New Disney Broadway Plays- Includes Hunchback!

[UmbrellaFish]

Disney has built its Broadway brand with family shows inspired by some of its best-known animated films.
Yet the mostly charmed circle of stage life -- which started with Beauty and the Beast in 1994 and The Lion King in 1997 -- is about to expand.

Beyond the animated titles, the company is seeking more-varied sources for a new cycle of family-oriented musicals, according to Thomas Schumacher, president and producer of Disney Theatrical Productions.

Schumacher discussed the past and future of Disney while visiting Columbus to help oversee a backstage revamping of The Lion King.

The second tour in central Ohio continues through next Sunday in the Ohio Theatre.

"The sweet spot of the business is Disney musicals for the broadest-possible family audiences," Schumacher said.

Hitting that spot, he said, remains the goal.

As the culture shifts, however, Disney is changing to come up with material that connects with new generations and a new era.

Among the new musicals in development:


*Peter and the Starcatchers -- Author Rick Elice (Jersey Boys) and director Roger Rees are adapting the Peter Pan prequel, billed as a play with music, from a 2004 novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson about the young orphan battling pirates in a high-seas adventure. The first workshop production will run Feb. 13 to March 8 at La Jolla Playhouse in California.

*The Man in the Ceiling -- Author-cartoonist Jules Feiffer (Little Murders) and composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party) are adapting Feiffer's 1995 book about a boy cartoonist who dreams of becoming a successful artist. The show recently had its first reading.

*The Hunchback of Notre Dame -- Disney's first original foreign-language production, which ran from 1999 to 2002 in Berlin, is being revamped for its U.S. premiere. The 1996 animated film inspired by Victor Hugo's novel was rewritten for the stage and directed by James Lapine (Into the Woods). Songs by Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast) and Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) were added as well.
Following in the footsteps of Disney's first "original" musical, Elton John's pop adaptation of Verdi's Aida, Schumacher is seeking more books and live-action films as sources for new shows because not every animated film can or should be adapted for the stage, he said.

"Animated movies are a form of haiku. You create a series of visual images and thematic concepts and move through it very quickly in 74 minutes," he said.

Moreover, most fairy tales are too similar -- and skimpy -- in plot and character to justify a worthwhile two-act production, he said.

Even with director-designer Julie Taymor's imaginative puppetry and stagecraft for The Lion King, the 88-minute film was expanded into a live show running close to three hours only with a deepening of the characters and their stories, Schumacher said. He shepherded the animated film during his former tenure as president of Disney's animated-film division and later guided its Broadway incarnation.

"Who is Nala and why did she leave Pride Rock? In the movie, she just leaves," Schumacher said.

"The stage version shows that she left because of the drought, . . . and because Scar is making advances on her. Nala sings Shadowlands to explain that she can't stay anymore."

Using the next Disney musical slated to tour as an example, Schumacher said Mary Poppins works well onstage because its story -- a blend of the original novel and the 1964 film -- expands the dynamics of a family that was broken.

Other than The Lion King -- the 1998 Tony winner for best musical -- most Disney musicals have met with a mixed to negative critical response in New York.

From Ben Brantley's January review of The Little Mermaid in The New York Times: "Loved the shoes. Loathed the show. OK, I exaggerate. I didn't like the shoes all that much. But the wheel-heeled footwear known as merblades, which allow stage-bound dancers to simulate gliding underwater, provides the only remotely graceful elements in the musical blunderbuss."

Meanwhile, reflecting the Broadway community's still-wary response to Disney's "invasion" of its turf, the Tony awards have often overlooked Disney musicals or relegated them to lesser design nominations.

Even so, The Little Mermaid and other Disney shows have found an audience.

"The Disney name is a hefty thing," Schumacher said. "We also have a global theater business. We have 17 productions running right now, and only three are on Broadway."

http://www.mickeynews.com/News/DisplayP ... E_9228Taps

[Ariel'sprince]

Hunchback? Enchanted and Hercules should be Broadway musicals.
And fairy tales aren't skimpy.

[bluemoon86]

Hunchback? Enchanted and Hercules should be Broadway musicals.
And fairy tales aren't skimpy.

Hunchback is already a stage show in Germany so that don't need to do as much work as if they were starting from scratch. I like the idea of Hercules on stage, but Enchanted wouldn't work. How would they do the animated part?

[PeterPanfan]

Actually, Sprince, Hunchback has been awaiting a US release for some time now. The German, Der Glockner Notre Dame, is simply beautiful. I am extremely excited for Hunchback.

Hmmm..Peter and the Starcatchers...I really don't think this will work, but who knows. I enjoyed the book.

[Ariel'sprince]

But still,and Hunchback doesn't have a good message (Oh sure,he save the sluttish Esmeralda and kill the evil prevert and what he gets? people taking him away,yeah,so much for happy ending) but that's for another topic.
Hercules whould be a great show,about Enchanted-How about a new plot? or the live action and animated scenes will be the same? Cinderella can also work as a Broadway musical.

[nachonaco]

Hunchback? Enchanted and Hercules should be Broadway musicals.
And fairy tales aren't skimpy.

Hunchback is already a stage show in Germany so that don't need to do as much work as if they were starting from scratch. I like the idea of Hercules on stage, but Enchanted wouldn't work. How would they do the animated part?

They could do it the same way they did the video clips in Evita - a screen on stage.

Also, if they have Peter played as a woman (hint: me) I'm all for it.

[PeterPanfan]

Uhm, Sprince, I'm really starting to consider you're intelligence. Not to offend, but please just THINK before you post.

The message in Hunchback, in my opinion, is that you should still do good, even if there isn't always a reward in the end.

Oh, and since you seem to be the only person in the world who didn't know Cinderella was a musical, please go look it up. Ever heard of Roger's and Hammerstein?

[Ariel'sprince]

They could do it the same way they did the video clips in Evita - a screen on stage

You mean just clips from the film or what?.

Uhm, Sprince, I'm really starting to consider you're intelligence. Not to offend, but please just THINK before you post.

The message in Hunchback, in my opinion, is that you should still do good, even if there isn't always a reward in the end.

Oh, and since you seem to be the only person in the world who didn't know Cinderella was a musical, please go look it up. Ever heard of Roger's and Hammerstein?

Well,I just don't like the film for many reasons,and about the message-Still,he was suffering most of his life,he should get a reward,I haven't Hunchback II but I think it might be better then the original (But I haven't seen it).
Disney's Cinderella was a Broadway musical? (There's Twich Charmed but that's not Broadway).

[PeterPanfan]

No...but like I said earlier, Rogers and Hammerstein did a musical. There are numerous film versions, like the ones with Julie Andrews and Ginger Rogers in the title role. I wouldn't see it likely for Disney to re-do it, since R&H is already great.

[nachonaco]

They could do it the same way they did the video clips in Evita - a screen on stage

You mean just clips from the film or what?.

Uhm, Sprince, I'm really starting to consider you're intelligence. Not to offend, but please just THINK before you post.

The message in Hunchback, in my opinion, is that you should still do good, even if there isn't always a reward in the end.

Oh, and since you seem to be the only person in the world who didn't know Cinderella was a musical, please go look it up. Ever heard of Roger's and Hammerstein?

Well,I just don't like the film for many reasons,and about the message-Still,he was suffering most of his life,he should get a reward,I haven't Hunchback II but I think it might be better then the original (But I haven't seen it).
Disney's Cinderella was a Broadway musical? (There's Twich Charmed but that's not Broadway).

It wasn't Disney's Cinderella, it was a diffferent version that starred Julie Andrews.

Also, Evita was performed using actual news clips of Eva Peron and Juan Peron, during her life.

[JiminyCrick91]

But still,and Hunchback doesn't have a good message (Oh sure,he save the sluttish Esmeralda and kill the evil prevert and what he gets? people taking him away,yeah,so much for happy ending) but that's for another topic.

Fan of the book are ya? That's got such wonderful happy family bits to it. Also sluttish is not a word and it's Pervert.

No...but like I said earlier, Rogers and Hammerstein did a musical. There are numerous film versions, like the ones with Julie Andrews and Ginger Rogers in the title role. I wouldn't see it likely for Disney to re-do it, since R&H is already great.

There was the R&H one with Brandy from 1997 as well, perhaps that would help get the point across.

ANYWAY, I'm very very happy about Hunchback. I hope they keep the darker tone of the German show but not as dark as the book or as light as the film. Peter and the Starcatchers also seems like it may be good but I'd like to hear some music before I judge one way or the other.

-Sky

[Sky Syndrome]

Oooooh! I've love to see Hunchback on Broadway. The songs are marvelous! The Festival of Fools would be so much fun to watch with all the colors and activity!

"Who is Nala and why did she leave Pride Rock? In the movie, she just leaves," Schumacher said.

"The stage version shows that she left because of the drought, . . . and because Scar is making advances on her. Nala sings Shadowlands to explain that she can't stay anymore."

In the movie, she didn't just leave. She left to find a lion to challenge Scar because his reign sucked especially in the wake of a drought. Stating 'she just leaves', makes it sounds like she dropped whatever she was doing and depart without a thought, care, or motive. In the play, she didn't want to be forced to have a love affair with Scar so she left to spare herself and have some space to think clearly about how to help the Pridelands (eventually it'd dawn on her to find a lion to challenge Scar).

[Atlantica]

I'm glad that Hunchback will cross over to the US, as I always thought it would be an interesting thing to see onstage.

I don't like the way the article came down hard on TLM; undeserved I feel.

I've always wondered how Disney picks their shows; to me, The Little Mermaid, Lion King, Beauty, Hunchback and Tarzan would not be the obvious classics to adapt. They each present a lot of challenges ... I suppose that is the appeal of them ? I mean, Disney Princesses are one of THE biggest things at Disney, and yet they pick the two movies that have a castle full of walking talking inanimate objects, and a beast, along with a whole story set under the sea, and the heroine looses her voice half way through. Cinderella or Snow White seems so much easier !

Just always something I have wondered ...

[Disney Duster]

Well Atlantica, that guy said fairy tales are kind of skimpy, and The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin tried to be more complicated in their films and thus they were able to fill longer shows and satisfy Broadway audiences more. They still had to flesh them out and make them longer, of course, which is why I soon hope for my other favorite fairy tales to hit the stage...written,directed, and designed by me, of course!

I heard Aladdin was coming. Hm. Well, we'll see.

I'm excited for Hunchback but they better leave it almost exactly the way it was from the German production.

As for Enchanted...Sprince, remember when I talked about Giselle going to New York as just traveling through time to the modern day? They could do that for the musical. That's how the movie should have been and I will only accept it thinking of it that way.

[Skellington or Sparrow]

I think Hunchback of Notre Dame is an incredibly powerful Disney film, and while not as all-around good as the LM, BATB, A, LK films, stands as a very different, darker Disney film.

I, for one, am getting VERY sick of broadway musical adaptions of films, especially getting tired of Disney's, (I mean, how many can they make?!?!) I think considering that Hunchback is NOT one of their most popular films guarantees that it might be far more successful on Broadway, both as that story AND as a musical in itself.

There's a lot more to work off of, where Enchanted.. you'd pretty much have to start from scratch again with more music. The four (or five) songs in that film could NOT stand alone in a broadway musical, now matter how fun they are. There'd just need to be more. A lot, LOT more.

And Ariel'sprince, ever HEAR of Rogers and Hammerstein? Like.. ever? Sound of Music, The King and I, Oklahoma, State Fair (last year's musical at my school, VERY well done, by the way. I was Harry, the geeky boy that the lead girl dumps at the end, it's a much bigger part in the stage version than the film, and a very large role my freshman year. Anyways..), Flower Drum Song, to name a few.. and of course, the Cinderella. I like 'em.

[Jack Skellington]

I think Aladdin has enough pzazz to be adapted into a Broadway musical, it would be as equally challenging as the highly successful Lion King musical, they would be crazy not to make this !

[Widdi]

Huzzah! A reason to re-release the movie! Cross-promotion is one of Disney's favourite things.

[Poody]

Uber excited about Hunchback!!!!

I agree that Enchanted could make a great stage musical....

Enchanted wouldn't work. How would they do the animated part?

It would just be a fairytale opening, same as the film. Which is pretty much the same idea only they obviously wouldn't be animated.... Some of the jokes would have to be re-worked. I'd die to see that....

[Escapay]

Um...I know it shouldn't be a big deal to some but...

It's RODGERS and Hammerstein. Not Rogers and Hammerstein.

As for Sprince's "nay" to a Hunchback musical because it doesn't have a happy ending, let me just roll my eyes a couple times.



Not all musicals, and certainly not all stories, need to have a happy ending.

about the message-Still,he was suffering most of his life,he should get a reward

If only life were that simple.

I haven't Hunchback II but I think it might be better then the original (But I haven't seen it).

If you didn't like Hunchback, you'll HATE Hunchback II. It is one of the worst things to come from DisneyToon Studios.

albert

[Skellington or Sparrow]

Um...I know it shouldn't be a big deal to some but...

It's RODGERS and Hammerstein. Not Rogers and Hammerstein.

Oops. Haha. Well, spelling's not always my thing.