MULAN JR.

Not sure how appropriate this is for a "Broadway" thread (its never been on Broadway!) but I'm posting anyway...

I just noticed they added "Mulan JR." to the MTI website. Anyone know anything about it? Seen it done yet? Opinions?

I've always prayed they'd bring Mulan to Brodway so was thrilled to see that at least a tiny step has been made to bring it to SOME for of a stage performance. I'm directing a show next year for youth and am VERY tempted to do this one!

Any comments are greatly appreciated!

I worked on an early workshop version of it prior to the North Shore production. I think it's tricky for a lot of reasons, including a relatively large number of important characters who appear very briefly, plus a lot of fairly important costume elements (like both Mulan's drag and the soldiers' drag at the end) - it makes the whole thing kind of hard to follow if you're not familiar with the film, I think. But it does allow for a lot creative theatre possibilities - I mean, the non-verbal Cri-Kee and mini-dragon Mushu as full-sized people require some thought, for example, as do the avalanche and the final fireworks attack. All do-able, but all somewhat tricky at the same time. "Be a Man" and "A Girl Worth Fighting For" with a bunch of preteen/teenage boys were not too convincing...

I'm sure by now the MTI/Disney people have put together quite a list of ideas for their manual. (If you've never seen an MTI Jr. rental package, it includes a teacher/director manual that feeds practically every tiny bit of staging, production, and dramaturgy to the teacher...so that literally anyone could direct the show from scratch with no prior theatre experience.) I'd be curious to see how many of the ideas in the early workshops ended up in the final script and manual.

Why would they? The show is only an hour or so if it's a JR. production.

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Here's the MTI Junior page on the show. I agree with its "considerations" wholeheartedly.
http://www.broadwayjr.com/store/showkitproduct.asp?oid=19

I would say that you have to have one dynamite, charismatic boy able to sing Shang ("Be a Man") and a couple of others who can play one or two of the five ancestors (they frame the show, giving historical/cultural background, etc.), and then the supporting roles of Shan-Yu (and his Huns), Mulan's Father, the three soldiers (Chien Po, Yao, Ling), Chi Fu, and the Emperor, kind of need to be boys for the story to work. All sing solos at one point or another, so pitch ability is important. I would say that you need a sort of a large cast to pull the whole thing off. There are ancestors, brides-to-be, mothers, the Matchmaker, Mulan's mother and grandmother, Cri-Kee, and Mushu to deal with as well, all of whom can be played by girls. Our production only had three male Huns, but we could have filled in their ranks with ensemble girls if we had had the proper costuming.

The additional music includes songs like Written In Stone (again, a cultural framework for the story introduced by the ancestors - sort of like a Chinese version of "Tradition"), a marching chant, a Mushu song that is reprised near the finale called "Keep 'Em Guessin'", and the inclusion of a song from Mulan 2 called "Lesson Number One" which contrasts the yin and yang of the martial arts.

It was cool to include some Tai Chi and some other martial arts forms in the choreography. We also used Chinese fan tricks, paper parasols, some basic swordplay, masks, and several other Asian theatrical devices (a few of which are visible in The King and I) as from Chinese Opera.

It's a big, tough nut, but the rewards could be very exciting.

PS - Mulan hardly ever leaves the stage. It is a very hard show for her. She's got to be able to sing "Reflection" very well, carry the entire show on her shoulders, and pull off the whole acting-like-a-boy thing. In contrast, none of the other female characters are featured much at all except when Mushu is played by a girl.

Updated On: 4/13/07 at 08:27 AM

I think a couple of the songs are by Stephen Schwartz from when he was attached to the movie. A couple titles match up to his songlist on Stephenschwartz.com.

I think if it were de-Disneyfied a bit, it would make a stunning stage show in another incarnation for adults.

I have totally designed this show in my head...I would love to do it sometime.

Akiva

As a director who has worked with some of MTI's 'JR.' shows, I will tell you that they are pretty elementary and scaled-down quite a bit. Sometimes they add a few songs that are not from the original score (by different composers) that are less than great; however, the packaging and theatre information (i.e. stage directions, stage etiquette, etc) are good for the kids to learn as learning tools to further their education as actors. MTI doesn't have all of the information for this show posted yet, so I am curious to see how this production works out. Should be interesting...

This show is NOT, I repeat NOT easy. You have to have a big cast, and your Ancestors have to be really good, because they sing "Written in Stone" several times, with different words each time. I directed it last summer and as a director, it was great to work on a JR. show where you can be creative. The show also includes CD tracks, like all Jr. Shows, but the instrumentation is AMAZING! They used real instruments, no synthesized stuff.