James Monroe Iglehart Wins the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical Following Toronto Engagement

James Monroe Iglehart, who brought ALADDIN's Genie to life in the Pre-Broadway tryout of the show in Toronto has just won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. This is his first Tony nomination.

Disney's ALADDIN had a pre-Broadway tryout at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre. The show, which was still under development while playing here opened to mixed reviews, but the critics agreed that the show had promise and could be re-worked for Broadway. A new incarnation of the show opened on Broadway to generally positive reviews.

Iglehart stops the show every night with an almost 11 minute number, "Friend Like Me".

Iglehart also previously won the Toronto Theatre Critics Association Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the same role. Iglehart was not nominated for his performance at this year's Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

Iglehart told the media in the Tony Awards press room that now he has achieved this goal, he has to set a new one that is nearly impossible. "I want to be the first People magazine's sexiest man alive, with no abs!" he joked.

Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, Aladdin 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 two-time Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin(The Wedding Singer), with a book by Beguelin, and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon). This new production features a full score, including the Oscar and Grammy® winning hit "A Whole New World," and four other cherished songs from the film and multi Grammy-winning original motion picture soundtrack.

Aladdin stars Adam Jacobs (Les Miserables, The Lion King) in the title role, Courtney Reed (In the Heights, Mamma Mia) as Jasmine, James Monroe Iglehart (Memphis, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) as Genie, and, as Jafar, Tony Award nominee Jonathan Freeman (Mary Poppins, The Producers, She Loves Me) brings to the stage the role he indelibly created in the animated film. The show also stars Brian Gonzales, Brandon O'Neill and Jonathan Schwartz as Aladdin's sidekicks Babkak, Kassim and Omar, Clifton Davis as Sultan and Don Darryl Rivera as Iago.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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