Disney's "The Snow Queen" in 2013?

[Sotiris]

I'm not sure if this has already been posted, forgive me if it has, but it's the first time I've seen it... this is supposedly a demo song from a while back of Broadway actor Brian D'Arcy James singing "Love Can't Be Denied" from this very movie.

Just to be clear:

On September 26, 2005, the Kaufman Center’s Merkin Hall in New York City presented a tribute to Alan Menken. "Part of Your World: The Music of Alan Menken" presented an evening of Menken’s music performed by a number of prominent Broadway vocalists, many of whom had worked with Menken previously. One of the numbers, performed by Brian d’Arcy James, was "Love Can’t Be Denied" – one of the Menken songs that was written for the stage musical of the Snow Queen, set to debut at Tokyo DisneySea with Amon Miyamoto directing, John Weidman as the bookwriter and Glen Slater as the lyricist.

Someone at that concert recorded the song and uploaded it on the Internet. It's not a "demo". And it was not written for the movie but for the shelved stage musical at Tokyo DisneySea.

[Disney's Divinity]

It has been posted, but it was a *very* long time ago and I'm sure some new posters might like to see it. Thanks for posting.

[DancingCrab]

Ah ok, that makes more sense. Thanks Sotiris and Disney's Divinity.

I have to admit, I don't really care for the song much, so I'm glad it's not associated with the movie. It reeks of Slater's lame "Love Never Dies" lyrics. But the melody is pretty, and D'arcy James is always a joy to listen to.

[Disney Duster]

Menken could just get someone to write some new lyrics...though I don't think they are that bad. But Glenne Slater...he just loves the guy. He feels he's the closest he's had to Ashman and he was just used for Tangled, even though Tangled's lyrics were pretty bad, actually.

[TsWade2]

Oh come on, you guys! Stop bashing Glenn Slater! He did a good job writing lyrics. I don't really care for Love Never Dies, but he did a good job. I know he's not compared to Howard Ashman, but that doesn't mean you have to treat him like crap. I think he did a good job writing lyrics for The Little Mermaid Broadway Musical, Sister Act Broadway, and Tangled. He got tony nomination two times and an oscar nomination with Alan Menken because they know he did a great job writing lyrics. I know you guys are going to disagree with me, but cut him some slack and give him a chance.

[DisneyJedi]

I agree with tsWade2. Sure, Glenn Slater's no Howard Ashman or Stephen Schwartz, but Glenn's lyrics are pretty good, if you ask me.

[DancingCrab]

Oh gimme a break... Nobody was treating Slater like "crap" so get a grip, and stop whining when someone criticizes something. I said Love Never Dies was lame, and IT IS IMO, and this song sounds like practically the same as his lazy lyrics in the title song of that show. No one said anything personal about him so stop acting like the moral police.

[TsWade2]

Oh gimme a break... Nobody was treating Slater like "crap" so get a grip, and stop whining when someone criticizes something. I said Love Never Dies was lame, and IT IS IMO, and this song sounds like practically the same as his lazy lyrics in the title song of that show. No one said anything personal about him so stop acting like the moral police.

So what you're saying is you're just criticizing Slater because of Love Never Dies?

[Disney Duster]

Well for me, it's the Glenn Slater hasn't written anything I find to really sound that good, and he's written some stuff that's sounded pretty bad. I mean, in The Little Mermaid, he had King Triton say Ariel disappeared into "thin water". He gets pretty bad. And he uses cliches like "outside looking in" in Tangled that don't fit because she's actually inside the tower...he's just not very good. I have liked very few of his lyrics, things like when Rapunzel says "and it's like 7:15" I like because it sounds like how a real girl would talk abotu so little time passing, which may be the kind of prose Menken sees so close to Ashman's and why he keeps him, but that "like" is too modern for the time period so even that's still not very good!

[Sotiris]

October 19, 2011

Sorry to hear about Snow Queen being shelved permanently. But then again, there's really no such thing at Disney!

Snow Queen isn't shelved. That comment I found particularly funny.

Source: http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/ ... about.html


October 21, 2011

[At "Mary Blair's World of Color: A Centennial Tribute"] Panelist Michael Giamo's onstage introduction by animation historian and author Charles Solomon included the credit, 'Art Director of 'The Snow Queen'. After the event I asked Mike about this and he confirmed to me that he is indeed currently at work on the long-ingestation pre-production of 'The Snow Queen' for Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Source: http://micechat.com/forums/news/159558- ... -11-a.html


October 29, 2011

So last week I headed over to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a neat 100th birthday tribute to artist Mary Blair. It was a fun show, hosted by the always-delightful Alice Davis, and featured a panel of artists who discussed Blair’s work.

A rather surprising fact-drop occurred when moderator Charles Solomon introduced panelist Mike Giaimo as "art director of the upcoming Snow Queen."

The last we’d heard was early last year, when the film was allegedly shelved again. But now, apparently, it’s back. Of course when I tweeted about this I was greeted with "Duh, you didn’t know that?" So maybe everyone else knows. Maybe you know. But I’m telling you anyway.

Source: http://progresscityusa.com/2011/10/29/s ... snowstorm/



Although we already knew that Mike Gaimo was the art director of Snow Queen, this recent announcement confirms that the film is still in development and has not been shelved once again. Last time we heard, there had been some story problems (this is after the film was revived in CG) and the future of the film was in jeopardy. Glad to know that they are still trying to make this film and work out all these issues.

[SWillie!]

Ahhh I want to see some visual development so bad.

[skyler888]

I'm pretty happy that Mike Gaimo is the art director on this film. In my opinion the story needs a mature style like he used on Pocahontas.


So if the character designs or overall style is anything like his Poca I'll be thrilled.

[Sotiris]

I'm pretty happy that Mike Gaimo is the art director on this film. In my opinion the story needs a mature style like he used on Pocahontas. So if the character designs or overall style is anything like his Poca, I'll be thrilled.

The art director is not usually responsible for the character designs. The character designer and the supervising animator are responsible for that. The art director is responsible for the backgrounds, color scheme, lighting, and the overall visual style.

Michel Gaimo recently gave an interview to Steve Hulett of TAG. It's very interesting. He even talks about Snow Queen towards the end (40:12 mark of part 2). He said, among other things, that Chris Buck (the director) brought him to the project in 2009. However, the interview was edited to remove any references to the upcoming film by name.

Towards the end of the interview, when you mention "Surf's Up" there is an edit. Was it because Mike mentions working on "Snow Queen" by name? Isn't this out of the bag already?

When an interview subject asks us to make an edit, we make an edit.

Here it is:

Interview - Part 1
Interview - Part 2

[Sotiris]

November 03, 2011

Q: But what are the other things you want to do? Are you going to get us the Snow Queen? I have to ask everyone involved in Disney that.

Don Hahn: [Laughs] I think it’s coming!

Source: http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/1117843 ... ation.html

[Linden]

Ah ok, that makes more sense. Thanks Sotiris and Disney's Divinity.

I have to admit, I don't really care for the song much, so I'm glad it's not associated with the movie. It reeks of Slater's lame "Love Never Dies" lyrics. But the melody is pretty, and D'arcy James is always a joy to listen to.

Slater wrote the lyrics for "Love Never Dies?"!! I didn't know that.

I agree with most of the posters about Glenn Slater. I think he is a mediocre lyricist at best. The best work I've heard from him is "Mother Knows Best," but even that's not great. The only reason most of the songs in Tangled are decent is that they have pretty tunes and instrumentation, thanks to Alan Menken. Like in "I See the Light." It's a very beautiful song musically, but the lyrics are poorly written.

I wish they'd try to get Steven Schwartz back. His collaborations with Menken are some of my favorites.

[TsWade2]

Here's the article about Glenn Slater: http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief ... -quot.aspx

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Slater wrote the lyrics for "Love Never Dies?"!! I didn't know that.

...

I wish they'd try to get Steven Schwartz back. His collaborations with Menken are some of my favorites.

I had to look it up, but yeah, Slater and Charles Hart wrote the lyrics. I still need to listen to Love Never Dies (I got it from the library, but I still haven't listened to it yet). And I agree with you on Schwartz; some of my favorite Disney songs are from Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

[TsWade2]

There was an interview on Broadwayworld.com with Alan Menken that he wishes that the people need to try to give Glenn Slater some respect. Here's what he says:

PC: They told me that they feel so privileged to have you participate in this project.

AM: That's nice of them. Also, though, let's please not forget Glenn Slater!

PC: Definitely not!

AM: This poor guy... he's such a brilliant collaborator and such a brilliant lyricist and he doesn't yet seem to get the credit he should get for what he's done.

PC: I agree.

AM: They gave him a tough time on LOVE NEVER DIES...

PC: Not me! I say SISTER ACT and LOVE NEVER DIES are two of the best scores of the last ten years, no question.

AM: Oh, great! He just feels like he can't get a break and I tell him that his day is coming and he's done fantastic work on this.

PC: I loved your new songs with him for THE LITTLE MERMAID, too.

AM: Thank you, thank you.

I know you guy don't agree with me that he's a good lyricist, but with all due respect, I think he's a good lyricist. And I thought I See the Light was one Disney's best Disney song. So give him some time and maybe good things will come to him. By the way, on record, I didn't very much care for Love Never Dies. I just thought making a sequel of Phantom of the Opera is a stupid idea.

[PatrickvD]

Love Never Dies was awful, but let's not blame Slater for that. The entire concept was fundamentally terrible.

I actually love Slater's work on The Little Mermaid, Tangled and even Home on the Range. So I guess I like his work best when he's paired with Menken.

[TsWade2]

Love Never Dies was awful, but let's not blame Slater for that. The entire concept was fundamentally terrible.

I actually love Slater's work on The Little Mermaid, Tangled and even Home on the Range. So I guess I like his work best when he's paired with Menken.

Agreed. I don't think writing lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber might not be the best idea. He;s better with Alan Menken. And believe it or not, I heard he's writing lyrics for the upcoming Broadway Musical Houdini with composer Danny Elfman.