NuOrbis Brainstorming Thread - Project Five: Give My Regards to Broadway

CookieMouse

CookieMouse

Well-Known Member
mickeyfan5534 said:
If Hunchback doesn't count, I wouldn't count Pinocchio.
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montydysquith-navarro said:
Here's a rundown of our IP choices so far, so that it wouldn't get lost in the thread. Let me know if I missed something.

Films/TV Series
  1. Dumbo - @AceAstro
  2. Pinocchio (new take on the material) - @Sharon&Susan
  3. Tron (as suggested by Tiki)
  4. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (new take on the material) - @AceAstro
  5. The Life and Times of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb) - @ThatGuyFromFlorida
  6. Princess and the Frog - @montydysquith-navarro
  7. Up - @ThatGuyFromFlorida
Games
  1. Donald Duck in Maul (Maui?) Mallard - @Sharon&Susan
Rides
  1. World of Motion - @Sharon&Susan
  2. The Haunted Mansion - @gam3rprincess; leading choice so far
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I also had an idea for a phineas and ferb musical focusing on doctor doofenshmirtz. They did have a live show back in the day, but I don’t really count that.
 
CookieMouse

CookieMouse

Well-Known Member
montydysquith-navarro said:
Here's a rundown of our IP choices so far, so that it wouldn't get lost in the thread. Let me know if I missed something.

Films/TV Series
  1. Dumbo - @AceAstro
  2. Pinocchio (new take on the material) - @Sharon&Susan
  3. Tron (as suggested by Tiki)
  4. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (new take on the material) - @AceAstro
  5. The Life and Times of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb) - @ThatGuyFromFlorida
  6. Princess and the Frog - @montydysquith-navarro
  7. Up - @ThatGuyFromFlorida
Games
  1. Donald Duck in Maul (Maui?) Mallard - @Sharon&Susan
Rides
  1. World of Motion - @Sharon&Susan
  2. The Haunted Mansion - @gam3rprincess; leading choice so far
Click to expand...
My picks:
1. haunted mansion
2. tron
3: Up Musical.
 
montydysquith-navarro

montydysquith-navarro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
montydysquith-navarro said:
Here's a rundown of our IP choices so far, so that it wouldn't get lost in the thread. Let me know if I missed something.

Films/TV Series
  1. Dumbo - @AceAstro
  2. Pinocchio (new take on the material) - @Sharon&Susan
  3. Tron (as suggested by Tiki)
  4. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (new take on the material) - @AceAstro
  5. The Life and Times of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb) - @ThatGuyFromFlorida
  6. Princess and the Frog - @montydysquith-navarro
  7. Up - @ThatGuyFromFlorida
Games
  1. Donald Duck in Maul (Maui?) Mallard - @Sharon&Susan
Rides
  1. World of Motion - @Sharon&Susan
  2. The Haunted Mansion - @gam3rprincess; leading choice so far
Click to expand...
My top 3 choices are:
  1. Dumbo - I think it could work if we use the War Horse model, where the animal puppets and the actual humans have more-or-less equal stage time and story focus. Libretto-wise, a blend of the 1941 animation and the 2019 live-action storylines could work in this case.
  2. Tron - I think it could work if we pull a Newsies on this one (e.g.: clean up and expand the storyline and even sneakily shove in story elements from Tron: Legacy, introduce new characters, etc.; not sure if gravity-defying choreography will work though).
  3. The Haunted Mansion- I admit I have some apprehensions with this one, especially since we're basing it on the ride and not the 2003 film. I don't mean to be a Negative Nancy this early on in the process, but we'd have to address these things eventually, especially if we end up going for the Haunted Mansion idea:
    1. In as much as I like the "Greek chorus" idea, it could go two ways: Legally Blonde the Musical (when the Delta Nu girls reappear as Elle's personal Greek chorus in the Harvard/Boston scenes to help drive the plot, especially with Paulette's storyline) or (sorry Tiki and Mickeyfan) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (at least the Parnell version). I love that show (especially the music!), but the "tell not show" idea is too much. It works at certain points in the show, but I don't need an ensemble being a quasi-Audible narrator telling me that "Quasimodo threw huge rocks and wooden beams down at the soldiers as they attempted to throw open the cathedral doors" during the dramatic Finale Ultimo when you can just show it happening.
    2. There are so many storylines going on inside the Mansion that I fear it would be incoherent to adapt it as is in a traditional theatrical format. There has to be one central conflict that drives the plot. Think of the plot for The Addams Family musical (the only Broadway show I could think of that's kind of close to a Haunted Mansion musical). Despite it having multiple characters (and a Greek chorus of Addams ancestors to boot), there's just one central conflict, as set up in the song One Normal Night: the Addams have to try to be normal for just one night because Wednesday invited her boyfriend and his very normal Ohioan family for dinner at the Addams' house. The entire show's plot revolves and branches of this central conflict.

      Anyway, going back: there's nothing like that for the Haunted Mansion that I could find. The ride itself is heavier on showing vignettes of ghosts living their best afterlives (ish) than plot-driven scenes like the ones found in Phantom Manor (which is another bag entirely. I doubt regular people in the US even know that there's a Disneyland in France, let alone the existence of a darker but more theatrical version of the mansion, so I think we could junk that idea out while I'm at it).
    3. Going off Pix's original pitch, the Ghost Host would have to provide the central conflict for the show, but he doesn't even have one clear depiction in the story presented today in both the two Mansions (New Orleans/NOS or Hudson River Valley/Liberty Square). We don't even know who he was in life: was he the owner of the Mansion (perhaps one of Constance Hatchaway's many husbands, seeing as she could very well be its last human owner before the ghosts took over permanently?), a deceased former groundskeeper of the Mansion who decided to hang around (hehe), a servant, or even just some random passerby?

      The casual theatergoer wouldn't be as familiar as us Disney fans with the mythos and unused backstories (especially the ones by Ken Anderson) of the Mansion, so the long-abandoned Captain Gore/Priscilla and the Blood Family storylines wouldn't work.
 
AceAstro

AceAstro

Well-Known Member
montydysquith-navarro said:
My top 3 choices are:
  1. Dumbo - I think it could work if we use the War Horse model, where the animal puppets and the actual humans have more-or-less equal stage time and story focus. Libretto-wise, a blend of the 1941 animation and the 2019 live-action storylines could work in this case.
  2. Tron - I think it could work if we pull a Newsies on this one (e.g.: clean up and expand the storyline and even sneakily shove in story elements from Tron: Legacy, introduce new characters, etc.; not sure if gravity-defying choreography will work though).
  3. The Haunted Mansion- I admit I have some apprehensions with this one, especially since we're basing it on the ride and not the 2003 film. I don't mean to be a Negative Nancy this early on in the process, but we'd have to address these things eventually, especially if we end up going for the Haunted Mansion idea:
    1. In as much as I like the "Greek chorus" idea, it could go two ways: Legally Blonde the Musical (when the Delta Nu girls reappear as Elle's personal Greek chorus in the Harvard/Boston scenes to help drive the plot, especially with Paulette's storyline) or (sorry Tiki and Mickeyfan) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (at least the Parnell version). I love that show (especially the music!), but the "tell not show" idea is too much. It works at certain points in the show, but I don't need an ensemble being a quasi-Audible narrator telling me that "Quasimodo threw huge rocks and wooden beams down at the soldiers as they attempted to throw open the cathedral doors" during the dramatic Finale Ultimo when you can just show it happening.
    2. There are so many storylines going on inside the Mansion that I fear it would be incoherent to adapt it as is in a traditional theatrical format. There has to be one central conflict that drives the plot. Think of the plot for The Addams Family musical (the only Broadway show I could think of that's kind of close to a Haunted Mansion musical). Despite it having multiple characters (and a Greek chorus of Addams ancestors to boot), there's just one central conflict, as set up in the song One Normal Night: the Addams have to try to be normal for just one night because Wednesday invited her boyfriend and his very normal Ohioan family for dinner at the Addams' house. The entire show's plot revolves and branches of this central conflict.

      Anyway, going back: there's nothing like that for the Haunted Mansion that I could find. The ride itself is heavier on showing vignettes of ghosts living their best afterlives (ish) than plot-driven scenes like the ones found in Phantom Manor (which is another bag entirely. I doubt regular people in the US even know that there's a Disneyland in France, let alone the existence of a darker but more theatrical version of the mansion, so I think we could junk that idea out while I'm at it).
    3. Going off Pix's original pitch, the Ghost Host would have to provide the central conflict for the show, but he doesn't even have one clear depiction in the story presented today in both the two Mansions (New Orleans/NOS or Hudson River Valley/Liberty Square). We don't even know who he was in life: was he the owner of the Mansion (perhaps one of Constance Hatchaway's many husbands, seeing as she could very well be its last human owner before the ghosts took over permanently?), a deceased former groundskeeper of the Mansion who decided to hang around (hehe), a servant, or even just some random passerby?

      The casual theatergoer wouldn't be as familiar as us Disney fans with the mythos and unused backstories (especially the ones by Ken Anderson) of the Mansion, so the long-abandoned Captain Gore/Priscilla and the Blood Family storylines wouldn't work.
Click to expand...
I want to change my votes to be the same:

1. Dumbo
2. Tron
3. Haunted Mansion

While I wasn't super hard on Tron vs. Haunted Mansion you bring up solid points about Haunted Mansion and Newsies is my favourite Broadway show so I could definitely see that style working
 
Outbound

Outbound

Well-Known Member
I think we just need to develop a theme for the Haunted Mansion. For instance, perhaps the Ghost Investors in charge of the Mansion are closing it down because it can never hit over 1,000 guests. The Ghost Host and his friends have 13 days and 13 nights to convince one of the humans entering the mansion to join their company.

^ That's just an idea but it shows like the Addams Family you can make your own story that suits the narrative
 
AceAstro

AceAstro

Well-Known Member
Outbound said:
I think we just need to develop a theme for the Haunted Mansion. For instance, perhaps the Ghost Investors in charge of the Mansion are closing it down because it can never hit over 1,000 guests. The Ghost Host and his friends have 13 days and 13 nights to convince one of the humans entering the mansion to join their company.

^ That's just an idea but it shows like the Addams Family you can make your own story that suits the narrative
Click to expand...
Can I be honest? That feels like a great Haunted Mansion movie. Doesn't feel like a Broadway show. It also keeps very little from the actual Haunted Mansion.
 
Sharon&Susan

Sharon&Susan

Well-Known Member
What about having the Beating Heart Bride be the original owner of the mansion marrying Hat Box before both disappear, but one day she returns alone in a much more devilish demeanor (Spoiler: Constance stole Beating Heart's identity).

The rest of the musical focuses on Constance's many killings to get rich quick and her victims planning a revenge scheme by raising a ghostly army of "ghosts who have retired here from creepy old crypts all over the world".
 
Outbound

Outbound

Well-Known Member
Sharon&Susan said:
What about having the Beating Heart Bride be the original owner of the mansion marrying Hat Box before both disappear, but one day she returns alone in a much more devilish demeanor (Spoiler: Constance stole Beating Heart's identity).

The rest of the musical focuses on Constance's many killings to get rich quick and her victims planning a revenge scheme by raising a ghostly army of "ghosts who have retired here from creepy old crypts all over the world".
Click to expand...

That would work too! It's not as much of "this plot doesn't work" but if we keep suggesting things one might work out.

For this, I like the general storyline but I worry it may become too dark.
 
Sharon&Susan

Sharon&Susan

Well-Known Member
Outbound said:
That would work too! It's not as much of "this plot doesn't work" but if we keep suggesting things one might work out.

For this, I like the general storyline but I worry it may become too dark.
Click to expand...
I can see that, but I do think whatever we do there'll be an element of darkness with whatever we do with the HM.

EDIT: Removed my previous statement about the Ghost Host because it sounded too callous.
 
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AceAstro

AceAstro

Well-Known Member
Using the same weighting I used for the last round, here are the current tallies. It comes down to Pix's vote.


Haunted Mansion: 11 Points Dumbo: 9 Points Tron: 8 Points Pinocchio: 2 Points Up: 1 Point
 
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Sharon&Susan

Sharon&Susan

Well-Known Member
I'm going to revise my vote:
1. Haunted Mansion
2. Dumbo
3. Pinocchio

I want to give Dumbo a bit more of a fighting chance. ;)

9 points for Dumbo now, if I'm following the voting system correctly.
 
AceAstro

AceAstro

Well-Known Member
Reading the other teams thread and they had a good idea on how to split up the project (once we start working on it):

2 people on the show (1 for act 1, 1 for act 2), 2 for the music, 1 on art for the show, 1 on the technical aspects of the show (costume, set pieces, etc.), and 1 on presentation/ hate
 
AceAstro

AceAstro

Well-Known Member
Also, if we want to go with a Playbill + whatever, I found a Playbill builder that works pretty nicely!

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