Rank Disney Theatrical Productions

[Farerb]

How would you rank Disney Theatrical Productions?

[PatchofBlue]

Hard to be objective with these things. I haven't actually seen live renditions of all these shows, and quality can just vary so wildly between companies. I'm basing my ranking off of the soundtracks and the live performances I've attended, where applicable.

1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Newsies
3. The Lion King
4. Mary Poppins
5. Aladdin
6. Frozen
7. The Little Mermaid
8. Tarzan

To date, Newsies is the only production of any kind that I've actually seen on Broadway. (I saw it in 2013. Most of the original cast had moved on, I had Corey Cott instead of Jeremy Jordan, but Kara Lindsey was still performing.) And for that reason, it will just always have a boost in my book.

I've seen something like 4 or 5 live productions of Beauty and the Beast, most of which were nice little community theater productions, but my university also did Beauty and the Beast my sophomore year, and it was honestly one of the best performances I've ever attended. Like, some guy looked at the Disney "Beauty and the Beast" story and saw an opportunity to do this highly artistic reinterpretation, and I was totally here for it. Our Gaston was a really short guy wearing very visible stilts during most of his time on stage, which made the whole setup an extra level of hilarious. They also personified the enchanted rose as this living entity brought to life by a ribbon dancer who just sat perched in the top corner of the set the whole production and would drop rose petals at opportune moments. It brought an extra dimension to moments like Belle's venture into the West Wing such where it visibly responds to Belle and it almost reads like it's about to talk to her. It just supports my running thesis that Disney material absolutely lends itself to high culture if you bother to put in the time and imagination.

I had valid critiques of the Frozen show, but I still overall really liked it.

Little Mermaid was riddled with flaws, but there were also genuinely good things within it. My main frustration with it is that the book they saddled themselves with just could never lend itself to the kind of imaginative staging that I got from my university's staging of Beauty and the Beast. Not with Flounder's "SpongeBob" shoutout.

I actually didn't grow up watching the film version of Mary Poppins, and so seeing the stage production was actually kind of my first exposure to the story, and so I have tremendous fondness for it for that reason.
 

[Disney Duster]

I've seen something like 4 or 5 live productions of Beauty and the Beast, most of which were nice little community theater productions, but my university also did Beauty and the Beast my sophomore year, and it was honestly one of the best performances I've ever attended. Like, some guy looked at the Disney "Beauty and the Beast" story and saw an opportunity to do this highly artistic reinterpretation, and I was totally here for it. Our Gaston was a really short guy wearing very visible stilts during most of his time on stage, which made the whole setup an extra level of hilarious. They also personified the enchanted rose as this living entity brought to life by a ribbon dancer who just sat perched in the top corner of the set the whole production and would drop rose petals at opportune moments. It brought an extra dimension to moments like Belle's venture into the West Wing such where it visibly responds to Belle and it almost reads like it's about to talk to her. It just supports my running thesis that Disney material absolutely lends itself to high culture if you bother to put in the time and imagination.

I had valid critiques of the Frozen show, but I still overall really liked it.

Little Mermaid was riddled with flaws, but there were also genuinely good things within it. My main frustration with it is that the book they saddled themselves with just could never lend itself to the kind of imaginative staging that I got from my university's staging of Beauty and the Beast. Not with Flounder's "SpongeBob" shoutout.

I totally LOVE what you said! I wish I could have seen your university Beauty and the Beast! You know, even though I know Disney lends itself to high art like you said, I do think Disney films themselves are high art! I mean, Pinocchio, Fanstasia, Sleeping Beauty, and even the original Best Picture-nominated Beauty and the Beast! And Cinderella and The Little Mermaid gasp who said that?!

I saw a live capture of the Broadway Beauty and the Beast on YouTube with, apparently, the original Annie as Belle. The ending with "Home Reprise" and the Beast dying actually made me cry.

There's a Newsies proshot, probs on Disney+ now, probs with Jeremy Jordan, too. I still need to watch that.

Little Mermaid needed better visuals (i.e. wires instead of roller skating skirts with tails) and perhaps a better book. The SpongeBob reference was not in the original Broadway book, though! It was the in the revisal, with the Ursula song "I Want the Good Times Back" changed to "Daddy's Little Angel". The first incarnation was probably better, and I liked the even earlier ideas I heard during the process with the Vanessa song, "All Good Things Must End", which was brilliant! I think if you can find the old Little Mermaid Broadway thread and the links and files in it aren't deleted, you may have a treasure trove on the making of the musical.

[PatchofBlue]

It was such a great production!

I agree that, yeah, Disney films ought to be counted as "high art." The New York Times just did a countdown of the 100 best movies of the 21st century, and not a single Disney film made the list. (Three Pixar movies did, but the very predictable ones that have always kind of fed the elites [Ratatouille, UP, Wall-E].) And that kind of division has always felt so artificial to me. Like, there was absolutely room for Zootopia on that list.

The Little Mermaid Broadway experiment just got sloppier as it went on. The demo tracks teased some really good ideas that never came to fruition. I think "If Only" works much better as a duet between Ariel and Eric than a full quartet.

I don't know what was on their minds during that whole process, but I know that even through previews, they got some pretty hard feedback about certain things that just weren't working, and they just dug their heels in. And then after the Broadway run got muted reception and they had the opportunity to make revisions, they just made the whole thing that much dumber.

[Disney's Divinity]

1. Aladdin
2. The Lion King
3. Mary Poppins
4. Frozen
5. Beauty and the Beast
6. The Little Mermaid
7. Newsies
8. Tarzan

Aladdin has been very lucky. It was always an easy fourth among the Fab 4 for me, but as far as media beyond the original films go, I'd say it had the best TV series, best sequels, best remake, and best musical of the Fab 4 properties.

[Disney Duster]

I am in FULL agreement with what PatchofBlue and Disney's Divinity last said. Bravo.