Disney’s HERCULES - Reviews & News Thread — Page 6

Updated On: 2/24/23 at 03:28 PM

That was ROUGH. This plays more like a theme park show than any other Disney show I can remember and if I were watching it at a park, I would have left to go get in line for Space Mountain again. And when I say “theme park show”, I mean it as in something that’s performed 6 times a day by the same people - so keep it simple, conserve your energy and don’t give it too much”.
This truly has the stink of “why?” written all over it. Why take something you’re not actually going to improve upon and then charge folks $100+ for a subpar product from the one they have immediate access to on Disney+ on their phones?



I agree with what’s been said about the casting, however I wasn’t as bothered by Shuler as some. I’ve always really liked him but there was nothing there to make me care one way or the other. He was fine. Gibson as Herc though is just so miscast. I feel bad writing that but he really is. I’m sure the material he’s given combined with the direction don’t help his characterization but when the audience around me started laughing at him, it was just sad.



And don’t get me started on the last 15 mins or so and how INSANELY lazy that “battle” (or whatever you want to call it) was or the “To Be Human” song Hercules sings that I wish to God I could have just fast forwarded through. And then that leads to the “A Star Is Born” finale that seemed like it was an hour long but was just an excuse for everyone to…have a dance party? It wasn’t even a finale for the story it was just I don’t even know. And honestly by that point I didn’t even care.

Updated On: 2/25/23 at 04:34 PM

Despite managing my expectations, I found myself considerably disappointed with the production. To be clear, I have no qualms with the cast. Rather, it seems that the direction and writing are the root of many issues people are experiencing. Specifically, I found the characterization and direction of Hades to be greatly misaligned. Unfortunately, none of the new songs were remotely impressive, except for "Great Bolts of Thunder," which ultimately had a lackluster ending. The standout aspects of the show were undoubtedly the Muses and the puppetry. That said, I must inquire as to who approved the line "You did it Hercules...You've gone the distance"? The line was so poorly written that I found myself struggling to contain my laughter.

I just got home and, honestly, it’s not magnificent by any stretch and there are quite a few deficiencies - but my friends and I still had a damn good time. (It helped that we got the orchestra tickets when they first on sale at $55 each).

I was honestly surprised at how much money Disney seemed to throw in for the budget of this production because it certainly wasn’t lacking in the design elements (sets, costumes, puppetry etc). Bradley Gibson is a woefully deficient Hercules - he had too much theatre boy energy and blended too much into the ensemble when I wanted him to stand out. It makes me wonderful what someone like Cameron Loyal from BAD CINDERELLA could’ve done with the role since he can sing AND has an obnoxious Herculean physique. (I had to) I liked Iglehart and Hensley in their respective roles, though Hensley was missing some of that bitingly snarky quality that made James Woods so special.

If anything, THEE highlight of the night is undoubtedly The Muses. I hope they have a good physical therapist because the five of them are carrying the whole damn show on their backs and they BURNT up that stage.

Jordan Catalano said: "OMG even though it won’t help the material, I desperately want to see Cameron in the role."

Updated On: 2/26/23 at 10:18 AM

I’ll see it whether it goes to Broadway or not. I hope La Mirada Theater becomes one of the first regional theaters to get the rights.

Not that it's a definite, but the German production makes it seem like the Broadway run will be held off for now.

musikman said: "Jordan Catalano said: "OMG even though it won’t help the material, I desperately want to see Cameron in the role. And it’s funny you mention the cost because even with the money I guess they spent, it still looked cheap as all hell to me besides the columns and the staircase from “Carrie”."



OMG LOL !! I thought I was the only one who immediately said “ITS THE CARRIE STAIRS!!”

If only Betty Buckley would have made a surprise appearance at the end, walking down them then the entire show would have been saved

This is your reminder that only rarely is a Disney musical adaptation birthed fully developed. In terms of official professionally produced versions, the Broadway Aladdin is Aladdin 4.0 or so.

One of those was great and one of those was a clunker.


And the idea of using traditional Greek storytelling is interesting I’m reminded of Hunchback’s storytelling and … it was an awful idea. Way too much telling and not enough showing.

Saw this on Friday evening.

For anyone going to this, just know this is not a pre-Broadway engagement by any means. This is still very much a work in development, in it's early stages. But if the goal of Disney and the production team was to get the show up on its legs, in a fully realized professional production and have top tiered talent help bring it along, mission accomplished. Seeing this at Paper Mill will be a very different experience for the NJ/NYC theatergoing crowd who are use to seeing the final product on Broadway.

This is also a very different Disney at Paper Mill regional premiere.

In some ways, it was hard for Newsies to fail and not become the monstrous underdog success that it became. After all, Newsies was...
- a fairly unknown Disney property, which meant little expectation so it could just be what it wanted to be.
- the source for it was a live action, period piece, not an animated fantasy.
- and for the most part, the show was an unapologetically an athletic, dance show with fresh, young, male chorus boys bursting on to the Broadway dance scene. Can't go wrong with that.

In regards to Hunchback, the Paper Mill production was co-produced with La Jolla playhouse (so hello bigger budget). When it came to Paper Mill, the creative team had the luxury of time to make changes from that initial run before it being presented to a NY/ NJ audience.

The biggest issue I saw with Hercules was the direction. Having re-watched the movie after seeing the show, the source material just SCREAMS Casey Nicholaw (who was at Paper Mill last week). It's everything he's ever done. It's a hero's quest, fast paced, musical comedy, with a bit of an edge, like the Book of Mormon, Something Rotten! and Mean Girls, while demanding to be a splashy, athletic, glitzy spectacle like like Aladdin.

Lear Debossnet, with no disrespect is a very good community theater director, because that's essentially what Hercules at the Public and Into the Woods were. Low budget, minimal costumes, and sets with an emphasis on diving deeper into the source material, and finding ways to bring amateur talent (often youthful talent), into the show. This is not the recipe for a Disney spectacle.

This then leads me to my thoughts on the actual show, which honestly... wasn't that bad. It was just a staged adaptation of Hercules, my second favorite Disney movie next to Beauty and the Beast. It was not a Broadway show. As soon as it started, and I saw the set and costumes for Mount Olympus, I knew that we were watching a show in development. I let go of any expectations and just went with what was being presented. But it's still enjoyable. It's great to hear that score performed live. It's fun to see a piece you know and love reimagined in a new way. And the audience, was eating it up.

The Muses are the stars of this show right now, and I was glad to see them get the second to last bow of the night. They were stunning, powerful, and each one distinct though there were definite sound and mic issues.

I liked that the flipped the narrative of the movie from being one about patriarchy to matriarchy.

I was curious how they were going to do the statue (or in this case statueS) in the temple of Zeus and that was very clever.

I loved the puppetry for the monsters and titans. They just need to be downstage a bit more.

Costuming was a bit all over the place. It was traditional greek, modern, zany and cartoonish, all at once. Hades was the only one who looked exactly like the movie. That costume could have been borrowed from Disney on Ice for all I knew.

Performances need to be more focused. I couldn't tell how old Bradley Gibson was acting as younger Hercules. There was not enough of a journey from boy to man in his performance. Isabelle McCalla's Meg lacked the subtly, sharp witness, and seductiveness of the movie. There needs to be more chemistry and romance between Hercules and Meg to make the ending pay off. Shuler Hensey plays Hades to be more menacing, but not menacing enough to fear Hades at the same time. With James Monroe Iglehardt, he has the same challenge here as the genie, which was not to mimic an iconic voice and performance, and make a mythical character human. Aladdin was more successful in reimagining the genie. Hercules' attempt to make Phil a depressed, washed up trainer, looking for HIS OWN moment in the sun, doesn't work.

Overall, Hercules needs a bit more work to put the glad in gladiator. With some more development, and better direction, it could go the distance to Broadway, but it's not ready yet.

And that's the gospel truth.

New York Times Review


This Times review is the definition of a bad review.