DVDizzy Forum

While listening to The Lion King cast recording and browsing old Broadway posts on this board it really hit me how difficult The Little Mermaid will be for them to do. It's in devolepment, but think about it. As great as the story is and as wonderfully showlike as the music is, this is a story of a person who can't walk in the first act and can't talk (or sing) in the second. If they pull this off WDTP is to be commended.

I think "Little Mermaid" on Broadway would be really great, as would be "Aladdin" and "Pocahontas"!
I also wish they would bring the Berlin stage presentation of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" to Broadway.

That would be so great Little Mermaid on Broadway.
I can't wait.
Yay...
It would be a big challenge though.

The Little Mermaid on Broadway? That'll be a toughie. It would be kind of cool to see on Broadway though. I've seen Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King on Broadway numerous times (I've stopped counting how many times I've seen them). I'd like to see a Broadway production of Mulan or maybe Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or even Cinderella!

First off, I'd like to say that I've searched and there is no topic on TLM Broadway production. If I overlooked something though, Luke or any other mod, feel free to merge this with another topic. If not, welcome to a new topic! Yay!

TLM on Broadway has been so long in the works with Mary Poppins, Tarzan, Hunchback...the problem with TLM was staging a show that mostly takes place under water.

Animated News Weekly had an update on the production:

Broadway.com wrote:Disney Theatricals has chosen the director for its in-development stage musical of The Little Mermaid. Broadway neophyte Francesca Zambello will helm the production, which will feature scenic design by George Tsypin, according to a production spokesperson.
Zambello previously worked with Disney on Aladdin, which plays in the company's theme parks. She is well known in Europe for her work in both the opera and theater worlds.

(later in the article)

The Little Mermaid, based on a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale, centers on a mermaid, Ariel, who longs to meet a human prince. The popular 1989 Disney movie featured songs by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman. The stage version of the animated film has been in development for years. Innovative director/choreographer Matthew Bourne was originally supposed to be in charge, but left the project because of creative differences with Disney. In 2003 a reading of the piece, starring Kerry Butler as Ariel and Emily Skinner as the evil Ursula, occurred without a director in place for the full-scale production.

Full story: http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=502193

I would looovvveee to see The Little Mermaid on Broadway!!! That would be wicked cool! With the underwarter stuff, maybe they'll do effects with light, like how they do it in MGM, only it would probably have to be much more advanced. The only thing they need to come up with is how to have Ariel's hair move so swiftly. A fan would just blow her hair around in a weird way. I can't wait to see what they come up with for this.

JaneMccoy wrote:I would looovvveee to see The Little Mermaid on Broadway!!! That would be wicked cool! With the underwarter stuff, maybe they'll do effects with light, like how they do it in MGM, only it would probably have to be much more advanced. The only thing they need to come up with is how to have Ariel's hair move so swiftly. A fan would just blow her hair around in a weird way. I can't wait to see what they come up with for this.

Oh my gosh you totaly took the words right out of mouth. I didnt even know they were thinking about making the TLM a broadway show. I knew about the the others but this I am sure would turn out aswome. I mean the way I figure it is if they can do it for beauty in the beast. And place the TLM on ice they can pull this off. Thanks for the update Kram Nebuer.

wow i always thought i'd love to see little mermaid on broadway but i thought they could never do it. i hope it actually gets on stage!

The Little Mermaid is coming to Broadway. Great news! But is it coming to the West End as well...

Here in Belgium we already had a "The Little Mermaid" broadway show. Non-Disney though. All the actors were hanging on cables to represent the underwater world

Pretty neat concept to bring TLM as a play on Broadway... maybe they'll feature the stills or have a small section dedicated to the show when the Platinum Edition of the film comes out in 2006. And maybe we'll get to hear some songs written specifically for the play (which might mean a new animated sequence added on to the DVD).

But will it be as good as the film that inspired it? We'll just have to wait and see...

DreamerQ18 wrote:

JaneMccoy wrote:I would looovvveee to see The Little Mermaid on Broadway!!! That would be wicked cool! With the underwarter stuff, maybe they'll do effects with light, like how they do it in MGM, only it would probably have to be much more advanced. The only thing they need to come up with is how to have Ariel's hair move so swiftly. A fan would just blow her hair around in a weird way. I can't wait to see what they come up with for this.

Oh my gosh you totaly took the words right out of mouth.

Wow.......My thoughts exactally!

Under the Sea. The costumes and music would be fantastic! All of the characters are so colorful in the movie. It'll be interesting to see how Disney would create an undersea atmosphere in a theater.

I think that the "fins" should be tight skirts with fin-like ruffles at the end. They'll do some flying on cables and some walking. Ursula's skirt will have tentacles at the bottom.

<a href=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/92990.html target=blank>Playbill.com</a> reported in May:

Doug Wright, who won a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize for I Am My Own Wife, has penned a new book for the stage version of the hit Disney film "The Little Mermaid."

Variety reports that Wright has replaced David Ives as the musical's book writer, and after an internal reading last week, Disney Theatricals has approved Wright's new script. The Little Mermaid, the industry paper reports, should arrive on Broadway in about two year's time. As previously reported, Francesca Zambello will direct the production, which features several new tunes by composer Alan Menken.

Variety also announced that two other Disney musicals are on their way to Broadway: Tarzan, which should arrive in spring 2006, and Mary Poppins the following season. Poppins is currently playing London's Prince Edward Theatre.

Doug Wright won the 2004 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize for I Am My Own Wife. For his play Quills, he won an Obie Award and a Kesselring Award. The screen adaptation of Quills was named Best Picture by the National Board of Review and was nominated for three Academy Awards. Wright's other plays include The Stonewater Rapture, Interrogating the Nude, watbanaland, Buzzsaw Berkeley and Unwrap Your Candy.

This means that Mermaid will probably be showing up on Bway around six months or so after months the Platinum DVD of the movie arrives...I wonder if they will take the oppertunity to do some early crosspromotion with it? I found the Bway featurette on TLK very interesting and would like a look at how they're going about doing Mermaid.

What distresses me is that the DVD probably won't feature any footage of the Broadway musical! Hopefully they will show rehearsal footage but I doubt it. BEAST and LION KING had Broadway documentaries, I'd REALLY miss it on the MERMAID DVD.

I'm upset they didn't include footage from the London MARY POPPINS musical on the MARY POPPINS DVD.

Very interesting. The underwater scenes seem difficult to create and will be interesting to watch. And I heard that the same actress who played Belle will also play Ariel. I can't remember her name at the moment. Personally, I think that The Nightmare Before Christmas or Hunchback should be on Broadway too.

Kerry Butler did the first workshop as Ariel. Celia Keenan-Bolger was Ariel in the latest workshop.

THE LION KING seemed difficult to do on Broadway, but Disney did it. Or should I say, Julie Taymor did it.

TARZAN and MARY POPPINS comes to Broadway in 2006, then THE LITTE MERMAID in 2007.

SuicideSeaside wrote:Very interesting. The underwater scenes seem difficult to create and will be interesting to watch. And I heard that the same actress who played Belle will also play Ariel. I can't remember her name at the moment. Personally, I think that The Nightmare Before Christmas or Hunchback should be on Broadway too.

I remember reading here or some news website before about TLM musical (*see bottom of post). It said that same reason you mentioned (underwater scenes) was one of the reasons it has been taking so long for Disney to put TLM on Broadway. Though once the show begins, I'd love to see how it is done.

My only hope for the show is that they don't use the same idea DIsney uses for its Finding Nemo Halloween costumes and the Finding Nemo on Ice costumes (though getting around this for this type of show is impossible)!

Hunchback tried to be on stage in Germany and for some reason it didn't work. It'd be awesome to see it on Broadway because it has GREAT music! Perhaps it could have the darker themes the original story possesses...Also Nightmare before Christmas would be great too since its also full of great music and there'd be PLENTY of ppl (even non musical loving ppl) who'd go and see it.

MovieMusicals.Net...what else has Kerry Butler been in and do you have any idea who Emily Skinner is, who supposedly is playing Ursula?

*I was wondering why this TLM musical topic seemed so familiar:

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... ht=musical

Shouldn't these two threads be merged or is this thread different enough to deserve its own thread?

Kram Nebuer wrote:

SuicideSeaside wrote:Very interesting. The underwater scenes seem difficult to create and will be interesting to watch. And I heard that the same actress who played Belle will also play Ariel. I can't remember her name at the moment. Personally, I think that The Nightmare Before Christmas or Hunchback should be on Broadway too.

I remember reading here or some news website before about TLM musical (*see bottom of post). It said that same reason you mentioned (underwater scenes) was one of the reasons it has been taking so long for Disney to put TLM on Broadway. Though once the show begins, I'd love to see how it is done.

My only hope for the show is that they don't use the same idea DIsney uses for its Finding Nemo Halloween costumes and the Finding Nemo on Ice costumes (though getting around this for this type of show is impossible)!

Hunchback tried to be on stage in Germany and for some reason it didn't work. It'd be awesome to see it on Broadway because it has GREAT music! Perhaps it could have the darker themes the original story possesses...Also Nightmare before Christmas would be great too since its also full of great music and there'd be PLENTY of ppl (even non musical loving ppl) who'd go and see it.

MovieMusicals.Net...what else has Kerry Butler been in and do you have any idea who Emily Skinner is, who supposedly is playing Ursula?

*I was wondering why this TLM musical topic seemed so familiar:

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... ht=musical

Shouldn't these two threads be merged or is this thread different enough to deserve its own thread?

Errrrrr. I think Hunchback did work in Germany cuz it was on for 3 years (1999 - 2002). Here's a great link. ^_^ http://www.alphalink.com.au/~paga/hunchback/

The Nightmare Before Christmas has a cult at my highschool. LOL All the "goth" kids sport the merchandise. I love the soundtrack. I listen to it everyday on my iPod...as well as Hunchback's music.