Phil Collins Visits Aladdin

The stage production, which expands the 90-minute film into a two-act format, has music by Alan Menken, lyrics by the late Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and book and additional lyrics by Chad Beguelin. Tony Award-winning director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon) directs and choreographs the musical, which officially opened on Broadway March 20.

The musical received five Tony Award nominations, winning for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (James Monroe Iglehart). It was also nominated for Best Book of a Musical (Beguelin), Best Choreography (Nicholaw), Best Original Score (Menken, Ashman, Rice and Beguelin) and Best Musical.

Adam Jacobs (Les Misérables, The Lion King) and Courtney Reed (In the Heights, Mamma Mia!) starred in the show's Seattle premiere and recent Toronto engagement. Broadway performances began Feb. 26 at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

James Monroe Iglehart, of Broadway's Memphis, also reprises his performance as the Genie, and Jonathan Freeman, who voiced the nefarious villain Jafar in the 1992 animated Disney film and reprised his performance on stage, again plays that role.

Brian Gonzales, Brandon O'Neill and Jonathan Schwartz play Aladdin's sidekicks Babkak, Kassim and Omar, respectively, and Tony nominee Clifton Davis plays the Sultan with Don Darryl Rivera as Iago. Merwin Foard and Michael James Scott standby for several principals.

© Playbill, by Joseph Marzullo