Backstage With Disney on BroadwayCelebrating 20 Years tonight on ABC- Page 2

[jm10112]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 9:27pm

@ShakinBaconGirl didn't put hear Elton John say that he thinks it could be as successful as the Lion King? lol

[Melissa25]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 9:30pm

I really enjoyed watching this show tonight. Happy 20th Anniversary Disney on Broadway! Can't believe it's been 20 years. I thought they did a good job recapturing some of the wonder of the Lion King and Mary Poppins tonight. It was great to see Ashley Brown. Wish she would get cast in one of the Encores productions. I'd like to see her again sooner rather than later.

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 9:36pm

I did hear that and unless Frozen is Wicked 2.0......NOPE. For the record, I think Disney is entirely capable of getting Frozen to work on Broadway. They have had harder challenges. But I just fear they are going to slap it on Broadway as fast as they can.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 9:37pm

"Aida certainly wasn't a failure."

I was talking about The Little Mermaid and Tarzan.

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 10:55pm

I thought it was a nice advertisement for Disney musicals. ::shrug:: I liked hearing Ashley Brown sing Feed the Birds, as I find her voice to be heavenly.

That Frozen on Broadway Twitter feed isn't really for Frozen on Broadway. It's a a fan page. I can guarantee that if it was real, Disney would make sure the blur "Twitter official" check mark was on it.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 11:01pm

I actually preferred the 30 minute Galavant infomercial ABC here aired a bit earlier. It still looks mostly dumb rather than funny, but there was a fair amount of Joshua Sasse half naked to keep me interested. (I didn't know Disney/ABC's new plan is to air it over four weeks as an hour show instead of 8, 30 minute shows.)

Admittedly I turned the Broadway special off when Darren Criss came on to sing--so apparently I missed the SHOCKING Frozen announcement.

[bdn223]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 11:11pm

The magic involved in a stage adaptation of Frozen would not be the challenge. Use air cannons and inflatables for Elsa's breakdown at the ball, building an ice palace would be comparable to pride rock, use a large scale puppet for the Ice Monster Elsa creates alla the Monster in Join the Family Bussiness from Young Frankenstein.
The problem is how do deal with a show whose emotional climax is roughly 1/4 to 1/3 in and move it to the act I closer becoming tedious. Also along with that is how you deal with a movie that relies on action sequences to convey plot and emotion. Aladdin was able to overcome this by rehashing its plot into a slapstick comedy, but both Tarzan and Little Mermaid were not able to overcome the lack of action on the stage. As most of us have said the main reason Little Mermaid didn't work was because its climax was so anticlimactic you couldn't help but see the rest of the flaws in the production.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 11:24pm

^How about eliminating the ice monsters for Broadway?

[Fantod]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 11:53pm

And those idiotic garden gnomes or whatever they were.

[TheatreKid3]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 12:24am

I still think FROZEN is a few years out... and if they are smart they will do a tryout. They are just announcing now to build the incredible hype machine it's going to have. I guarantee you it will set new records for advance sales of a theatrical production.

Also, I think they need to amp up the movie. Go back to the source material like they always do, and reexamine some of the more mature themes and plotlines they have to work with. Make Else a little more darker at times. I remember hearing there is a whole "prophecy" motif that they chose not to work with. That could be interesting. I think if they alter the story somewhat, add a few new things and such, and really flesh out the existing material that audiences will love it. It'll be like they are rediscovering it all over again and learning more along the way.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 12:27am

I don't see the gnomes going anywhere, but yes, I would eliminate the ice monster and try to come up with a more theatrical alternative. I do think a lot of the show well have to be rethunk--I just hope they do it better than Mermaid.

However, not sure how much of the source material--Snow Queen they could go back to and use--it's just such a vastly different story now.

[TheatreKid3]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 12:50am

I do think it presents some opportunities for depth though. There is a whole dark side to Elsa they can explore. I'm hesitant to say make her like Elphaba, but that's effectively what I mean. Elsa's character and story (and really the plot of FROZEN as a whole) could be SO much more developed if there was a darker element to her character to play with.

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 7:21am

Another problem with Frozen is that the songs aren't really on the level of Beauty or Lion King or Poppins or even Mermaid. Besides "Let it go" it's a pretty lackluster score. They are going to have to add so many songs.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 8:17am

I think they need to either remove the Duke completely or make more evil. The Duke has no point to the movie at all. Yes, he was the cover up for Hans, but he didn't do anything evil at all, minus sending guards to kill Elsa. He didn't try to steal the riches or trade goods like they said that he wants to. He just does nothing. The prophecy was much more interesting and useful than him.

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 10:48am

I thought the special last night was fittingly magical. I almost cried during Jesse Tyler Ferguson's opening monologue (embarrassing!) and I loved seeing the processes that went into creating the shows. Alan Menken 4ever!

As for Frozen...that was the worst-kept secret at Disney, obviously, and I share many of your concerns about bringing it to the stage...as much as I would love to see it, some heavy thought and innovation would be vital.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 10:52am

Love how they acted like it was a huge surprise. It was announced at the beginning of this year. Wish we could have more information like the director which has been chosen or whatever

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 10:54am

... It is not as far along as everyone on here, including you, thinks it is.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 12:46pm

Wish we could have more information like the director which has been chosen or whatever

Do you really think the average viewer watching this special would say, "Gee, they got that Casey Nicholaw to direct! Thank goodness they didn't go with that Rob Ashford! Now it's sure to be a winner!"

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 2:03pm

I wish they did a little section on AIDA, TARZAN, ON THE RECORD, and THE LITTLE MERMAID. Some costume pieces and set models isn't much.

Also, NO mention of HUNCHBACK? They have a run at Paper Mill to promote, and this show could be their first Best Musical winner since LION KING (with some tinkering, but nothing too major)! I felt like they had more to announce, like an ALADDIN tour or another musical that we weren't expecting.

[ohjustjake]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 2:10pm

Is this streaming anywhere? Wasn't able to catch it last night.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 2:26pm

"Also, NO mention of HUNCHBACK? They have a run at Paper Mill to promote, and this show could be their first Best Musical winner since LION KING (with some tinkering, but nothing too major)! I felt like they had more to announce, like an ALADDIN tour or another musical that we weren't expecting."

We don't even know if Hunchback's coming in yet! But if it does, seeing that it'll end up being less family-oriented from what we've seen from Disney before, then it could win Best Musical since it won't have as much of a road vote.

And I think Aladdin will most likely launch a national tour in 2016 as Tom Schumacher likes to see how the Broadway production does within its first year.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 3:19pm

Also, do we know when this was made? I mean I assume it was recent, but it could have been done several months back and only now ABC had a slot for it.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 3:21pm

I was not surprised that 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Tarzan' got little to mention at all. I do not recall seeing anything about 'Aida'. The segments on their four hit shows brought back many wonderful memories. I'm hoping to see 'Aladdin' in New York one day. If not I can wait till the tour.

[alliesinger]

Posted: 12/15/14 at 3:57pm

My head knew it was a commercial. My heart still made my tear ducts go bananas.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 12/16/14 at 10:17am

Aida was mentioned at the same time Tarzan and The Little Mermaid were mentioned.