Moorestown Theater Company Presents Academy Award winning “Aladdin JR.”

MOORESTOWN, NJ — The award-winning, non-profit Moorestown Theater Company (MTC) will continue its 23rd Season with its ‘Penguin Project’ production of Aladdin JR. three times at First Methodist Church (FMC), 446 E. Camden Avenue, on these dates and times:
Thursday, April 10 @ 6 PM
Friday, April 11 @ 7 PM
Sunday, April 13 @ 2 PM
Reserved-Seat Tickets are available for all three shows at www.MoorestownTheaterCompany.org. The musical will run approximately an hour and 45 minutes, including intermission, and it is appropriate for audience members of all ages. In fact, we encourage audience members to wear costumes of their favorite characters in the show!
The Penguin Project is a nation-wide theater program for Neurodivergent Children, who as ‘Actors’ play all of the lead roles, and Neurotypical Children, who as ‘Mentors’ perform in the Ensemble. There are 56 Penguin Project Chapters in 25 States, with MTC becoming the first (and still only) NJ Chapter in 2023.
In Aladdin JR., MTC’s 27-member Children’s Cast of 10 to 21-year-olds will bring to life the musical version of the beloved 1992 animated Hollywood movie (that resulted in two Academy Awards out of five nominations, including one for ‘Original Song’, “A Whole New World”) and the 2014 Broadway musical (that won one Tony Award out of five nominations, for ‘Best Featured Actor’, James Monroe Iglehart). The musical features such characters as ‘Aladdin’, ‘Princess Jasmine’, the ‘Genie’, the ‘Sultan’, ‘Jafar’, ‘Iago’, ‘Babkak’, ‘Omar’, ‘Kassim’ and the other residents of the kingdom of ‘Agrabah’.
The book, lyrics, and music are by Chad Beguelin, Alan Menken, and Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Chad Beguelin, respectively. The score includes great songs like “Arabian Nights”, “Proud Of Your Boy”, “Friend Like Me”, “Prince Ali”, “High Adventure”, and the Academy Award-winning “A Whole New World”.
The Production Staff for Aladdin JR. incudes Producers Mark Morgan and Carol Ann Murray, Director Susan Maurer, Vocal Director Jaclyn Valenziano, Choreographer Stacy Brophy, Costume Director Thom Sirkot, Props Designer Amy Evangelisto, Technical Director Jack Morgan, and Stage Manager John Wells.
Aladdin JR. is the 26th production, and 24th musical, that MTC is performing in its new theater home in FMC’s Fellowship Hall since November 2022. FMC is in second place for the most productions performed by MTC (trailing only the 78 performed at Hope Community Church). In 2024, MTC presented 66 performances of 13 productions by 526 performers, and in 23 Seasons, with this show included, MTC has presented 1,078 performances of 239 productions by 10,065 performers.
MTC, which has posted all of the show titles for its 23rd Season in 2025 on its website, has received these recent awards:
– January ’25: ‘Excellence In Dance’ Award presented to the Cast of “Alice In Wonderland JR.” at the iTheatrics Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, GA (our first ‘Dance’ Award, and 10th overall, after seven ‘Acting’ and two ‘Music’ Awards)
– January ’25: ‘Freddie G Fellowship’ Award presented to MTC’s Founding Producing Director Mark Morgan at the iTheatrics Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, GA
– March ’25: ‘40 Fabulous Females’ Award presented to MTC’s Founding Managing Director Carol Ann Murray by Donnelly Media at the Camden County Boat House
– June ’25: ‘Twink Lynch Organizational Achievement Award’ will be presented to MTC at the American Association of Community Theatre national Festival (AACT Fest) on June 27
Questions about Aladdin JR., or about MTC in general, can be answered by calling 856 / 778-8357.