New Disney Broadway Plays- Includes Hunchback!

[ChrisLyne]

Interesting article.

Loved parts of it - Hunchback finally coming to Broadway! Man I'd better get saving again!

Unsure about some - Peter and the Starcatchers? Never read the book but as someone else said, isn't this a bit like doing Ariel's Beginning rather than TLM?

Disliked other bits - Animated fairy tales aren't good for Broadway? So Beauty and the Beast just ran 13 years on luck then? It may have only had mixed/negative reviews (in fact I remember reading that it actually got worse reviews than TLM when it opened) but it's proved itself long term and Mermaid will most likely do the same. Yes there has to be an expansion of the plot/songs, but that doesn't mean it can't or shouldn't be done. Look at BATB, TLK, TLK and the German version of HOND! All great shows created from a "74 minute haiku".

I can see why they may say fairy tales are similar as they often do have the same basic themes. But look at TLM, BATB and Aladdin - all three have the similar basic themes but are vastly different films and would be vastly different stage shows! Ok I'm biased as Ashman and Menken's films are my favorite Disney films and I really want Aladdin on Broadway, but I think it's different enough that it would work well!

I think maybe they're just being cautious after Tarzan closed and TLM received some negative reviews (though they shouldn't be as it's a great show and as I said, BATB recieved worse reviews and ran 13 years). Hopefully HOND will get both the audience (like BATB and TLM) and the critics (like TLK) and they'll reconsider looking at the animated classics for more shows.

But Hunchback on Broadway is the best news I've heard in ages!

[Kossage]

I'm excited about THOND. The German version was beautiful (the lengthy "Grand Finale" track in particular was mindblowing with all that thematic development), and I hope the English equivalent will be as good. I'm just worried whether Disney is going to censor stuff from the German version in order to make the dark story more "kid-frienly" for the US audiences. It'd be a shame if the story lost some of its dramatic potential and if any of the songs were cut. Only time will tell, I guess, but I hope that they will respect the story's integrity if they're going to make any changes to it.

About TLM: I, like UmbrellaFish, also thought that TLM storyline was about something else than just a love story. There are a lot of psychological elements in the story with the theme of growing up and femininity etc. However, many of the new songs from the broadway version are very nice. I just can't get enough of "If Only" and "Her Voice" among other things. Menken's touch is still as magical as ever.

[Elladorine]

I would love to hear the songs for the Hunchback musical; I've always found it interesting to listen to music in other languages and I'd be interested to see a darker take on the Disney version as well as teh new material for it. And yes, I've read the original book.

I've been dying to see the Lion King musical for the longest time, I love most of the new songs (especially Nala's) and what they added to Scar just freaks me out. I'm also in love with how they handled the style of the puppetry and would love to see it first-hand.

I actually hadn't head much about the Little Mermaid musical until this thread, although I heard a demo of If Only quite a while back (which got me all excited). I've been meaning to pick up the cast recording and I'm sad to hear that it hasn't been well-received.

[Prince Edward]

Finally a new movie for Alan Menken to musicalize! The way he used songs in the Disney-films introduced Broadway into the world of Disney and it is only fitting that Disney goes full circle and that Menken's movies will be staged on Broadway.

With Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and now The Hunchback of Notre Dame I do hope that Disney will continue adapting the Menken-musicals for stage so that one day will see Aladdin, Pocahontas, Hercules and possibly Enchanted on Broadway.

Other Disney-movies like Snow White, Cinderella, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Sleeping Beauty are not influenced as much by Broadway and musicals as the Disney-movies made in the 80s/90s (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan), so I think it would have been best if Disney made all the movies made in the 90s into Broadway-musicals before they gave one of the older Disney-movies the Broadway-treatment.

I do hope that they will keep the ending used in the German stage-version of the musical.

Why are Disney Theatrical making musicals out of other things than Disney-movies? If it is because they have plans to make all their greatest classics into Broadway-shows by the time of the next 50 years or so, then I can understand that they don't won't to "use all their movies" to quickly.

[Prince Edward]

No matter how good they are Disney-musicals on Broadway will get bad critics, because they are made by Disney and because the critics hate the idea of taking a Disney-movie and make it into a Broadway-show.

You must all read this article published by Time Magazine: "The Little Mermaid: In Defense of Disney". Time Magazine comments; "It was one of the most ravishing things I have ever seen on a Broadway stage." The article has many good points about how unfair the critics are towards Disney.
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0 ... 64,00.html

"THE LITTLE MERMAID: IN DEFENSE OF DISNEY
Once again, we face the Disney problem. Or rather, I face the Disney problem. With every new show that Disney has presented on Broadway since its acclaimed breakthrough hit The Lion King, I have to fight back the urge to review the reviewers instead of the show. The trouble, to oversimplify just a bit: I like most Disney shows; the critics hate 'em.

The complaints have become as predictable as the patter for the villain's henchmen in a Disney cartoon: Disney shows are too big, too commercial, too over-marketed — not real theater so much as bloated "theme park" extravaganzas that only children and undiscriminating tourists could love (though the criticism of Disney's last show, Mary Poppins, was somewhat different; the critics found it too heavy, not theme-parky enough.) Disney's latest offering — The Little Mermaid, based on Disney's 1989 animated hit, which opened at Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre last week — has received the usual fusillade. "Washed Up on Broadway," and "Run for the Lifeboats," ran the New York tabloid headlines. The Times' Ben Brantley, the Scar of the grump brigade, said he "loathed" the whole wretched thing, including even the one aspect of Disney shows that usually wins a grudging cheer, its scenic design. "The whole enterprise," the Times critic sniffed, "is soaked in that sparkly garishness that only a very young child — or possibly a tackiness-worshiping drag queen — might find pretty."

That sort of thing makes me wonder whether the critics are actually sitting in the same theater I am. In fact, the show is notably lacking in sparkles, and garish is just about the last word I would use to describe the subtle and airy visual design. A gorgeous color palette of pastel blues, oranges and pinks. Translucent, lighter-than-air panels, billowing plastic waves, scepter-like deep-sea sculptures, which manage to convey not just one undersea world but a host of neighborhoods within that world. Costumes that manage to be both lush and witty — the exaggerated, bunched-crinoline hoop skirts on the court ladies, for example, made me laugh out loud. All in all, it was one of the most ravishing things I have ever seen on a Broadway stage. For the record, I am not a drag queen.

But The Little Mermaid is more than just a visual feast. In fact, I think it comes closer than any Disney show since The Lion King to combining story, song and inventive staging into something that lifts our spirits and renews our faith that theater for "children" can be enjoyed by everyone. Acclaimed opera director Francesca Zambello, doing her first Broadway show, can't match Julie Taymor's innovative staging in The Lion King (but then, who can — not even Taymor since then), but she has the same inventive, less-is-more, determinedly theatrical approach. Instead of wires and pulleys or complicated stage effects to simulate the undersea life, she simply equips her fishy characters with wheelies, which enable them, when they rock back on their heels, to glide across the stage with an ease that nicely approximates aquatic movement. And for the couple of times when characters actually do float — swimming up to the surface or sinking to the ocean floor — the effort is largely hidden, the effect breathtaking.

The Little Mermaid doesn't capture all the charms of the 1989 movie, which really launched Disney's latter-day renaissance in animation. The story about Ariel, a mermaid who longs to be human and trades in her voice for a chance at the prince of her dreams, is fleshed out with some uninspired back-story for the prince. The film's great, calypso-style "Under the Sea" number doesn't have quite the bounce it did on screen. And Ariel's Jiminy Cricket-like sidekick, the Jamaican-accented Sebastian the crab, isn't nearly as funny when robbed of the film's witty animation (despite Tituss Burgess's best efforts in the role).

But the story itself has more romantic resonance than some of the more self-important Disney tales. Hans Christian Andersen gets a lot of the credit for that, but book writer Doug Wright (Grey Gardens, I Am My Own Wife) at least managed not to screw it up. Composer Alan Menken (with Glenn Slater replacing the late Howard Ashman as lyricist) has added several catchy new songs to his already fine score; the Broadway-razzmatazz number in which the Ursula, the sea witch (a sharp Sherie Renee Scott), celebrates her evil ways, "I Want the Good Times Back," would have made the Devil in Damn Yankees jealous. The young newcomer who plays Ariel, Sierra Boggess, gets to show off a pretty voice and, once she loses it, some pretty good pantomime skills too.

Yes, it's a fairy tale, aimed chiefly at children. But would it be rude to ask why Broadway's fairy tales for adults (Oklahoma!, Guys and Dolls) can become musical theater classics while the ones directed at kids become critical dartboards? Or to point out that most of the children's theater I've seen in the past few years has had more theatrical verve and originality than most of the serious stuff I've had to sit through on Broadway? Or to wish, just once, that Disney might get a little credit for recruiting some of the most adventurous theater artists in the world to bring new ideas in staging and storytelling to a mass theater audience, kids and adults alike?

Or am I still trapped in a fairy tale?"

[UmbrellaFish]

Personally, I wasn't surprised at all that they chose TLM or TLK, considering their popularity and potential money-making ability. TLM Musical, regardless of its actual theatrical value, will always be making money off of parents who take their little girls to see it (that's the major demographic they're counting on). And there's most likely a desire to overcome the "challenge" that each film presents as well. The animal kingdom and the underwater world provide so many [colorful] possibilities that could be wonderfully interpreted onstage. So, I'm not surprised that it was chosen and I still think it's very much along lines of B&tB (with much happening before "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and much happening after it that could fill a 2 Act play).

Oh, and I can understand that. It does make sense it terms of popularity, but I just can't watch the film and say, "That was meant to be on Broadway." We have different opinions on BATB, but that's for a different thread.

Well, it is really (which is why I consider Eric more of a figurehead for Ariel's interest in the land than an actual love interest), but its infused with classic elements that make it into more than that.

About TLM: I, like UmbrellaFish, also thought that TLM storyline was about something else than just a love story. There are a lot of psychological elements in the story with the theme of growing up and femininity etc. However, many of the new songs from the broadway version are very nice. I just can't get enough of "If Only" and "Her Voice" among other things. Menken's touch is still as magical as ever.

The theme that you pick-up or relate to in a movie, book, play, ect. has something to do with yourself and your personality. I guess I care less about romance, and more about putting myself in a good position in life, following my dreams. It's not that I don't want to find love, it's just not a top priority...

Unsure about some - Peter and the Starcatchers? Never read the book but as someone else said, isn't this a bit like doing Ariel's Beginning rather than TLM?

Now that I think about it, Peter and the Starcatchers is in a similar position relative to Wicked. Wicked is based on a novel that is a prequel to another novel. Peter and the Starcatchers is based on a novel that is a prequel to another novel/movie. So, if Wicked is on stage, it's not too surprising that Peter and the Starcatchers will be.

[Ariel'sprince]

Anyway then maybe another movie can work as a musical,Aladdin whould be perfact like Jack Skellington said.
Disney Duster-That can work,it also should be that the morden people learns to be happy and she brings enchantment and happiness there,that how it should be and I think that how the movie is and should be.
blackcauldron85-Yay I think it is a word.
Escapay-I don't like Hunchback for many reason,I might dislike Hunchback II but still.
Atlantica-Maybe they just don't like the musical? (Well,I like it but I"m not really exited for it because I can't see it,for now).

[Sotiris]

Escapay-I don't like Hunchback for many reasons

I might dislike Hunchback II but still

Who doesn't?

[Disney Duster]

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.

I don't understand how what you wrote is different from the film...?

Some people view it as cartoons in an alternate fantasy universe getting transported to the real world. Hence the animated parts, and people thinking it needs to look animated on Broadway. But the animation can just be thought of as a stylization, think of Dorothy going from black and white to color as she enters OZ.

[blackcauldron85]

Oh, okay- I get it now!

[Disney Duster]

Thanks Ames (love your nickname). Well, that's what I think about the film. Even Disney officially said Giselle goes from 2-d to 3-d physically and in personality. But I hate thinking of the film that way, and the film leaves room to think of it in Wizard of Oz terms.

[blackcauldron85]

Thanks, Mike...I didn't make it up...my friends have been calling me that forever, and Albert has for...a little less than forever.

I don't even know how to describe my thoughts on Andalasia vs. the real world, but maybe we're on the same page...?

[Disney Duster]

Oh Ames, I just like typing your nickname! It would love it if we thought of Enchanted the same way. I hate it when people think Giselle was flat 2D and she changes to 3D, and she should notice it. That's ruining Disney magic in my book. But that may be what the filmakers were intently doing. I just pretend she knows she changed, but not how she changed. I actually wish she didn't look at herself like she physically changed at all.

But mainly, I was refering to the techincal difficulties. No more Vanessa, no more Ursula climax, no more "Ariel breaking the surface". But what do we get? A contest, a flood in the castle, and the last thing, I don't know. If things had been like that in the movie, my username would be UmbrellaMan (has an okay ring to it, really...). I realize some things would have to change, like "Ariel breaking the surface", but it's a shame that technical (and I suppose casting?) difficulties took away the climax and Vanessa.

Ariel does break the surface. After she transforms in Ursula's lair, the waves from the top are lowered, they go down, so the waves are on the ground. She comes from somewhere on the stage and lies on the ground and does her hair flip like she just reached the surface.

[blackcauldron85]

I hate it when people think Giselle was flat 2D and she changes to 3D, and she should notice it. That's ruining Disney magic in my book...I just pretend she knows she changed, but not how she changed. I actually wish she didn't look at herself like she physically changed at all.

Yes, I agree! She knows that she's in a different kind of place, and that people are different, but she can't quite put her finger on it, I guess.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Good to hear about Hunchback. Just keep the original book ending and kill the gargoyles and it will be perfect.

Newsies 'aint gonna happen despite it being an obvious choice on paper (large cult following, not special effects heavy etc.), the fact that the movie flopped would make it hard for anyone to have the confidence produce it. yes it's been brought up on the audio commentary (where they mentioned issues with casting and handling the little brats required for the show) for the movie but remember, Disney doesn't care about what they made yesterday, let alone 15+ years ago. We can still dream however...

Also, Bedknobs and Broomsticks would have been a nice choice, and I will forever dream of seeing The Happiest Millionaire on stage (hey, the movie was based on a non musical stage show) which would also be exciting and like Newsies not require alot of special effects or expanding of the story. The problem would be it's appeal to children, but if more clever dialouge and songs were written it could be great entertainment for adults (remember when Disney used to care about entertaining adults?)

But Bedknobs, the possibilities are tremendous. What about black light effects for the Subsitiutiary locomotion scenes (have the armour in black light paint, and performers wear back clothes - it's been done before)? Complex puppets for the Isle of Nambumbu? And of course, lots of flying on wire and psychedelic colours for the bed traveling scenes. And the Portabello Road street dance? Why haven't you done this Disney!

[Ariel'sprince]

Oh Ames, I just like typing your nickname! It would love it if we thought of Enchanted the same way. I hate it when people think Giselle was flat 2D and she changes to 3D, and she should notice it. That's ruining Disney magic in my book. But that may be what the fimakers were intently doing. I just pretend she knows she changed, but not how she changed. I actually wish she didn't look at herself like she physically changed at all.

Yeah,you and Amy are right,and I don't think that she went from flat to full at all and if anyone does think so,I"ll ignore it.

[KubrickFan]

I really hope Hunchback will become a success, and that Joop van den Ende will bring it to the Netherlands (why he didn't do it when it played in Germany is beyond me, it was successful, wasn't it?).
Also, could anybody tell me what the dark, downbeat ending of the German version was? And how is the overall tone of the musical, compared to the film?

[Prince Edward]

I really hope Hunchback will become a success, and that Joop van den Ende will bring it to the Netherlands (why he didn't do it when it played in Germany is beyond me, it was successful, wasn't it?).
Also, could anybody tell me what the dark, downbeat ending of the German version was? And how is the overall tone of the musical, compared to the film?

Esmeralda dies in the arms of Quasimodo (fortunately she is not raped by Frollo like I believe she was in the book), and Quasimodo then kills Frollo by throwing him down from the top of Notre Dame. Then Quasimodo comes out from the cathedral and into the world so to speak, while the ensemble is singing "the world is cruel, the world is wicked"... So the overall tone is much more serious/dramatic/dark compared to the movie (not that the movie was not dark, beeing a Disney-film and all). The comic role of the Gargoyles is minimalized as well.

[KubrickFan]

Esmeralda dies in the arms of Quasimodo (fortunately she is not raped by Frollo like I believe she was in the book), and Quasimodo then kills Frollo by throwing him down from the top of Notre Dame. Then Quasimodo comes out from the cathedral and into the world so to speak, while the ensemble is singing "the world is cruel, the world is wicked"... So the overall tone is much more serious/dramatic/dark compared to the movie (not that the movie was not dark, beeing a Disney-film and all). The comic role of the Gargoyles is minimalized as well.

Holy cr*p, I definitely want to see that, it sounds amazing .

[Disney Duster]

OH NOOOOOOOOS!!!!!

Well, it's from Jim Hill, and he specifies it's a rumour. But...

Speaking of the stage version of Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" ... There's a rumor currently making the rounds that Disney Theatrical has asked Craig Lucas to rewrite James Lapine's book for this stage show. With the hope that a somewhat lighter take on this material would then be more palatable to a Broadway audience. But as to whether this means that the stage version of Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" will actually be bowing in the Big Apple anytime soon ... Who can say.

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/ ... y-for.aspx