Broadway stars perform 'A Whole New World' outside theater for 'Hamilton' fans

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Monday, November 16, 2015
Lea Salonga plays Kei in ''Allegiance'' the musical (left) and Lin-Manuel Miranda plays Alexander Hamilton in ''Hamilton'' the musical.
Debra L Rothenberg/WireImage via Getty|Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Disney fans could never bore of Lea Salonga reprising her role from Aladdin, but Princess Jasmine's latest street performance breathes a whole new life into the animated classic's iconic duet.

Salonga joined Lin-Manuel Miranda, the star and mastermind behind Hamilton the musical, in his "Ham4Ham" pre-show outside the theater near Times Square. The two sang a duet of "A Whole New World," complete with an adorable audience singalong.

Hamilton, a hip-hop musical about the life of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, has been one of the most sought-after Broadway tickets since opening in August. With face-value tickets going for hundreds and even thousands of dollars, the front-row ticket lottery draws a crowd of hundreds of fans that spills into the street.

To entertain the mass of audience-hopefuls, Miranda regularly invites castmates and other Broadway bigwigs (such as James Monroe Iglehart, who plays Genie in Aladdin on Broadway) for short, whimsical performances before names are drawn. The show is known as the "Ham4Ham" show because if you're among the lucky winners, you pay $10 to see Hamilton (and Hamilton himself is on the $10 bill).

A couple blocks over, Salonga is entertaining audiences inside a theater in her latest Broadway role. She plays Kei Kimura in Allegiance, a musical about Japanese-American internment during World War II inspired by experiences of actor George Takei.

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