I am very worried about Little Mermaid, however since it is musically stronger than Tarzan as well as story-wise as a musical better than Tarzan I have less worries than I probably should. I fear very much for Mr. Slater having to compete with Howard Ashman's lyrics, even Tim Rice at times couldn't fill the shoes.
I think Mary Poppins is going to be Spectacular based on the cast recording I have from London. It might not run as long as Beauty & The Beast but it should be successful for about 3 years I would imgine.
What Dinsey needs is a show to replace Lion King...
What could come after Marry Poppins & Little Mermaid? I agree that Hunchback of Notre Dame would be perfect if they made it even more severe than the German Production and wrote more original songs, possibly close to sung through. Let's face it, with Menken & Schwartz doing Hunchback disney really is sitting on a gold mine of critical and viewer acclaim. That show, if done correctly could possibly become Broadway's next Phantom of The Opera or Les Miserables. Let's face it, American audiences love it when French novels are dumbed down for them to understand.
Newsies is another project I could get really excited about, however it would of course need to be completely reworked.
If High School Musical got almost all new songs (with a score done by Menken or another "disney staple" or established composer (Maybe ALW he's kind of desperate right now) I could see it being very lucrative. The story certainly is cute enough and it contains a few enjoyable characters, the one thing i don't see how they could emulate a gym like how there is in the movie and have it be received well.
What about using the connection with Touchstone Television to launch a musical based on Desperate Housewives or Commander In Chief?
Pochahantas is a DEBACLE saved by a decent score, I can't imagine why Disney would want to put it on Broadway.
Disney really needs to develop original broadway material rather than attempting to live their 1990s glory days on the stage. Let's face it, not all of these projects could possibly work, the two Menken/Ashman ones can very well because they were designed to, but even Aladdin & beyond is kind of a struggle without reworking and doing a Cameron MacIntosh version of events.
