The reason the Mary Poppins musical is the way it is is because Cameron Mackintosh was the driving force behind it, not Disney. He was the one who got the rights to it from PL Travers before she died and she said no Americans could be involved in the creative team, the Sherman Brothers couldn't write new songs for it, and it had to be more like the books.
Was PL Travers alive long enough to see a performance of Mary Poppins? I wonder if Cameron Mackintosh's product was closer to what PL Travers wanted to the film to be as we know she really disliked what Disney did with the film. I get her point, but I really do love Disney's treatment so much.
I liked Tarzan despite better judgement, I always thought there was enough there to keep me entertainment several times. So my vote for worst is The Little Mermaid, which was just a disaster, lacking taste, creativity, coherence, and dignity.
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
"And don't get me started on that stupid "singing princess contest" nonsense; just awful!w
(I'm sure most that most of you have gathered that I really don't like The Little Mermaid. I don't even think I ever liked the original movie; give me a goodadaptation of the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and THEN I'll be happy!)"
Does 'Once on This Island' count as a good adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's story? It may be based on a novel by Rosa Guy, but it still follows the outline of Andersen's story pretty closely...
ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "Was PL Travers alive long enough to see a performance of Mary Poppins? I wonder if Cameron Mackintosh's product was closer to what PL Travers wanted to the film to be as we know she really disliked what Disney did with the film. I get her point, but I really do love Disney's treatment so much."
Travers died in 1996 and the first workshop (I believe) was held in 2003. I'm curious what she would think of it and the upcoming movie.
From Wikipedia:
"In 1993, theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh met P.L. Travers and acquired the rights to develop a stage play adaptation of her Mary Poppins books. She only agreed to a stage production as long as the creators were all English, and no one who had worked on the film. She died in 1996. In 2001, Mackintosh and the head of Disney Theatrical Thomas Schumacher opened talks on a possible collaboration, so that the stage play would be able to use the songs from the Disney film. With both sides committed, a preliminary outline of the show was written in 2002."
BritCrit said: "Does 'Once on This Island' count as a good adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's story? It may bebased on a novel by Rosa Guy, but it still follows the outline of Andersen's story pretty closely..."
I know it's based on a novel as well, but when I rave about it to friends and they ask what it's about, I ALWAYS put it in terms they would understand... "It's basically The Little Mermaid but instead of mermaids and humans, they are from different social classes. Also it stays true to the REAL ending from the Fairy Tale."