Broadway’s ‘Aladdin’ Sets Opening at New Amsterdam for March 20

Coming this spring, the classic Disney musical Aladdin will open at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway. Performances are set to begin February 26, while the show’s opening is scheduled for March 20.

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.

The show features the creative talents of Bob Crowley with scenic design, Gregg Barnes with costume design, Natasha Kratz with lighting design, Jim Steinmeyer with illusion design and Josh Marquette with hair design. There is also Michael Kosarin with music supervision and direction, Danny Troob with orchestration, and Glen Kelly with dance music arrangement. The musical’s lyrics will come compliments of the film’s original lyric writers Tim Rice and the late Howard Ashman.

Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw, known for his work in The Book of Mormon, will direct and choreograph the show.  Nicholaw directed and choreographed a summer 2011 pilot version of Aladdin at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, which proved to be quite a success.

Prior to its opening on Broadway the show will premiere at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto from November 13, 2013 to January 12, 2014.

Casting for the show has yet to be announced.