Sherri Shepherd will become the first woman to ever play the Genie in a Disney production of “Aladdin,” stepping into the role on Broadway starting October 16, 2026, the show announced September 8. She’ll perform through January 3, 2027, at the New Amsterdam Theatre, the same stage where the musical has run since March 2014.

Key Points

• The casting was confirmed by WDWNT and TheGrio on September 8, 2026.
• Shepherd said in a statement: “Joining Aladdin on Broadway is an absolute dream come true—and an incredible honor. The Genie is such an iconic character, and I’m beyond excited to bring my own energy, humor, heart, and a little bit of magic to this role.”
• She added: “To step on that stage as the first woman to ever play the Genie is something I don’t take lightly. I’m ready to rub the lamp, unleash some magic, and have the time of my life on Broadway.”
• Current Genie Caleb A. Barnett, who took over from longtime star Michael James Scott earlier this year, will serve as standby during Shepherd’s run.

The role Shepherd is stepping into carries more history than most Broadway parts. Robin Williams originated the Genie for Disney’s 1992 animated “Aladdin,” turning what was written as a fairly standard sidekick into a rapid-fire, largely improvised performance built out of a career’s worth of voices and impressions. It’s still widely considered one of the defining pieces of his career.

When Disney brought “Aladdin” to Broadway in 2014, James Monroe Iglehart originated the stage version of the Genie and won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for it, proving the role could carry a live production without Williams’ voice attached to it. A string of actors, Scott most prominently, have played the part since, but the production had never cast a woman in it until now, more than a decade into its Broadway run.

Shepherd, a comedian and former “The View” co-host with a resume spanning stand-up and daytime television, joins a short list of performers who’ve had to reinvent a Robin Williams role for a new context. She’s not new to musical theater either, having built a career that moves comfortably between sitcom sets, talk-show desks, and live audiences who expect quick timing under pressure. Between the Genie’s blue, bombastic stage presence and Shepherd’s own comic instincts, the New Amsterdam Theatre is about to find out what a decades-old character sounds like with a new voice behind the smoke and the lamp, and what it means for a role built entirely around one man’s improvisation to finally belong to someone else.