Disney's next Broadway venture is....(updated with more info)

[tazber]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 6:14am

Dumbo?!?!?!

Updated On: 3/5/10 at 06:14 AM

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 7:44am

Now THAT sounds good. It could be really great.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 8:30am

I don't see it...

[rmusic11322]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 8:50am

*sobs* WHY!!!!!

[lakezurich]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 10:17am

How this idea made it beyond the drawing room table is beyond me...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 10:17am

I'm withholding all jokes about who will be playing the lead until I'm more awake and able to decide whether it would be funny or just plain mean.

[Justin D]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 10:31am

I guess Aretha will be making her Broadway debut, lol

just kidding

Maybe this will be another "Lion King" how on earth will they do that situation. But I doubt it.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 10:35am

I love Riedel, but his blatant ass-kissing of certain people is disgusting. Stephen Daldry is the best director working in theater today? Really? Also I see he's back on the Stro bandwagon.

As for Dumbo as a musical...I don't see how it will work without being corny. I'd love to be proven wrong, though.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 10:39am

Riedel is so gross:

"Last week, writing about the upcoming revival of 'Evita,' I asked readers to e-mail me their 'dream Che.' (The producers are out to get Ricky Martin, but he hasn't accepted yet.) The results are in, and the winner, although he's getting a little long in the diente for the part, is Antonio Banderas.

A close runner-up is Raul Esparza, followed by Hugh Jackman (Aussie Che), Cheyenne Jackson (Gay Che) and Justin Timberlake (Tacky Che)."

What a douche.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 10:57am

Che it ain't so.


Dumbo? Could work. Gonna need some real imaginative director.

[Insider2]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:02am

I can see it now. A bunch of actors running around a stage with trunks hanging off the top of their heads. And naturally, Timothy the mouse will be exactly the same size as the elephants. The whole idea is pretty ridiculous. Every single thing does not have to be a musical. Didn't they learn their lesson from The Little Mermaid?

Also, at today's ticket prices of about $135.00 each, it would cost a family of four $540.00 just to see the show, and of course, at the rates prices are rising, by the time this thing gets developed and on the boards, top ticket prices will probably be around $200 each.

I don't see how this could be successful. If they want to do a Dumbo musical, they should do it at one of their theme parks.

[starlyricist]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:08am

I definitely see this more as a theme park show than a real Broadway production. And I'm sorry, but why are they doing this before any number of more viable alternatives? Um, Aladdin anyone? And maybe I'm extremely alone in this, but I'd much rather see a stage production of Pocahontas before Dumbo.

[JBSinger]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:14am

this just spells disaster.
how are they going to fill 64 minutes out to 2.5 hrs?
Disney, please drop this idea now and develop something cool.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:20am

You have got to be kidding me.

Before anyone comes in and talks about how "We don't know" and "give it a chance," for God's sake, think about it. THINK about it.

P.S. This will be the final nail in the coffin of us ever seeing Hunchback. Updated On: 3/3/10 at 11:20 AM

[JMPlayer6]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:26am

I don't see it! For the theme parks maybe, but for the Broadway stage ... ???

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:29am

O...k.

[Brick]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:30am

I agree the score is great, but they'd have to have top-notch talent to really make this happen.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:32am

The score is okaaay, nowhere near on the level of the "Second Golden Age" stuff, but it's probably about twenty minutes of content added up, tops.

[romgitsean]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:37am

Ugh, why. Why Dumbo? Fail.

Why don't they just either put Holes off-Broadway (there is a play version available, which Disney Theatricals could probably buy out the Susan Schulzman Agency who owns it very easily), or try Bedknobs and Broomsticks? I know there's not much commercial appeal in the ladder, nor is the score/book amazing...but I think it could be done. Starting in the West End, transferring to Broadway...?

Hell, they already HAVE the rights to Mulan as a stage version. That would last longer. Or maybe The Emperors New Groove? I could see that one working.

But Dumbo? If we want a protagonist as an elephant, why don't we just revive Seussical?

On the note of revivals, Evita revival? Yuckkk.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:39am

Dumbo is nowhere near one of my favorites of the Disney animated feature films (I often forget it exists), but I wouldn't write it off, conceptually. I remember when Lion King was announced and there was so much laughing about how it would be just actors in animal suits like the theme parks. But Disney will have to get a new creative director to oversee the project with a bit more objectivity so we don't have another Tarzan or Little Mermaid.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:39am

I agree that Aladdin is a much more viable option for a musical. Why they haven't continued to develop that (beyond the 40 minute show at California Adventure, which is closing this summer, by the way, to make room for Toy Story) is beyond me.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 11:56am

Why not Hunchback or Aladdin? I'd love to see a full stage production of either.

[HumATune]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 12:14pm

Will the racist crows be in the stage version?

[BrianS]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 12:26pm

"Cheyenne Jackson (Gay Che)"

What a s#!!ty thing to say. There may be gay men who have trouble playing convincing straight-men on stage, but Cheyenne certainly isn't one of them. Why make a weak joke that exacerbates the notion that offstage sexuality affects onstage performance. Thanks for being a part of the problem, Michael.

That said, I don't know how you do another show about animals onstage without it feeling like a Lion King retread. And I really don't see the point of Disney launching anything on Broadway until they fix the internal politics of having 30 executives giving an endless stream of conflicting and sabotaging notes until all the edges of a piece are filed down to a homogenized blandness.

Updated On: 3/3/10 at 12:26 PM

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 3/3/10 at 12:30pm

I was going to joke that Obama had the ears to pull of the role, but I doubt a democrat would be willing to play an elephant. :)