The Peddie School Arts Department provided Peddie students the opportunity to see the Broadway musical performance of Aladdin on September 25, prior to Peddie’s own freshmen musical performance of the show next month on Nov. 11. Students in attendance responded to the production in a positive manner, especially the cast of the freshman musical.

The opportunity to watch the Broadway production of Aladdin led cast-members of the freshmen production to “gain a better idea of the play, understand [the] characters more, and [allowed] [them] to use the production as a reference,” according to Peddie’s lead in Aladdin, Andrew Davis ’21.

After viewing the Broadway presentation of Aladdin, the students in the freshmen musical began to work with more motivation to learn about performance techniques. As a result, the one-night show this year is expected to be “amazing, full of great dancing, funny and exciting,” said student director Jess Scopellite’19.

Theater teacher Jay Jaski, Arts Department Chair Alan Michaels, and music teacher Zachary Krieger, along with three upperclassmen directors, Becky Harris’19, Jess Scopellite’19, and Femia Tonelli’19, serve as co-directors of this year’s freshman musical.

The students involved in the production have a wide variety of talents and will be able to showcase them in the production. For some cast-members of Aladdin, this is the first time stepping on the stage; for others, the stage is already a familiar place.

Freshmen musical has become a tradition at Peddie: a new production presented by the freshmen class each year on the Peddie stage. The cast-members of the freshmen musical devote themselves to rehearsal throughout the entire fall term. During this process, the cast-members not only gain amazing experience with musical performance, but also bond with others involved in the production.

“Freshmen musical allows freshmen to step out of their comfort zones, and also brings the cast closer together,” said Morike Ayodeji’20, who was one of the cast-members of the 2016 freshman show, Legally Blonde: the Musical.

The freshmen production of Aladdin will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Gieger-Reeves theatre on Nov. 11.