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Chicago Tribune.com wrote:Mary Zimmerman will premiere her new stage-musical version of "The Jungle Book"in Chicago, as part of the Goodman Theatre’s 2012-13 subscription season, the Chicago theater announced.

"The Jungle Book," a Goodman production enhanced by the participation of Disney Theatricals, will premiere in June 2013, and will include the famous songs from the 1967 movie (“The Bare Necessities,” “I Wanna Be Like You,” “That’s What Friends Are For”), mostly penned by Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman, as well as additional material that Zimmerman is adapting from the original Mowgli stories by Rudyard Kipling. "It's an iconic American property,” Zimmerman said. “That’s what makes it exciting and intimidating.”

In a statement, Disney Theatricals President Thomas M. Schumacher noted that the company had “entrusted” Zimmerman, whom he called “a great American artist,” with one of its most beloved and best-known properties. Zimmerman currently is credited as both writer and director. No other collaborators nor casting was announced, although Zimmerman has generally worked with such Chicago-based designers as Mara Blumenfeld, Daniel Ostling and T.J. Gerckens. In an interview Monday, Zimmerman said she planned to infuse new music with Indian roots with the familiar Disney numbers (Zimmerman also has access to the songs that were written for the film, but not used).

“It’s a similar challenge to ‘Candide,’ ” Zimmerman said. “There is a movie that has a certain tonality, and then there is the original source material that has something different. The question is how to combine the two.”

David Cromer, the longtime Chicago director and MacArthur Foundation “genius” grantee, will also makes his Goodman directing debut this September, directing Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth,’ the show that Cromer was supposed to be do on Broadway during the 2010 season, before producer Scott Rudin moved on to other projects. On Broadway, the stars were to be Nicole Kidman and James Franco. There was no word Monday as to whether movie stars would be appearing in Chicago (Rudin is not involved in the Chicago production but retains the New York rights).

The Goodman also will produce the first Chicago production of Jon Robin Baitz’ hit Broadway play, “Other Desert Cities.” Henry Wishcamper, demonstrably a rising star at the Goodman, will direct the Chicago premiere in January.

In April, 2013, Chuck Smith will direct the first Chicago production of “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark,” a comedy about issues of race in early Hollywood, by Lynn Nottage. One slot in the Goodman’s Albert Theatre, slated to be a Robert Falls project, has yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, three new works are on the Owen Theatre season. Victory Gardens Theater artistic director Chay Yew will direct Dael Orlandersmith in the solo performance piece “Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men,” a co-production with the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The piece will premiere in Berkeley in May and will move to the Goodman’s Owen Theatre in September. Evan Cabnet will direct the world premiere of Christopher Shinn’s new play “Teddy Ferrara” (a gay-rights themed piece) in February, and Quiara Alegria Hudes, the book writer for “In the Heights,” will premiere her latest play, “The Happiest Song Plays Last” at the Goodman in April, 2013. It’s a piece about two cousins, one an Iraqi war veteran and the other a kitchen-table political activist, set to a soundtrack of traditional Puerto Rican folk music.

cjones5@tribune.com

Twitter @ChrisJonesTrib

singerguy04 wrote:Neat! I live right outside Chicago, so I'll go check it out once it opens!

TsWade2 wrote:Before I decided to get excited about it even though right now I'm excited about Newsies, is Jungle Book musical coming to Broadway or is it for theatrical license?

He said the company has also begun work on two new musicals adapted from Disney films: “The Jungle Book” will be directed by Christopher Gattelli with a book by Rajiv Joseph and new songs by Richard Sherman. And “Hercules,” directed by Lear deBessonet, will be written by Robert Horn, Alan Menken and David Zippel, expanded from a version that ran last year at New York’s Delacorte Theater under the auspices of the Public Theater.

Disney's Divinity wrote:but this film is a beloved classic and deserves its bite at the apple, too.

DisneyFan09 wrote:

Disney's Divinity wrote:but this film is a beloved classic and deserves its bite at the apple, too.

To be honest, while there's definitively love for The Jungle Book (since it's an important film in Disney's history, after all), I feel that people have now began to rather look down on it lately. I've noticed how several users and reviewers have the tendency to pick on it and regard it as overrated and not deserving it's place. While I can somewhat see it now, it seems like it's mostly stuck with an overrated-staple. However, I do have a soft spot for The Jungle Book, nonetheless. It was among my favorites during my childhood and it's a breezy, fun, happy-go-lucky film. While my adult years has made realize that screenplay is it's weakest part (since it is somewhat poorly structured), I do have a affection for it, regardless. So I'm glad that it's (finally) getting a stage version.

JeanGreyForever wrote:Wasn't this film basically The Lion King or Frozen of its time? I've never been too fond of it and I prefer what I've seen or heard from the Bill Peet darker take on it. But I do think with Walt's death, the way the film came out was probably the way to go. It does seem though that this film is a perennial favorite of those who grew up with it but it's not nearly as beloved by newer generations. I wonder if the success of films like The Lion King and Tarzan has also eclipsed The Jungle Book in the eyes of the current generation and the one preceding it. But like you and I have discussed, it's still the most successful movie ever in Germany and I think Sweden.

DisneyFan09 wrote:

JeanGreyForever wrote:Wasn't this film basically The Lion King or Frozen of its time? I've never been too fond of it and I prefer what I've seen or heard from the Bill Peet darker take on it. But I do think with Walt's death, the way the film came out was probably the way to go. It does seem though that this film is a perennial favorite of those who grew up with it but it's not nearly as beloved by newer generations. I wonder if the success of films like The Lion King and Tarzan has also eclipsed The Jungle Book in the eyes of the current generation and the one preceding it. But like you and I have discussed, it's still the most successful movie ever in Germany and I think Sweden.

Well, at least The Jungle Book was a huge success at it's time, nonetheless. At least it's safe to say that The Lion King has eclipsed it, but I'm not sure about Tarzan. While there are definitively some who prefers Tarzan to The Jungle Book, at least Tarzan has been stuck with an underrated-staple lately (despite how it was far from underrated when it was first released). But yeah, at least The Jungle Book was a huge success in Germany.