(MILLBURN, NJ) -- Paper Mill Playhouse has announced initial casting for the all-new musical production of Disney’s Hercules. The production will feature Bradley Gibson (The Lion King, A Bronx Tale The Musical) as Hercules, Tony Award winner Shuler Hensley (Broadway’s The Music Man 2022 revival, Oklahoma!) as Hades, Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart (Aladdin, Hamilton) as Phil, and Isabelle McCalla (Aladdin, The Prom) as Meg.
Hercules features music by Oscar, Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winner Alan Menken (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast) and lyrics by Tony Award winner David Zippel (City of Angels, Mulan) and a book by Tony Award winner Robert Horn (Tootsie) and Kwame Kwei-Armah (Artistic Director of London's Young Vic), based on the Disney film written by Ron Clements, John Musker, Donald McEnery, Bob Shaw, and Irene Mecchi, and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. The music is supervised by Michael Kosarinand choreography is by Chase Brock and Tanisha Scott. Hercules is directed by Obie Award winner Lear deBessonet (Into the Woods).
The show will begin performances at Paper Mill Playhouse on Thursday, February 16 and play through Sunday, March 19, 2023. Opening night is set for Wednesday, March 1, 2023.
Top Row: Bradley Gibson, Shuler Hensley; Bottom Row: James Monroe Iglehart, Isabelle McCalla
It’s a terrific twist of fates! The inspired Disney animated film is now a mythical new musical adventure. Hercules is the divinely funny story of an honest-to-Zeus hero on a quest to discover who he is and where he belongs. Is love a possibility too? Oh, Hades, yes! The roof-raising score features all the hits you love from the film, including the Oscar-nominated song “Go the Distance,” as well as “Zero to Hero” and “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love),” along with new songs written for the stage. This cheeky, Greeky muse-ical earned a New York Times’ Critic’s Pick for its original Public Theater production in Central Park, with the New York Post cheering it as “wise-cracking, heartfelt and emotionally rich.” And that’s the gospel truth!
This new stage work will be available to the licensing market at a later date.
Paper Mill Playhouse offers its audiences the opportunity to enhance their theater experience with behind-the-scenes views of mainstage productions, including Q&A with the cast. Paper Mill Prologues and The Director’s Viewpoint will be available to everyone on the Paper Mill Playhouse mobile app.
Tickets start at $35 may be purchased by calling 973.376.4343, at the Paper Mill Playhouse Box Office at 22 Brookside Drive in Millburn, or online at papermill.org. Groups of 10 or more may receive up to a up to 30% discount on tickets and should call 973.376.4343. Students may purchase $20 tickets. Patrons under 30 years old may purchase tickets for $30 to any performance. Three-show and four-show subscription packages are also available starting at just $111.
Paper Mill Playhouse offers award-winning access programs and services, including audio-described performances and sensory seminars for the blind, open-captioned performances, Braille and large-print programs, and assistive listening devices.
Programs, dates, and artists are subject to change. Complete casting to be announced at a later date.
PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE, recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, is a nationally renowned not-for-profit theater under the direction of Mark S. Hoebee (Producing Artistic Director) and Michael Stotts (Executive Director). A beloved New Jersey arts institution since 1938, Paper Mill creates and produces groundbreaking new musicals and reimagined classics. Several productions have gone on to Broadway and launched national tours, including Disney’s Newsies, Les Misérables, Honeymoon in Vegas, A Bronx Tale, and Bandstand. The theater is also the home to an award-winning center for musical theater education and artist training, with outreach programs that impact thousands of students each year. As one of the nation’s premier musical theaters, Paper Mill fosters a creative environment to advance the art form, educate students, develop future theater lovers, nurture inclusion, and provide access for all. We acknowledge that our theater stands on the traditional land of the Lenni-Lenape, and we honor the Indigenous people who inhabited it for thousands of years before European settlers arrived. Paper Mill Playhouse programs are made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Paper Mill Playhouse is a member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, the Council of Stock Theatres, and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
BIOGRAPHIES
Bradley Gibson (Hercules) has appeared on Broadway in A Bronx Tale and played Simba in Disney’s The Lion King. He plays Tyler Robinson on the new hit Netflix series “Partner Track.” He can also be seen recurring as Everett on three seasons of “Powerbook III: Ghost” (STARZ) and as Joe on the first season of “Kung-Fu” (CW). Last summer he appeared in the feature film Fire Island (Fox Searchlight) with Bowen Yang.
Shuler Hensley (Hades) can currently be seen in the Tony Award-nominated revival of The Music Man at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre. Most recently he appeared in the Tony Award–winning The Ferryman at the Jacobs. Other Broadway credits include No Man’s Land (also with Berkeley Repertory Theatre) and Waiting for Godot, in repertory, opposite Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and Billy Crudup; The Monster in Young Frankenstein (also the U.S. National Tour); Kerchak in Tarzan; Jud Fry in Oklahoma! opposite Hugh Jackman (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Olivier Awards); and Javert in Les Misérables. Recently seen in the musical adaptation of Twelfth Night (The Public Theater), as The Monster in the London premiere of Young Frankenstein, the U.K. premiere of Sam Hunter’s The Whale (Theatre Royal Bath), and the New Group’s production of Sweet Charity opposite Sutton Foster. Off-Broadway: Assassins (NY City Center Encores!), Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical (Madison Square Garden), Carousel (Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic), The Most Happy Fella and Fiorello! (NY City Center Encores!), The Whale (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards; Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Drama Desk nominations), Sweet and Sad (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble), That Hopey Changey Thing, and The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Additional credits include the Kennedy Center’s production of The Guardsman, directed by Gregory Mosher; Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (Alliance Theatre); and The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera (Hamburg). Opera appearances include Wozzeck (Curtis Institute of Music) and Regina (Kennedy Center). Shuler has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony Orchestra. Television: “Murder of a President,” “Shades of Blue,” “Elementary,” “Banshee,” “The Americans,” “Ed,” “Deadline,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” Film: The Greatest Showman, After.Life, The Legend of Zorro, and Van Helsing. Proud Equity member. Shuler is also the namesake of the Georgia High School Musical Theater Awards and is Artistic Director of City Springs Theatre Company in Atlanta.
James Monroe Iglehart (Phil) is multi-award-winning actor from stage and screen. Most recently James performed the classic role of Nathan Detroit in Guys & Dolls at the Kennedy Center. You may have seen James on Broadway in such shows as Hamilton in the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, Chicago as Billy Flynn, and the Broadway hit Freestyle Love Supreme. He is known most for his Tony Award-winning performance as Genie in the Broadway hit Disney’s Aladdin. He has also been seen on TV in shows like Netflix’s “Maniac” (recurring), “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (recurring), “Gotham,” “Elementary,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and the Disney+ movie Disenchanted. He has had two sold-out runs at 54Below and Carnegie Hall, and concerts around the country. He has had the pleasure of lending his voice to many animated characters including Lance Strongbow in Disney’s “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventures” and Taurus Bulba in Disney’s “DuckTales,” “Vampirina,” “Elena of Avalor,” “Helluva Boss,” “Blue’s Clues,” “Sesame Street,” and two upcoming programs for Disney, “Super Kitties” and “Kiff.” He is a self-proclaimed animation, comic book and pro wrestling nerd. James has also written three comic book stories for Marvel Comics and is one of the co-hosts of the Marvel Comic podcast “This Week in Marvel” on SirusXM and wherever you listen to podcasts. When he’s not on stage he’s usually watching Pro Wrestling or Disney+ while just chilling out with his wife of over 20 years, Dawn.
Isabelle McCalla (Meg) originated the role of Alyssa Greene in The Prom. She also previously starred as Jasmine in Aladdin both on Broadway and the North American Tour. Paper Mill credits include Yvette in Clueand Patty in Beehive. Additional regional credits include Ariel Moore in Footloose at the Kennedy Center and Tink in Fly at La Jolla Playhouse. TV credits include “Bull” (CBS), “And Just Like That” (HBO), “Law & Order,” (NBC), and upcoming in “Extrapolations” (AppleTV+) She is currently on tour with Disney Princess - The Concert.
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