Ahead of the launch of Disney’s new Aladdin North American tour, Adi Roy, Marcus M. Martin, Senzel Ahmady, and Anand Nagraj shared with Playbill what audiences around the country can expect from the production.
“I'm excited for audiences to see an almost fully POC tour,” shares Ahmady, who will be seen as Princess Jasmine. “I think it's huge for this tour. And, recently, just on Broadway, we got to see our first two South Asian leads play Aladdin and Jasmine, and now Adi and I are here, and it's very, very exciting to step into two roles, you know, that we've been waiting to play.” Watch the video above for the full interview.
The tour will launch October 11–23 in Schenectady, New York, at Proctors, playing 36 cities during the 2022-23 season with additional dates to be announced.
This production of the tour will be one of six replica productions around the world, joining those currently running on Broadway, in Tokyo, the Netherlands, Mexico City, and Germany. To date, Aladdin has welcomed more than 14 million people worldwide.
In addition to Roy as Aladdin, Martin as Genie, Ahmady as Jasmine, and Nagraj as Jafar, the touring company also includes Aaron Choi as Iago, Sorab Wadia as Sultan, Ben Chavez as Omar, Jake Letts as Babkak, Colt Prattes as Kassim, Dwelvan David as standby for Genie, Jafar, and Sultan, and J. Andrew Speas as standby for Genie, Sultan, and Babkak.
Rounding out the company are Alyssa Anani, Carina R. Avila, Daniel Brackett, Brandon Burks, Victoria Byrd, Edward Cuellar, Cody Hernández, Joshua Kenneth Allen Johnson, Tyler Johnson-Campion, Maya Kazzaz, Brandon J. Large, Lauren Louis, Melissa McCann, Angelina Mullins, Omar Nieves, Ryan Rodiño, Cameron Sirian, Taylor Mackenzie Smith, and Asten Stewart.
The stage production, which expands the 90-minute animated film into a two-act format, has music by Alan Menken, lyrics by the late Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and a book and additional lyrics by Chad Beguelin. Casey Nicholaw directs and choreographs.
Aladdin opened at Broadway's New Amsterdam March 20, 2014, following previews that began February 26. The musical was nominated for five 2014 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. James Monroe Iglehart won the Tony for his performance as the Genie.
Aladdin is designed by Tony-winning scenic designer Bob Crowley, Tony-winning lighting designer Natasha Katz, Tony-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes, and sound designer Ken Travis.
The production team also includes illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer and Rob Lake, hair designer Josh Marquette, and makeup designer Milagros Medina-Cerdeira. The music team is headed by music supervisor and music director Michael Kosarin, who also created the vocal and incidental music arrangements, joined by orchestrator Danny Troob and dance music arranger Glen Kelly. Anne Quart serves as co-producer.
Following the Broadway shutdown, Aladdin reopened at the New Amsterdam Theatre September 28, 2021. A previous North American tour of Nicholaw’s Broadway production played 1,201 performances in 41 cities, drawing more than 2.7 million people.
For more information, visit AladdinTheMusical.com/tour.
