Disney confirms Jasmine casting for Aladdin tour

Following her time on the ITV musical talent show Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream, it has been confirmed that Desmonda Cathabel will continue in the role of Jasmine in the ongoing touring production of Disney’s Aladdin. 

Cathabel, who got down to the final four contestants vying for the role of Sophie on the weekly show, has already appeared in the first tour stop, Edinburgh.

Adapted from Disney’s 1992 animated film and centuries-old folktales including “One Thousand and One Nights”, the stage musical was first seen on Broadway in March 2014, while nine subsequent productions have launched around the world. The piece also played over 1200 performances at the Prince Edward Theatre in London’s West End.

It has new music by Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, Sister Act), lyrics by Howard Ashman (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid), Tim Rice (The Lion King, Evita, Aida) and Chad Beguelin (The Prom, The Wedding Singer) with a book by Beguelin, and is directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon).

New footage from the show has also been released:

The cast is led by Yeukayi Ushe (Disney’s The Lion King, A Strange Loop, Kinky Boots and Motown The Musical) as Genie and Gavin Adams – a recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Music – as Aladdin.

They are joined on stage by Adam Strong (Rock of Ages, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) as Jafar, Jo Servi (Dreamgirls, The Color Purple) as Sultan, Angelo Paragoso (The Reporter, Miss Saigon) as Iago, Nay-Nay (Once on This Island) as Kassim, Adam Taylor (Cabaret, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) as Omar, and Nelson Bettencourt (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Les Misérables) as Babkak.

The company is completed by Hannah Amin, Dammi Aregbeshola, Rico Bakker, Daisy Barnett, Sarah Benbelaid, Erin Gisele Chapman, Tau-En Chien, Zac Frieze, Jared Irving, Juan Jackson, James Lim, Harriet Millier, Luchia Moss, Aaron Elijah Patel, Abbie Platts, Joseph Poulton, Chris Ribz, Olivier Scheers, Kerry Spark, Ricardo Spriggs, Damien Winchester and Niko Wirachman.

The production’s creative team includes scenic designer Bob Crowley, lighting designer Natasha Katz, costume designer Gregg Barnes, sound designer Ken Travis, illusion designers 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. Ben Clare is the associate director, Kyle Seeley is the dance supervisor, Jason Trubitt is the production supervisor and Myriah Bash is the US general manager. Casting is by Jill Green CDG.

You can watch our exclusive interview with Ushe and Adams here:

The much-loved musical will also tour to Cardiff, Plymouth, Sunderland, Dublin, Milton Keynes, Manchester, Bristol, Bradford, Southampton, Birmingham, Glasgow and Liverpool, with further cities to be announced.

Tickets for select venues are on sale below.