Exactly. I'm tired of everyone saying Disney is taking over Broadway. Taking over? Bah! So they had three hit shows running at once - who cares? So they're moving Lion King, adding Mary Poppins and Tarzan, and later Little Mermaid.
EVERYTHING from Disney has been superb thus far! ESPECIALLY AIDA!
Personally, I think it's time for BEAUTY & THE BEAST to close. It was very fresh in the '90s when it opened. But now I think there's no reason to keep it on Broadway. They should tour with it again. I think they'd make more money that way - and then they could use the theatre for Little Mermaid.
Anyway, back to topic - Disney Theatricals is doing EVERYTHING right! They know how to make a good show, how to promote and market it, how to tool the show so it makes more money...just everything a good producer/production team needs to do. They bring in the right creative people - they just do everything right!
The only weak factor I see in their shows are two things: 1) that a good portion of the show is spectacle where it doesn't need to be, and 2) the script. The script is written towards family audiences. They have to kiddie it down so children are entertained, can understand, and aren't overwhelmed. This bothers me. Even though their shows are brilliant artistically - I feel like the story moves slow for me.
AIDA was better, however. LOVED it! But there were book problems. ALL of Radames' Father's songs could have been cut. They're all good, but take the tone of the show to a bad level within the story.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
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