Marina Pires Will Make Broadway Debut as Jasmine ALADDIN; Ainsley Melham and Rodney Ingram Will Return!

Disney's Aladdin has announced new principal cast members ahead of the company's sixth anniversary. Ainsley Melham, star of the original Australian production of Aladdin, will return to the title role on Broadway in March. The exact date will be announced in the near future. Melham previously played the role on Broadway in 2019. Rodney Ingram will re-join the Broadway company to play the role starting Monday, February 17th until Melham's return. Marina Pires (On Your Feet! National Tour) will make her Broadway debut as Jasmine.

Clinton Greenspan the current Aladdin, will play his final performance on Sunday, February 16.

Pires will cover Jasmine Tuesday, March 24th through Sunday, May 31st. A permanent Jasmine replacement will be announced at a later date. Arielle Jacobs the current Jasmine, will play her final performance on Sunday, March 22.

Melham, Ingram and Pires join the Broadway company that also stars Michael James Scott (Something Rotten!; The Book of Mormon; Tarzan) as Genie, and Tony Award nominee Jonathan Freeman (Mary Poppins, The Producers, She Loves Me) as Jafar, bringing to the stage the role he indelibly created in the animated film. The show also features Brian Gonzales, Mike Longo and Brad Weinstock as Aladdin's sidekicks Babkak, Kassim and Omar, JC Montgomery as Sultan and Don Darryl Rivera as Iago. Juwan Crawley, Dennis Stowe and Deonté L. Warren stand by for several principals.

Ainsley Melham (Aladdin). Melham returns to Aladdin having made his Broadway debut in the title role in 2019. He recently filmed the show in London for later release, having created the role in the first Australian tour for which, he earned a 2017 Helpmann Award nomination. His other theatre credits in his native Australia includes Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman and Sonny Malone in Xanadu. Television credits include Seasons 1-3 of "Hi-5 House" (Nickelodeon/Disney/Netflix) as a member of iconic musical group Hi-5. He received his training at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Twitter: @ainsley_melham. Instagram: @ainsleymelham.

Rodney Ingram (Aladdin) is overjoyed to be back in Agrabah, this time playing Aladdin! Ingram made his Broadway debut with this company in 2015 understudying the title role. He was last seen starring as Raoul in the 30th anniversary Broadway cast of The Phantom of the Opera. His favorite regional credits include Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid, Laurie in Little Women and Gremio in Kiss Me Kate. His television credits include a recurring role on "Jane the Virgin" on the CW. rodneyingram.com

Marina Pires (Jasmine) is honored to be making her Broadway debut in such an iconic Disney classic! She is a trilingual actress and singer-songwriter born in Brazil, and raised in sunny South Florida. Her credits include Gloria Estefan in On Your Feet! (National Tour & Regional), PHISH (Madison Square Garden), Vanessa in In The Heights (Dallas Theatre Center), and Rapunzel in Into The Woods with Tituss Burgess. As a songwriter, Pires lyrics have been featured in the Off-Broadway musical A Never-Ending Line. Her band "The Heartstrings Project" is releasing their debut album Shadow People in 2020. @marinampires

As previously announced, Michael James Scott will return as Genie on Friday, February 28th. Juwan Crawley, and Deonté L. Warren will cover the role once current Genie Major Attaway departs on Sunday, February 16th.

Aladdin, the hit musical based on the Academy Award-winning animated film, opened on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre to critical acclaim on March 20, 2014 and quickly established itself as one of the biggest new blockbusters in recent years, breaking 14 New Amsterdam Theatre house records. Worldwide it has welcomed more than 10 million people, grossed over $1 billion and its global footprint encompasses Tokyo, Germany, and on tour across North America.

Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, under the direction of Thomas Schumacher, the show 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 six-time Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin (The Prom), with a book by Beguelin, and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon).

Aladdin, adapted from the animated Disney film and centuries-old folktales including "One Thousand and One Nights," is brought to fresh theatrical life in this bold new musical. Aladdin's journey sweeps audiences into an exotic world of daring adventure, classic comedy and timeless romance. This new production features a full score, including the five cherished songs from the Academy Award-winning soundtrack and more written especially for the stage.

The animated film Aladdin was released by Disney in 1992 and was a critical and box office smash, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year.

The film won the Oscar for Best Original Score and introduced the hit song "A Whole New World," which won the second of the film's two Academy Awards as Best Original Song. The Peabo Bryson/Regina Belle recording of the tune soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Aladdin is designed by seven-time Tony-winning scenic designer Bob Crowley, six-time Tony-winning lighting designer Natasha Katz, two-time Tony-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes and sound designer Ken Travis.

The production team also includes illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer, 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.

For more information, visit AladdinTheMusical.com.