Disney Raising Curtains On New Projects
USA Today, Front Page, Life Weekend - January 09, 2004
By Elysa Gardner
NEW YORK -- The new year already is shaping up to be a busy one for the Walt Disney Company's theater division, and not just on Broadway.
Disney currently has three long-standing hits on the New York stage: Beauty and the Beast, now in its 10th year; Aida; and, of course, The Lion King, the box-office champ that has launched two national tours and grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
In 2004, Disney plans to expand with new projects that span the globe:
* Feld Entertainment, the company that produces Disney on Ice shows, will introduce a brand of interactive family entertainment called Disney Live with a show featuring Winnie the Pooh, opening in New Zealand this summer.
* On the Record, an original touring production drawing on Disney's song catalog, kicks off in November. Set in a fantasy recording studio, the show will include hits such as Someday My Prince Will Come, When You Wish Upon a Star, A Whole New World and The Circle of Life. Broadway veteran Bobby Longbottom is director/choreographer.
* Also in November, a new stage version of Mary Poppins will open in London. Disney, which owns rights to the 1964 movie and all its music, will co-produce with Cameron Mackintosh, who has the stage rights to P.L. Travers' beloved children's books. British director Richard Eyre will be on board, along with choreographer Matthew Bourne and Aida designer Bob Crowley.
There are plans to bring Travers' flying nanny to the USA. ''In a best-case scenario,'' says Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical Productions, ''On the Record will have been performing for over a year by the time Poppins comes here.''
Meanwhile, Schumacher is in negotiations for a new production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Disney also is developing a musical-theater adaptation of The Little Mermaid with Beauty composer Alan Menken.
''The question is,'' says Schumacher, ''what's the language you use to tell the story of a girl who can't walk in the first act and can't talk in the second, because she's given away her voice? It has some interesting theatrical challenges.''
Before solving them, though, Disney will tackle Tarzan. Based on the 1999 animated film, the show, which likely will premiere in 2005, features a libretto by M. Butterfly playwright David Henry Hwang and music by Phil Collins.
''In every film version except ours, Tarzan conquers animals and is sort of the master pet keeper,'' Schumacher says. ''But in the (Edgar Rice Burroughs) books, he is parented and mentored by animals, and then is able to lead them. Early rumors have imagined it as a big spectacle or circus show, but what we're doing is telling the story of this guy and the universe he's in.''
USA Today, Front Page, Life Weekend - January 09, 2004
By Elysa Gardner
NEW YORK -- The new year already is shaping up to be a busy one for the Walt Disney Company's theater division, and not just on Broadway.
Disney currently has three long-standing hits on the New York stage: Beauty and the Beast, now in its 10th year; Aida; and, of course, The Lion King, the box-office champ that has launched two national tours and grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
In 2004, Disney plans to expand with new projects that span the globe:
* Feld Entertainment, the company that produces Disney on Ice shows, will introduce a brand of interactive family entertainment called Disney Live with a show featuring Winnie the Pooh, opening in New Zealand this summer.
* On the Record, an original touring production drawing on Disney's song catalog, kicks off in November. Set in a fantasy recording studio, the show will include hits such as Someday My Prince Will Come, When You Wish Upon a Star, A Whole New World and The Circle of Life. Broadway veteran Bobby Longbottom is director/choreographer.
* Also in November, a new stage version of Mary Poppins will open in London. Disney, which owns rights to the 1964 movie and all its music, will co-produce with Cameron Mackintosh, who has the stage rights to P.L. Travers' beloved children's books. British director Richard Eyre will be on board, along with choreographer Matthew Bourne and Aida designer Bob Crowley.
There are plans to bring Travers' flying nanny to the USA. ''In a best-case scenario,'' says Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical Productions, ''On the Record will have been performing for over a year by the time Poppins comes here.''
Meanwhile, Schumacher is in negotiations for a new production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Disney also is developing a musical-theater adaptation of The Little Mermaid with Beauty composer Alan Menken.
''The question is,'' says Schumacher, ''what's the language you use to tell the story of a girl who can't walk in the first act and can't talk in the second, because she's given away her voice? It has some interesting theatrical challenges.''
Before solving them, though, Disney will tackle Tarzan. Based on the 1999 animated film, the show, which likely will premiere in 2005, features a libretto by M. Butterfly playwright David Henry Hwang and music by Phil Collins.
''In every film version except ours, Tarzan conquers animals and is sort of the master pet keeper,'' Schumacher says. ''But in the (Edgar Rice Burroughs) books, he is parented and mentored by animals, and then is able to lead them. Early rumors have imagined it as a big spectacle or circus show, but what we're doing is telling the story of this guy and the universe he's in.''
