Disney’s HERCULES will transfer to the West End in 2025

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 9:10am

Exclusive: Disney’s ‘Hercules’ musical sets premiere in London’s West End" by Broadway News' Andy Lefkowitz - "“Hercules,” the latest musical fromDisney Theatrical Group, has set a summer 2025 premiere at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London’s West End. Tony winner Casey Nicholawwill repeat his work as director and co-choreographer from a recently opened Hamburg production. ... Production dates and casting, by Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion & Natalie Gallacher, are still to be announced for the West End staging of “Hercules.”" https://bway.ly/3wgglx

Updated On: 6/24/24 at 09:10 AM

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 11:41am

I hope this undergoes a lot of work before the West End.  The video makes it look pretty awful - the production design is just ugly and appears to lack any sense of vision, artistry, or design cohesion.  And the slowed-down tempo of Zero to Hero zaps it of all energy.  This actually seems like it would have been a good fit for Julie Taymor.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 11:46am

On paper, the Hamberg production seemed like a shotgun marriage of a creative team (list below), some of whom were carried over from the Paper Mill production. Nicholaw is one of those people who does his best work with close collaborators that he works with time and time again. I wonder if they will shake it up further for London?

This world-premiere production is directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (Aladdin) and co-choreographer Tanisha Scott, with set and additional video design by Dane Laffrey, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, sound design by Kai Harada, and costume design by Gregg Barnes and Sky Switser. The production team also includes video designer George Reeve, puppet designer James Oritz, hairstyles and wigs designer Mia M. Neal, makeup designer Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche, and special effects designer Jeremy Chernick. The music team is led by music supervisor and arranger Michael Kosarin, with orchestrations by Danny Troob and Joseph Joubert and dance arrangements by David Chase.

[bwaylyric]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 2:56pm

Why is Disney so high on this property?  There are other titles that are more worthy of development and production.  I'd rather see Hunchback on stage.

[singer234]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 2:59pm

bwaylyric said: "Why is Disney so high on this property? There are other titles that are more worthy of development and production. I'd rather see Hunchback on stage."

Anecdotally speaking, anyone I have ever spoken to between the ages of 20-40ish have all unequivocally said Hercules is their favorite Disney film of all time and the one they have the strongest connection to. I'm not really sure why, but that seems to be the case for a lot of millennials/gen Xers.

[pablitonizer]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 3:09pm

singer234 said: "bwaylyric said: "Why is Disney so high on this property? There are other titles that are more worthy of development and production. I'd rather see Hunchback on stage."

Anecdotally speaking, anyone I have ever spoken to between the ages of 20-40ish have all unequivocally said Hercules is their favorite Disney film of all time and the one they have the strongest connection to. I'm not really sure why, but that seems to be the case for a lot of millennials/gen Xers."

 

I agree! The movie flopped at the time (for Disney's standards), but I felt a strong connection to it, its characters and music so I have the fondest memories. I also believe Disney has been trying to make a live-adaptation for quite sometime but perhaps first they want to test if this musical is well-received or not. I choose a musical adaptation of Hercules rather than Hunchback. I hated Hunchback when I was a kid, and I still do

 

Updated On: 6/24/24 at 03:09 PM

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 11/4/24 at 10:45am

Luke Brady cast in the title role; full casting to be announced shortly

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 11/4/24 at 11:27am

bwaylyric said: "Why is Disney so high on this property? There are other titles that are more worthy of development and production. I'd rather see Hunchback on stage."

didn’t they already do hunchback?

 

[Chip27]

Posted: 11/16/24 at 9:45pm

I'm so nervous. I hope they fix the story Hercules. I want the Hercules musical to succeed so it can go to Broadway. I'll try not to expect to that it'll WIn a Tony Award for Best Musical or for now, an Olivier Award for Best Musical, but I hope Hercules is fixed and become a hit. P.S. Is it wrong that I want to see a Disney musical to Win the Tony Award for best musical?

[Jonathan Cohen]

Posted: 11/16/24 at 11:38pm

singer234 said: "bwaylyric said: "Why is Disney so high on this property? There are other titles that are more worthy of development and production. I'd rather see Hunchback on stage."

Anecdotally speaking, anyone I have ever spoken to between the ages of 20-40ish have all unequivocally said Hercules is their favorite Disney film of all time and the one they have the strongest connection to. I'm not really sure why, but that seems to be the case for a lot of millennials/gen Xers."

I looked up the audience score (officially called Popcornmeter) for both movies on Rotten Tomatoes, and both are pretty middling for Disney animated musicals. 76% of the audience likes Hercules, and 71% like The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

In comparison, Encanto has an audience score of 93%, Moana has an audience score of 89%, Tangled has an audience score of 87%, and Mulan is 85% liked.  

Based only on how much people liked the movie, neither Hercules or Hunchback is an obvious choice to turn into a stage musical. 

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 11/17/24 at 1:16am

They need to go back to the Berlin production of Hunchback. That new one ( which I do love ) needs to get away from all the narration that takes place, also remove Scott from the project as well. 

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 12/26/24 at 1:35pm

Just got around to watching the Disney Christmas Parade. They did a performance from Disney on Broadway and ended with Hercules. Safe to say it’s coming soon. Still left out some of their titles like Mary Poppins, Aida, and Tarzan.

[MezzA101]

Posted: 6/24/25 at 7:48pm

‘Hercules’ Review: Disney’s Over-Bright, Relentless Revamp Muscles Into the West End

https://variety.com/2025/legit/reviews/hercules-review-musical-west-end-1236439211/

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 6/24/25 at 8:01pm

What's on Stage review - "bursting with energy but lacking in heart"

3/5 from The Stage - "shamelessly silly and flimsy"

London Theatre Reviews - "A musical that does not go the distance"

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/24/25 at 9:17pm

This is a vastly improved musical from what I saw a couple years ago. Unfortunately vastly improved from that disastrous Papermill dumpster fire, is still pretty bad. It’s just theme park entertainment now with a slightly bigger budget. Cast is all great, though. 

[Chip27]

Posted: 6/25/25 at 12:41am

I guess it might not come to Broadway. Oh well, it’s not Broadway worthy or Tony Award worthy anyway. I can’t believe I came back for that.

[bwayobsessed]

Posted: 6/25/25 at 8:00am

Chip27 said: "I guess it might not come to Broadway. Oh well, it’s not Broadway worthy or Tony Award worthy anyway. I can’t believe I came back for that."

I mean Hunchback is both of those things and Disney failed to transfer it so they don’t always have the best judgement 

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 6/25/25 at 8:05am

I still think it will transfer to Broadway. The reception to the West End version is serviceable enough. Either way, it'll be a huge licensing player in a few years.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/25/25 at 9:00am

It’s really time for us to stop thinking Disney has any desire to put something “special” on stage. It’s this myth we’ve carried on with for decades after “Beauty and the Beast”, “Lion King” and “Aida” but it’s been a quarter century or more and countless Broadway misfires since those. Disney made an enormous splash on Broadway and had a huge impact on the revitalization of Times Square but it was short-lived and for some reason we keep expecting them to put out product like that again. They won’t. 

[MezzA101]

Posted: 6/25/25 at 11:52am

How Did ‘Hercules’ Get So Lame?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/theater/hercules-disney-theatre-royal-drury-lane.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Rk8.qnC-.kPX4eRIMWRzn&smid=nytcore-android-share

[Kad]

Posted: 6/25/25 at 11:57am

I thought Aladdin was a pretty uninspired and mediocre adaptation, lesser in every way to the movie, and yet here we are, over a decade later and it's still printing money. Should it transfer, I imagine Hercules would be the same. 

Updated On: 6/25/25 at 11:57 AM

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/25/25 at 11:58am

I know shows in the west end aren’t technically “open-ended” and they continuously extend, but there seems to be some kind of finality with this wording: “Performances of Disney's Hercules are now underway at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, which will run until 28 March 2026.”
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Review-Roundup-HERCULES-Opens-at-Theatre-Royal-Drury-Lane-20250624

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 6/25/25 at 12:45pm

Kad said: "I thought Aladdin was a pretty uninspired and mediocre adaptation, lesser in every way to the movie, and yet here we are, over a decade later and it's still printing money. Should it transfer, I imagine Hercules would be the same."

I REALLY don't think anybody has an attachment to Hercules like that. Like yeah the movie made money, but it was on the otherside of the Disney Renaissance that people cared about.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 6/25/25 at 12:51pm

Kad said: "I thought Aladdin was a pretty uninspired and mediocre adaptation, lesser in every way to the movie, and yet here we are, over a decade later and it's still printing money. Should it transfer, I imagine Hercules would be the same."

To be fair, Aladdin had the Genie to juice the show and the magic carpet to be a "whoa" moment, and it sounds like Hercules has neither.  I think Hercules is fairly popular among my demographic of younger millennials but the friends I went with to the Paper Mill production were all underwhelmed (I thought the Central Park version was far better). Casey Nicholaw sounded like a step in the right direction, but I guess they never figured it out.

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 6/25/25 at 12:54pm

The photo I’ve seen from the production had Hercules in a mesh tank top looking like he was heading to a sex dungeon after performing at Broadway Bares. Is this meant to be a family show?