Sherri Shepherd to Make Broadway History as First Woman to Play Genie in Disney’s ‘Aladdin’

Sherri Shepherd Aladdin Genie casting is making Broadway history. Disney Theatrical Group announced Tuesday, September 8, that Shepherd will join Broadway’s Aladdin as Genie beginning October 16, becoming the first woman to play the character in any Disney-produced staging of the musical worldwide.

The limited engagement will run through January 3, 2027, at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York. Broadway News reported Disney Theatrical Group’s announcement and confirmed that current Genie Caleb A. Barnett will remain with the company as Shepherd’s standby during her run.

Sherri Shepherd Aladdin Genie casting breaks a Disney stage barrier

The significance of the casting extends beyond Broadway. Shepherd is the first woman to take on Genie across Disney’s worldwide stage productions of Aladdin, giving the long-running musical a new interpretation of one of its most recognizable characters.

Broadway.com’s announcement of Shepherd’s casting confirms the October 16 start and January 3 end dates and identifies the engagement as her return to Broadway.

The role has traditionally been performed by men throughout the Disney production’s history. James Monroe Iglehart originated Genie when Aladdin opened on Broadway and won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance.

Shepherd now inherits a role built around comedy, physical performance and some of the musical’s largest production numbers. Her casting also gives Disney an opportunity to reinterpret the character without changing the fundamental function Genie serves within the story.

Shepherd says the role is outside her comfort zone

Shepherd told The Associated Press in an interview published September 8 that she had previously taken family members to see the musical and never expected to become part of the production herself.

She is preparing for the role with dance and voice lessons and has sought advice from Broadway performers including Kristin Chenoweth and Wayne Brady. Shepherd also connected the opportunity to seeing Stephanie Mills in The Wiz when she was young and said she wants children watching her Genie to see greater possibilities for themselves.

The challenge will put Shepherd’s comedy background into a particularly demanding musical-theater role. Genie anchors “Friend Like Me,” one of the production’s signature sequences, while also providing much of the show’s comic energy.

Aladdin marks Shepherd’s Broadway return

This will not be Shepherd’s Broadway debut. She previously appeared as Madame, the wicked stepmother, in the 2014 Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella.

Her wider career includes seven years as a co-host of The View, for which she shared a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host, as well as acting roles and her recently concluded daytime talk show Sherri.

The new engagement therefore represents a return to theatrical performance rather than a first attempt at the Broadway stage. The difference is scale and visibility: Genie is one of Disney’s most recognizable musical-theater roles and carries a performance legacy stretching back to Robin Williams’ voice work in the 1992 animated film.

Disney’s Aladdin has been on Broadway since 2014

The official Disney Aladdin website describes the stage musical as the story of the streetwise Aladdin and the all-powerful Genie who helps propel his journey. The Broadway production plays at the New Amsterdam Theatre on West 42nd Street.

The musical began its Broadway run in March 2014 after earlier development and a 2011 premiere in Seattle. Its score incorporates songs associated with the animated film alongside material created for the stage, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics from Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin.

Shepherd will join a current principal company that includes Rodney Ingram as Aladdin, Sonya Balsara as Jasmine and Dennis Stowe as Jafar. Barnett, currently playing Genie, will shift to standby for the character during Shepherd’s limited engagement.

The historic casting begins October 16

The first performance of Shepherd’s engagement is scheduled for Friday, October 16. Her run is currently set to continue through January 3, giving audiences roughly two and a half months to see the new interpretation.

For Disney, the casting creates a genuine first within an established production rather than launching an entirely new adaptation. Aladdin remains the same Broadway musical, but one of its defining characters will be played by a woman for the first time in Disney’s global stage history.

That makes the Sherri Shepherd Aladdin Genie announcement more than another limited celebrity casting. When Shepherd steps onto the New Amsterdam Theatre stage in October, she will break a casting precedent that has remained intact throughout Disney’s productions of Aladdin around the world.