As of March 26, when passersby on 42nd Street look up at the New Amsterdam Theatre, they will see more than a marquee for the Disney musical “Aladdin.” Sitting above the signage is now a giant golden lamp that — depending on the time of day — spins and spouts smoke. As advertising executive Justin Yu said, “It’s truly an eye-catching beacon for 42nd Street.”
Yu is part of the team behind the mammoth installation. As senior creative director of Situation Interactive, an advertising and marketing firm specializing in Broadway, Yu and his colleagues collaborated with Disney Theatrical Group, Fine Art (the leading vendor for Broadway’s front-of-house displays), Atomic Props (the company that built the lamp), AMA Electric Signs (the provider of additional lighting to highlight said lamp) and engineer Scott Lewis (structural lead for the building).
The idea to add the three-dimensional lamp to “Aladdin”’s marquee began with the adjacent billboard, which already promotes the musical. For the show’s 10th anniversary, which was March 20, Disney wanted to reinvigorate the show’s messaging and presence. “We were thinking, ‘What can we do with this big billboard in this space, and can we make the front of the New Amsterdam any more magical?’” Yu said. Key to the 10th-anniversary campaign is that idea of magic.
