Sherri Shepherd stepped into the New Amsterdam Theatre this past week as the first woman ever to play the Genie in Broadway's long-running production of Aladdin, a casting milestone about twelve years and seven months after the musical first opened. Her limited engagement began on October 16 and continues through January 3, 2027, putting her name alongside a dozen performers who have taken on the blue, wish-granting role since the show debuted.
A Role That Started With a Panic Attack
According to ABC11, Shepherd told entertainment reporter Joelle Garguilo that taking on the Genie was initially intimidating and that she reminded herself she was the first person audiences would compare to the role going forward, rather than measuring herself against a predecessor. The pressure of the assignment hit harder than she expected. As EURweb reports, Shepherd said, “I had to talk to my therapist cuz I had a panic attack cuz I said, ‘What did I sign up for?'”
Much of that anxiety centered on “Friend Like Me,” the Genie's signature showstopper, which ABC11 clocked at 7 minutes and 52 seconds of near-constant performance. EURweb's account puts the number at roughly eight minutes of singing, dancing and tap, and Shepherd has said the sequence is physically demanding and that she performs the physical actions herself rather than relying on a double. To get there, she told Newsday she has been taking dance and voice lessons and belting out the song on long walks through the city, according to the Newsday report.
Putting a Maternal Spin on the Genie
Shepherd has reshaped the Genie's dynamic with Aladdin for her run, telling ABC11 that she brings a more nurturing perspective to the character because she is a woman and a mother, while Aladdin in the story has none. She described making the relationship more maternal, framing Aladdin as something like a son the Genie is proud of, a reading distinct from the wisecracking, high-energy take that won original Genie James Monroe Iglehart a Tony Award in 2014, per the same Newsday account.
That original casting is part of a longer line of Aladdin performers since the musical opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on March 20, 2014, according to Deadline. Playbill notes the Broadway company has welcomed 17 actors as Aladdin, 12 as Jasmine and 12 as the Genie, including understudies and standbys, over the show's run. Caleb A. Barnett remains with the production as the Genie standby during Shepherd's stretch, according to Broadway.com.
From Legal Secretary to Broadway History
Shepherd's path to the New Amsterdam stage ran through a legal office, not a conservatory. She worked as a legal secretary before starting in stand-up comedy, per ABC11's report, and she has said her legal secretaries and attorneys at the time pooled money to pay for a $600 stand-up class because they believed in her. Former colleagues from California are planning to travel to New York for opening night, the station reported.
This is not Shepherd's first time on a Broadway stage. She appeared in 2014 as the Evil Stepmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, what Deadline described as her only prior Broadway credit before now. Off Broadway, she is best known for co-hosting The View, work that earned her a Daytime Emmy Award in 2009 for Outstanding Talk Show Host, according to Broadway.com.
A History-Making Moment, in Context
Shepherd's casting fits a broader pattern of gender-expansive casting choices that Aladdin and other Broadway shows have embraced in recent years. Playbill points to examples including a female actor playing Prospero in The Tempest and the bachelor Bobby from Company being reimagined as the bachelorette Bobbie, and the outlet notes that such moves are especially notable when a single role is played by multiple genders within the same production. A similar shift is coming to another current Broadway show, with Stella Cole set to become the first female actor to play the previously male crooner Gil Brentley in Maybe Happy Ending, per Playbill's reporting.
Aladdin itself remains one of Broadway's most durable hits. BroadwayWorld reports that the production has set 17 New Amsterdam Theatre house records and has spawned 11 productions on four continents, welcoming more than 22 million people worldwide since it began.
For Shepherd, the significance of the moment goes beyond her own run. She has said she hopes girls in the audience see new possibilities through her portrayal of the Genie, and that if she could speak to her 10-year-old self, she would tell her to keep dreaming and recognize her own accomplishments, according to ABC11's interview. She has also invited theatergoers to bring friends, dates, or people they met on Bumble to come see the show for themselves.
