sultan.

Director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw has said of the cast, “”We have an extraordinarily diverse and quite beautiful company of actors and dancers and singers who also happen to be blessed with vaudeville chops. I think that will surprise people who expect they’re just going to see the film onstage. ”

Aladdin is the stage adapted musical of the 1992 Academy Award  winning animated musical film. It tells the story of Aladdin, a poor  street urchin who uses the help of a magical genie to overcome many  obstacles, including Jafar who is trying to take over the throne, in order to  win over Princess Jasmine.

Disney has said the Broadway show will be a new and different production stating  that it “[features] a new script, tunestack and a wholly original design scaled  to the Broadway stage, and an epic story.” Alan Menken who handles the show’s  music told Playbill.com that the stage production incorporates many ideas he and  Howard Ashman (responsible for lyrics for the original film) conceived  for the 1992 film that never made it to the screen.

Aladdin is set to premiere November 1 with an official opening date of November 21 at Toronto’s Mirvish Theatre. The show will run there through January 5, 2014. The production will then make the move to Broadway for previews February 26, 2014 at the New Amsterdam Theatre with a scheduled opening date of March 20, 2014.