Disney on Broadway- Page 2

[NYC20042]

Posted: 11/23/04 at 10:48am

Read the chapter "Disneyfication of Broadway" in the book "Making It on Broadway: Actors' Tales of CLimbing to the Top" to really learn about how Disney has changed theater.

[scottwalker]

Posted: 11/23/04 at 5:58pm

I love Disney on Broadway.First went with my daughters 10 years ago to see Beauty and the Beast.It made all of us Broadway fans for life.
What more can you ask?
Loved The Lion King.
Loved Aida.
All shows go thru different casts...Some work better then others.
Have not seen Lion King in a few years...But The original cast...was one of the most talented I have seen.
The Original cast of Aida was also among the best I have seen.They had Many,many fine actors come in to the cast.Most were very good...right up till the end.
Beauty has had many great casts...from the original to the one they have now.Brooke Tansley is as good as any they have had play Belle.Steve Blanchard is also very good as Beast...Go See It...
When a show runs a long time...You are bound to get some that just do not work out...But they endure!
So Disney turned my family into Broadway addicts...I can not complain.They keep right on introducing new people to the theatre...I hope that they never stop...whatever it takes...to get people to come and experience it.Most will continue to come back.

[moonys_autumn]

Posted: 11/24/04 at 3:25pm

I'm a Disney fan :) It was my introduction into the wonderful world of theatre. I can't wait for the Little Mermaid, I wish they where doing that one first. :)

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 11/24/04 at 5:37pm

Anything that brings in more audiences to Bway I am happy with. Cause, let's face it: Disney brings in young people, gets them hooked on musicals, and they branch out from there until they can't get enough, so they start shopping at underground stores like "Footlight" and start trading bootlegs. It's an addiction. Let's get 'em young.

Side note: On the Record has no plans to come to NYC. It's a touring show, and just wouldn't work in NYC. However, Tarzan, Poppins, and Little Mermaid are all true...except none of the dates listed in the above post are terribly acurate.

[dancinfan]

Posted: 11/24/04 at 10:41pm

I was under the impression back when Beauty opened in 1994 that people didn't want corporate theatre to invade their art form. Although Disney was not the first big corporation to produce a Broadway musical, they were certainly the biggest and highest profile due to their entertainment empire. Corporate theatre, it seemed, was an enemy because it would "trash up" and "dumb down" the sacred ground of Sondheim and others. Beauty lost the Tony to Passion in 1994, but Disney came up with Lion King and won. I guess there's a market for the product Disney presented, huh?

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 11/24/04 at 11:40pm

I think Disney has been great for Broadway.
Beauty and The Beast is ..........AWESOME it needs to be on stage.
AIDA....MY FAVORITE MUSICAL OF ALL TIME....Deborah Cox picked up perfectly after all the others and I think she is evenly metched with Heather Headley
THE LION KING...........I haven't seen this show yet and by the way there ticket sales are I think its doing just fine.
MARY POPPINS.......This show will definately be a SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALADOCIOUS on stage.
TARZAN.......???????????????
LITTLE MERMAID..........That will be something to see.
I wish they had brought The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Broadway it would be awesome to see and I heard it was a great show.
Disney has been great for Broadway ....but it would be awesome to see some Broadway Legends grace the stage in a Disney Show.

[JoAnne1]

Posted: 11/25/04 at 12:03am

i just hope some of you (quite insightful) theatre analyst out there BECOME PRODUCERS and help fight the good fight....

Art vs. the Biz.... it's and old story.

whose willing to put their $, time and effort where their opinions are hmmmm?

f-

[lesserworm]

Posted: 11/25/04 at 12:55am

Forbidden Broadway has some humorous things to say about the Disneyfication of Broadway. They don't seem altogether too happy about it.

But, as long as it's here, PLEASE, Disney, give us The Nightmare Before Christmas. I think it would work really well.

Another good one to bring to Broadway: (back me up on this, people) Newsies, damn it!

[Racetrack]

Posted: 11/25/04 at 1:05am

NEWSIES! Yeah Newsies. One of the better live movies disney's made in awhile even though that was back in 92'. At least it didn't have a sequal, but that's an entirely different subject altogether.

Newsies is awesome.

Racetrack.

[Loge]

Posted: 11/25/04 at 1:33am

I have had different experiences with Disney.

I was absolute shocked at how good The Beauty and the Beast was when I saw it. It's my favorite Disney movie and the stage version did not disappoint, but enhanced it IMO.

I thought The Lion King was good, visually, but was terrible musically. It still burns my butt that the Tony Committee awarded it Best Musical over Ragtime. A injustice of epic proportions IMO that caused me to lose any respect I had for the Tony Awards. I thought it a sin. Ragtime should have run away with the Tony's that year - no contest. Yet, somehow, TLK and it's horrible book, lyrics, and score walked away with Best Musical? Made no sense to me.

AIDA caused me to lose any faith I had for the theater going public. It is the single biggest piece of trash I have ever seen or heard. It should have been an enormous flop, but the names Disney, Rice, and John that hovered above it's title did exactly what they were designed to do - trick people into thinking they are witnessing quality work. And, it worked. Thousands of people flocked to this horrible show and loved it. Sorry to be rag, but it sucks. If you like it, you need to re-evaluate. It is singlehandedly the worst show I have ever seen - BY FAR.

Then we have Hunchback, which I saw in Berlin, and felt blew all other Disney shows away. Best score, best writing, best sets - it was beautiful and miraculous. I am saddened that this show will not see further life on stage (at least for now). The musical additions were breathtaking, and the changes in the story made it much stronger. It was wonderful.

So, I HATE AIDA and The Lion King, but Loved The Beauty and the Beast and Hunchback.

And, I would love to tell Elton to his face that he sucks!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/25/04 at 1:36am

I'm sure Eltonw ould admit to sucking.. lol.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/25/04 at 1:42am

"It is singlehandedly the worst show I have ever seen - BY FAR."

A bit strong, imho.

[TGIF]

Posted: 11/25/04 at 1:50am

"AIDA....MY FAVORITE MUSICAL OF ALL TIME....Deborah Cox picked up perfectly after all the others and I think she is evenly metched with Heather Headley"

Deborah Cox was good but will never come close to touching the character Heather brought to the role.

Loge: I am sorry you didn't like the show. I was very moved by it. I will admitt it wasn't the best show ever written but it had great songs, great sets, and a great cast. I loved the storyline and I cried everytime I saw it. It did have its flaws I will not deny that, but I think saying its the worst show out there is a bit much. But thats just my opinion. Sorry you didn't enjoy it.

I do agree with you that Ragtime got screwed.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/25/04 at 2:07am

I liked Aida. Loved it even. (It was my first Broadway show, so amongst other reasons, it'll always be close to my heart.) I admit some characters (*coughMerebcough*) and songs (*coughAnotherPyramidLikeFatherLikeSoncough*) could be better, but "worst show ever"??? No.

[Loge]

Posted: 11/25/04 at 2:12am

Ok, I don't want to be a jerk, so I won't discuss AIDA anymore. Now, Hunchback - I love it so.