Come on in, let the magic begin: it’s another Arabian night.
The Disney smash hit Aladdin resumes performances tonight at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The show, directed by Casey Nicholaw, is based on the 1992 animated film of the same name, and features several new songs written by Alan Menken and Chad Beguelin (in addition to the movie’s musical touchstones, written by Menken, the late Howard Ashman, and Tim Rice). Four new principal cast members join Aladdin upon reopening: Michael Maliakel in his Broadway debut as the titular street rat, Shoba Narayan as Jasmine, Milo Alosi as Kassim, and Zach Bencal as Babkak (replacing original cast member Brian Gonzales).
As previously announced, the Disney on Broadway TikTok page will go live at 8 PM eastern time for a backstage tour, followed by a livestream of Michael James Scott – as the Genie - leading the cast in “Friend Like Me.” Quite clearly, the reopening stream of The Lion King two weeks ago was a success, and so Disney is doing it once again with their other Broadway tenant.
Aladdin is such a fun show! I’ve seen it 3 times and enjoyed it every time. The boxes are a great view and highly recommend sitting there. I will not be headed back anytime soon but hope those who do have fun and enjoy the show!!
I'm seeing the show 10/12, I was just in the mood for a "big show" and it's such a fun one. (Plus, I'm hopeful 4th time will be the charm of seeing Jonathan Freeman.)
bway0, good to know about the boxes, I'll have to try them out for #5!
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
The Aladdin matinee on March 11th was one of the last shows I saw and after going to the Live at the New Am concert I bought a ticket for the 10/2 matinee and I'm so excited to see the show again. Aladdin is such a joy to see and I'm very excited to see Michael and Shoba as Aladdin and Jasmine.
"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.
everythingtaboo said: "I'm seeing the show 10/12, I was just in the mood for a "big show" and it's such a fun one. (Plus, I'm hopeful 4th time will be the charm of seeing Jonathan Freeman.)
bway0, good to know about the boxes, I'll have to try them out for #5!"
Yes the boxes are the best I;ve sat in so far. I;ve sat in them 2 of 3 times for Aladdin. Would have for the third time but they were unavailable. Now I'm not sure if all the boxes are the same but the ones we sat in only had two seats. Soooooo much leg room!!
What an electric evening at the New Amsterdam! This company is in tip-top shape. Numerous understudies and swings were on for the re-opening performance.
I'm going tomorrow night and am excited for Shoba and Michael.
I haven't seen any Disney on Broadway discounts other than the combo ticket but I got seats for both The Lion King and Aladdin this week fairly cheap. I was in the 3rd row center last night at The Lion King and paid $125. I paid similar for my Aladdin ticket.
Great tip about the boxes bway0. I will try that next time.
At the show tonight. Packed house. An uncomfortable amount of people taking pictures of the show, unchecked by ushers. (I guess masks are the priority nowadays, they're holding up "Masks Up" signs whenever the show wasn't on.)
As for the show, I think the entire cast was on. Expect for Jonathan Freeman, who I'm starting to think is just an honorarial credit at this point.The new leads Michael and Shoba were great, in fine voice and comfortable in their roles. Zach Bencal, making his Broadway debut tonight as Babkak, was a total winner. The returning cast really seemed like they were picking up where they left off, after 18 months and two false starts, it was great to see them comfortable again. At least until the end of those production numbers - damn, I always forgot just how MUCH choreography there is in thing! But it definitely fulfilled my need for a big show, it was a great night of fun.
For the person that asked for cast lists from tonight:
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
Michael James Scott did throw in a few little winks about current showbiz events, but did have a big shout out during the big tap section of Friend Like Me, shouting, "Broadway is back!" which got a huge round of cheers.
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
So what's the deal with Freeman? I was a little bummed I didn't get to see him last night (the standby was great, though), and I was musing on making a return trip, but I take it from some of these comments that this is a pretty standard thing with him?