Disney's ALADDIN Scouts West End's Dominion Theatre; MOTOWN Eyeing the Palladium

The Daily Mail writes that Broadway's ALADDIN was originally in talks to open at the London Palladium in 2016, but now the Disney production is in negotiations for the West End's Dominion Theatre instead.

Read the original story here.

The Mail's Baz Bamigboye speculates that Disney wants to aim ALADDIN towards a larger demographic, and the Palladium is known mostly for family entertainment.

Now, ALADDIN's change of heart opens up the Palladium for MOTOWN to potentially fill the venue next year. The musical is in the "earliest of early discussions" for the space.

ALADDIN, starring Adam Jacobs (Aladdin), Courtney Reed (Jasmine), Jonathan Freeman (Jafar) and recent Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart (Genie) is currently running on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, 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 three-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). This new production features a full score, including the Oscar and Grammy-winning hit "A Whole New World," and four other cherished songs from the film and multi Grammy-winning original motion picture soundtrack. The cast album also includes four Menken/Beguelin songs written especially for the stage and three Menken/Ashman songs that were cut from the original film, plus exclusive bonus content created especially for the album.

Disney's Aladdin, the Tony Award-winning new musical comedy based on the Academy Award-winning animated film, opened to critical acclaim on March 20th, 2014 at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre and went on to receive 24 major theatrical award nominations. USA Today raves, "Pure GENIE-US! Aladdin delivers a rush that will surprise you." New York Magazine calls it "Musical comedy wish-fulfillment!" while The New York Times hails the show as "Fabulous... Extravagant!" Huffington Post says Aladdin is "the surprise hit of the season!" and the Daily News declares, "Seriously, it's amazing!"

Aladdin stars Adam Jacobs (Les Miserables, The Lion King) in the title role, Courtney Reed (In the Heights, Mamma Mia) as Jasmine, James Monroe Iglehart (Memphis, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) in his Tony Award-winning role as Genie, and, as Jafar, Tony Award nominee Jonathan Freeman (Mary Poppins, The Producers, She Loves Me) brings to the stage the role he indelibly created in the animated film. The show also stars Brian Gonzales, Brandon O'Neill and Jonathan Schwartz as Aladdin's sidekicks Babkak, Kassim and Omar, Clifton Davis as Sultan and Don Darryl Rivera as Iago.