Aladdin

Aladdin is Disney's stage musical version of its 1992 animated film, a story that reaches back to the tales of One Thousand and One Nights. It follows a young thief in Agrabah, a fictional Arabian city, who finds a lamp, gains a Genie and tries to win a princess by passing himself off as someone he is not. The score keeps the film's songs, brings back songs that were written for the movie and then dropped, and adds new numbers written for the stage.

Alan Menken composed all of the music. The lyrics are shared by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, the two lyricists of the film, and Chad Beguelin, who also wrote the book. Casey Nicholaw directed and choreographed, and Disney Theatrical Productions produces the show at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

This is an original Broadway production, not a revival. It had its world premiere in Seattle in 2011, played a tryout in Toronto and opened on Broadway on March 20, 2014. By the week ending October 11, 2026, it had given 4,581 performances, and as of October 2026 it ranks 14th among the longest-running shows in Broadway history. It earned five Tony Award nominations in 2014, Best Musical among them, and James Monroe Iglehart won for playing the Genie.

A narrator welcomes the audience to Agrabah; only later do we learn that he is the Genie. Aladdin is poor and gets by stealing food in the market, together with his three friends, Babkak, Omar and Kassim. It weighs on him, because he promised his late mother that he would give up stealing.

Up in the palace, Princess Jasmine is just as unhappy. The Sultan insists she marry a prince before her birthday, three days off, and she feels like a prisoner in her own home. The grand vizier, Jafar, wants the throne for himself. Working with Iago, he discovers that the lamp he wants is hidden in the Cave of Wonders, that only one person is allowed inside, and that the person is Aladdin.

Jasmine sneaks out in disguise, meets Aladdin and finds that they both long for a different life, until the guards take her back. Jafar and Iago save Aladdin from execution so that he can fetch the lamp for them. In the cave, Aladdin touches treasure he was told to leave alone, the entrance seals, and rubbing the lamp calls up the Genie, who shows off his powers and sets out his limits: he can't kill anyone, make anyone fall in love, raise the dead or grant extra wishes. Aladdin tricks him into getting them out without using a wish, promises to spend his last wish on the Genie's freedom, and uses the first to become a prince.

The second act opens with Aladdin's arrival at the palace as Prince Ali of Ababwa, in a parade led by the Genie and the three friends. Jasmine at first sees him as just another suitor, but a ride on a flying carpet wins her over. When Jafar has him arrested for being in the princess's quarters, the friends are caught trying to break him out, and Aladdin's second wish sets them all free. But the thought of one day ruling as sultan scares him, and he decides to keep his third wish instead of freeing the Genie. The hurt Genie retreats into the lamp, and Jafar and Iago steal it.

The film's history shapes the stage score. Ashman pitched an animated musical Aladdin to Disney in 1988, and after he died in March 1991, Rice wrote the remaining lyrics. Only half of the songs written for the movie, seven in all, made it to the screen, so the stage version had unused material to draw on.

The result has three layers. From the film come "Arabian Nights," "One Jump Ahead," "Friend Like Me," "Prince Ali" and "A Whole New World." Three Menken and Ashman songs cut from the movie are restored: "Proud of Your Boy," "Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim" and "High Adventure." Menken and Beguelin added four new ones: "These Palace Walls," "A Million Miles Away," "Diamond in the Rough" and "Somebody's Got Your Back." A few numbers to listen for:

• "Proud of Your Boy" is Aladdin's solo about the promise he made his mother, and it returns later in the show.
• "A Million Miles Away" is the duet where Aladdin and Jasmine, who have only just met, realize they feel the same way.
• "Friend Like Me" is the Genie's showcase in the cave, sung with Aladdin and the ensemble.
• "Prince Ali" is the parade number; it comes back in reprises for the Sultan and for Jafar.
• "A Whole New World" is the carpet-ride duet for Aladdin and Jasmine.
• "High Adventure" belongs to Babkak, Omar and Kassim and their failed rescue.

The cast album, Aladdin: Original Broadway Cast Recording, came out on Walt Disney Records in 2014 and reached No. 45 on the Billboard 200.

The story asks a lot of the stagecraft: a Genie who comes out of a lamp, a treasure cave that seals itself shut and a ride on a flying carpet. Alongside the usual design team, the credits list an illusion designer, Jim Steinmeyer, and a special effects designer, Jeremy Chernick.

Crowley took over the sets from Anna Louizos, who had designed the Seattle premiere, in time for the Toronto tryout. Troob's original Broadway orchestrations call for 18 musicians.

In November 2010 Menken confirmed that a stage version was being developed, with Beguelin writing the book. The world premiere ran at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre from July 7 to July 31, 2011. In 2012 it played Utah's Tuacahn Amphitheatre and The Muny in St. Louis, and on October 4, 2012, Denmark's Fredericia Teater opened the first production in Europe. Jonathan Freeman, the voice of Jafar in the film, played the villain on stage in Seattle and later on Broadway.

Next came a pre-Broadway tryout in Toronto, at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, from November 2013 to January 2014, and most of the Seattle principals stayed with the show on its way to New York. On Broadway it moved into the New Amsterdam, where Mary Poppins had played until March 3, 2013. Previews started on February 26, 2014, and opening night followed on March 20, 2014. The original Broadway company was led by Adam Jacobs as Aladdin, Courtney Reed as Jasmine, Iglehart as the Genie, Freeman as Jafar, Don Darryl Rivera as Iago and Clifton Davis as the Sultan.

In the week ending August 10, 2014, Aladdin broke the New Amsterdam's house record for a week's gross. Iglehart left the company in February 2017. Performances stopped on March 12, 2020, in the COVID-19 shutdown of Broadway and resumed on September 28, 2021. The 4,000th performance came in May 2025, and on August 6, 2025, the show matched the 4,092 performances of the original Broadway run of Miss Saigon, passing it the following day. As of August 2025, more than six and a half million people had seen it at the New Amsterdam.

Later Broadway leads have included Arielle Jacobs and Isabelle McCalla as Jasmine and Telly Leung and Michael Maliakel as Aladdin, while the Genie has been played by Michael James Scott. In September 2026 Disney Theatrical Group announced that Sherri Shepherd would play the Genie in a limited engagement from October 16, 2026, through January 3, 2027. As of October 2026, she is the first woman cast in the role in any Disney production of the show.

A London production played the Prince Edward Theatre from June 15, 2016, to August 24, 2019, for 1,361 performances. The first US national tour opened in Chicago on April 11, 2017, and a later North American tour began in Schenectady, New York, on October 11, 2022. The show has also been staged in Germany, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain and South Korea, and the Mexico City production was the first in Spanish. As of August 2025, 11 productions on four continents had played to more than 21 million people.