Aladdin Central Messageboard

[Calluna]

Two anonymous Broadway theater executives told the New York Times that the Mary Poppins musical in the New Amsterdam Theatre will be closing March 3rd so that it can be renovated before the Aladdin show moves there:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/mary-poppins-to-fly-off-as-aladdin-lands-on-broadway/

This is still just a rumor, and even if it is true we don't know how long the renovations will take.

(This probably neither here nor there, but on the New Amsterdam Theatre's website you can still buy Mary Poppins tickets until August 2013.)

Big thank you to Chris for the tip!

[b]Edit 7/9:[/url] MaryPoppins.com confirms the March 3rd end date for that show, doesn't mention anything about Aladdin.
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"If only I could believe you. Perhaps I can! After all... you do bear the name of a flower." -- Arbutus

[AladdinsGenie]

StitchKingdom is 'confirming' it and I just received a youtube comment on my Seattle videos saying the same thing. They're trying to get me excited too early

[Calluna]

Yeah, I mean, I'm sure the New York Times can be trusted, but until I hear something official I'm playing it safe.
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"If only I could believe you. Perhaps I can! After all... you do bear the name of a flower." -- Arbutus

[Chris]

The tickets being on sale until August sadly doesn't mean anything. Going back a few years I booked tickets for Tarzan in May for my birthday (20th July) and Disney announced on 23rd June that the show would play it's last performance on 8th July. The Little Mermaid got a bit more notice (2 months) but was still booking into at least September when they announced it would close at the end of August.

I'm really inclined to believe this, unlike that supposed cast list from last year, as it seems to come from credible sources (as much as any "unnamed executive" can be) or it wouldn't have been picked up by the main stream media the way it has.

Either way, either Disney will announce soon that MP is closing or they won't say anything and if Mary Poppins is still open after March 3rd we know the rumour was wrong or at least premature (some people on Broadway boards are saying it would make sense to run MP through August like TLM and get the last big box office from the summer crowd, guess it depends on how extensive the planned renovations are).

[Calluna]

Thanks for the explanation, Chris. I hope you got your money back! Or do you just get tickets for the new show instead?
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"If only I could believe you. Perhaps I can! After all... you do bear the name of a flower." -- Arbutus

[Chris]

No probs

Yeah, I got my money back and we got a voucher for $10 off either Lion King or Mary Poppins. Didn't use it though, we went to see one of the last performances of Beauty and the Beast instead.

At the time I was really mad, now I'm older I've just come to accept it as part of the risk of planning a holiday around a show. But I do try and go to a show as soon as possible these days just in case

[Calluna]

Heh, well, now anyone wanting to get a discount on your Aladdin ticket knows how to get it!
_________________
"If only I could believe you. Perhaps I can! After all... you do bear the name of a flower." -- Arbutus

[Chris]

Well that was faster than I expected - MaryPoppins.com has now confirmed the show will play its final Broadway performance on March 3rd.

My heart goes out to the cast and crew (apparently they only had the news confirmed before tonight's show) and I wish them all the best for the rest of their run and for the future.

In terms of Aladdin, this really gives a LOT of weight to the initial report. Guess it's just a waiting game now until we get an official announcement!

[AladdinsGenie]

According to Entertainment Weekly, an early version of Aladdin premiered in Seattle in 2011, but the Broadway production will be very different. The Seattle Times gave it a mostly positive review, writing that the show’s better moments came when it wasn’t aping the animated film. Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Tim Rice added new songs with contributions from book writer Chad Beguelin. Unused lyrics by the late Howard Ashman were also used during the show.

The Times’ sources noted that the Broadway production is likely to not open until 2014. Disney would not comment on the Times’ story.

Interesting. Now I'm wondering why they were tweaking the other show for the past year if it 'won't serve as a model' according to that EW article. I always assumed that would, but 'very different' makes me think that's going to be a tour and the Broadway version is something new. That makes me a little nervous...

Also, I guess the rumors that the Aladdin musical at Disneyland closing for Candlelight might have more truth to them now, as well.

[Chris]

I'm guessing they're talking about sets and staging as 5th Avenue was done on a very small budget (it only had a 3 week run after all). Basically adding more spectacle, like flying the carpet over the audience.

There were some story tweaks between Seattle and the regional productions but from what I can tell they were pretty small, so I'm guessing the book will remain pretty similar (maybe some small changes based on regional feedback), they're just making the production bigger.

But that's all guess work, I could be totally wrong (hope not though as I loved the show I saw).

[Chris]

More rumours from New York Post;

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/ghost_stuck_on_the_roof_dt56nTFPYfc9LixVPOGGCK

It's near the end of the article. The show is being rewritten and Alan Menken is working on new songs. Guess I was wrong, the rewrites must be pretty extensive if we're getting new songs. Little nervous as I thought the show had a good pace and I don't really want to see any songs cut to make way for the new ones, but also excited by the idea of new songs! So conflicted

No word on whether or not Chad Begulin is involved with the rewrites or the new songs, but I'm going to believe he's still involved (and Casey Nicholaw) until someone says differently.

Six time Tony Award winning set designer Bob Crawley has been brought onto the creative team to design the new production which is said to include much more spectacle than the Seattle pilot did. Two of his Tony Awards came from Disney productions (Mary Poppins and Aida) so if this is true the design of the show should be in good hands.

And also - Hunchback is said to have a new writer now to rewrite the book (make it less dark than the Berlin version) and Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz are said to be working on new songs.

Obviously this is all rumour at the moment as Disney haven't confirmed anything.

[dustinm3]

[Calluna]

[Calluna]

More on changes from the Seattle show:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/aladdin-coming-broadway-overhauled-version-creative-team-215426298.html

However, the version of "Aladdin" that hits Broadway next year will be substantially overhauled and will not be a transfer of the 5th Avenue production, the individual said. That show was seen as a pilot production, designed to test the new book and additional score material. The Broadway production will involve a major new key player on the creative team, the individual said.
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"If only I could believe you. Perhaps I can! After all... you do bear the name of a flower." -- Arbutus

[Chris]

Not posting this on the blog yet as the source is only a few people on the Broadway World message board. They're saying that Aladdin will open Spring 2014 on Broadway but there will be an out of town preview run later this year.

This isn't unusual for Broadway shows (Beauty, TLK and Mermaid all had a short preview run before coming to Broadway), but is a little surprising given Aladdin already had a pilot production in Seattle (Newsies went straight from pilot production to Broadway), plus the regional and international productions last year. Guess they're making pretty substantial changes to the show if they few a preview run is needed to further test/refine the show before opening on Broadway!