Disney Wonders if a Mermaid Can Follow a Trail Blazed by a Lion

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 12:41am

From this mornings New York Times.

Mr. Schumacher says he runs the unit as if he were artistic and managing director of an institutional theater. As laughable as it may seem to compare Disney to a nonprofit theater, in terms of the management structure the comparison is fitting. Mr. Schumacher gets above-the-title billing, a rarity for corporate executives even in the entertainment industry.

Fueled by its early hits, Disney Theatrical Group, as it came to be known, grew rapidly. But the new work sputtered. “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” which Disney jointly produced with a Dutch company, closed in Berlin, never making it to Broadway. A touring revue of Disney songs called “On the Record” opened in Cleveland in 2004 and was dead in Denver eight months later. Then there was, of course, “Tarzan.”


Full story at link...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/theater/20disn.html?_r=1&ref=movies&oref=slogin

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 1:06am

This is a VERY interesting article! A MUST READ - probably the most important part is that which discusses there upcoming projects...and none of them are movies! Go Disney:)

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 1:13am

Did he read the out of town reviews????

[scarlson]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 1:28am

"though he added that he was putting a deal together on a “large scale” show based on a non-Disney title."

Hmm...I wonder what this could be. If he's sticking with the animated musicals, I always thought The Prince of Egypt or Anastasia would make excellent Broadway spectacles and they both have proven Broadway performers that were a part of them back in the day. Interesting article, he has a point, on Broadway to have three minor to huge successes out of six tries is unbelievable.

[BrianS]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 1:30am

Did you read them?

The show has problems, but I did read the reviews and they were mixed, not pans... and that was back in Denver. Changes have been made since then. Are there still problems with the show? Hell yes. Are there fundamental problems that can't be changed before opening night? Absolutely. But it's no Tarzan and there are many informed people who love it just as much as there are people who hate it.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 8:48am

"The musical was panned by Variety when it opened in Denver in August, and word of mouth among the Broadway cognoscenti has been mixed, to put it generously. Mr. Schumacher dismisses much of that as insider sniping, pointing out that the show was sold out in Denver. Last week the show, which is in previews on Broadway, grossed more than $1 million"

I really don't think that it is insider sniping, i think people are just dissapointed.


"The division has announced two medium-size Broadway-bound projects in development: a musical adaptation of Jules Feiffer’s book “The Man in the Ceiling” and a musical based on the book “Peter and the Starcatchers” by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson about the early days of Peter Pan.

Disney is also working on a stage version of the 1992 musical movie “Newsies,” to be licensed to high school and amateur groups. (And there is always the possibility that Disney could decide to follow the licensed title with a Disney-produced stage musical, as was the case with “High School Musical.”)"

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 8:49am

Funny - I thought the article said absolutely nothing.

[Justin D]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 8:49am

Anyone knows what new Lion King Tour they are talking about? Surely not another US tour, maybe they will tour the one that is in Sout Africa?

as for the non disney title, aren't they still working on "the man in the ceiling"?

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 9:07am

The division has announced two medium-size Broadway-bound projects in development: a musical adaptation of Jules Feiffer’s book “The Man in the Ceiling” and a musical based on the book “Peter and the Starcatchers” by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson about the early days of Peter Pan.

[me2]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 4:39pm

Thanks for the link. Interesting.

Didn't HUNCHBACK run for several years? Just because it didn't come here doesn't mean it was a failure. I don't think the title has the mega-recognition here that the other Disney titles have.
Broadway Blog: About the Longest-Running Shows List

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 5:57pm

Wow, after reading that I thought to myself, 'Those folks at Disney NEVER stop being positive about things!'

That was the biggest load of tripe.

These are just a couple of things that really stuck out in that article.

“First things first: Mr. Schumacher is, apparently, here to stay. Robert A. Iger, chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, said in an interview last week that the company had recently renewed Mr. Schumacher’s contract, though he would not reveal its length. Mr. Schumacher, for his part, said, “I’m not going anywhere.””

Isn’t that the same thing that was said about Eisner right before he got the big ‘Heave-Ho’?

“The musical was panned by Variety when it opened in Denver in August, and word of mouth among the Broadway cognoscenti has been mixed, to put it generously. Mr. Schumacher dismisses much of that as insider sniping, pointing out that the show was sold out in Denver.”


Sure it sold out…in Denver. It was the World Premier of a Disney stage musical.

If it HADN’T have sold out, it would have been a shock.

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 6:29pm

Well they keep pointing out that it was sold out here in Denver. Of course it was. It was Disney and the Little Mermaid. The name alone sold it. So really, the sell-out didn't have much to do with the quality of the show. it sold out here pretty much before the 1st preview. Plus it was part of the season for subscribers. And we have a lot of subscribers. I tried to get a ticket the day before the 1st preview and there were VERY few seats left. As most of you know, I did see it in Denver (I had a block of 25 seats that were not hard to sell) and I enjoyed it. But it is a flawed show.

Updated On: 12/20/07 at 06:29 PM

[WSS2]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 7:46pm

It seems that Disey wants it both ways....a popular sell out and also artistic acclaim.

They can't have both.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 7:49pm

Yes, Uncageg,

That's just what I said.

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 8:08pm

Does anyone else find it absurd to read an article supposedly detailing all of Disney's theatrical projects that doesn't even mention "High School Musical"?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 8:12pm

AND brushes right past 'Mary Poppins'...


As I posted, it's tripe.

[me2]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 8:41pm

Other shows have had artistic acclaim and been sellouts--Rent, Bring in Da Noise quickly come to mind.
Broadway Blog: About the Longest-Running Shows List

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 2:52am

"AND brushes right past 'Mary Poppins'...


As I posted, it's tripe."

Good thing you said it, because no one else here has the articulation or literacy skills to comprehend such a concept without you!! OMG!