What I meant by Mary Poppins changing is that even though it was never really TOO dark, they STILL toned it down and made it more family friendly in areas so it'd work in the US.
Now if you take the much darker musical created when Hucnhback went to the stage, it's obvious that Disney would never take it to Broadway without some serious changes.
Really I was just saying that if Mary Poppins couldn't make it without a bit of toning down, Hunchback definitely won't. I understand what you're saying, but you're comparing apples to oranges. Mary Poppins is a very different type of story, film, and musical. I don't think Disney would make book changes to Hunchback based solely on a nightmare sequence in Mary Poppins that had a tendency to make small children cry. Mary Poppins by nature has a built-in demographic for children whereas a the Hunchback story and score was written for a broader audience, which is why Disney has been able to float more than one show on Broadway simultaneously. The challenge is when they have more than one show that appeals to the same demographic. Then it is a matter of how the shows will differ in tone and artistry. This is how Beauty and the Beast/Lion King were able to run at the same time for so long. They were lavishly produced, but in completely different styles appropriate to the material. Little Mermaid failed on the visual and could never feasibly sort out the biggest hurdle which was the costumes and movement (never mind the ugly sets). Tarzan was not one of Disney's biggest hits, which put it at a disadvantage, but the mostly static set failed to sustain the burst of momentum promised by the dazzling opening sequence (a plight similar to the redundancy in the German staging of Hunchback).
It's a shame they've only been able to do that once with their other outings (BEAST). They need to take a step back and examine why that worked on stage and a big part of it was spectacle. Except that Lion King has been even more successful.
Disney films are very limited as to what will look good live since so many animals are part of the stories and that limits what looks realistic Again, Lion King worked out very well for them and it is ONLY animals. It's the human/animal combo that is most challenging as they have to work out proportions, which was why they couldn't hit the mark on the costuming for Little Mermaid. Tarzan was less challenging as apes are very close to human proportions.
Here is the list of films which I think would do well if turned into a 2 1/2 hour stage musical -
Pinocchio
Alice in Wonderland (maaaaaaybe)
Cinderella
Sleeping Beauty
Aladdin Pinocchio has the most potential as it really lends itself to being beautifully stylized and imagined with combinations of wood textures and Italian art and culture. Plus, the story and imagery is much more dark and complex than most Disney animated films. I think Cinderella is just simply too iconic to ever satisfy critics or audiences on stage. Sleeping Beauty could be gorgeous and sumptuous and the animals could be cut completely as they actually add nothing to the plot. They were really only utilized for the waltz scene in the forest and I think a bit in the final battle. The biggest problem is that there is very little to the book and the only efforts made to expand at all were insufferably weak (though could be strengthened with knockout additions to the Tchaikovsky score). I don't see Alice in Wonderland working at all. The film is all about the visual and nothing else. The score is forgettable and the story is almost entirely vignettes with no real plot. Aladdin...well...it could be thrilling, but I just think Disney will be opening itself up to more racial/political criticism from pretty much all sides and they're going to have their hands full with The Frog Princess.
Personally, I would love to see Hercules or Mulan on Broadway. True, Mulan will probably have some racial criticism from radical liberals, but if they open up the book and score with a bit more heritage, get a brilliant designer to create sets based on the culture, and cast intelligently, it could be wonderful. And Hercules needs the Taymor treatment. You wouldn't have as much proportion issues with fantastical creatures as you would with representations of real animals. Plus, that score deserves to be performed live. Make it a bright, whimsical spectacle filled with dazzling special effects and a cast that can sing the roof off the theatre and you could find Disney's next major international hit.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
