Spoonful of Sugar May Sour for 'Poppins'
By Robert Hofler
November 05, 2002 07:14 AM ET
NEW YORK (Variety) -- Broadway and the West End have been looking at a big spoonful of box office sugar ever since Disney and producer Cameron Mackintosh began negotiations for a stage version of "Mary Poppins," a potential first joint venture for the two producing entities.
Then came word over the weekend that Disney animation chief Thomas Schumacher may leave his job in June, but stay with the company's theatrical stage unit under a new contract. Will "Poppins" fly if Schumacher does not reup and instead exits the House of Mouse?
Neither Schumacher nor Mackintosh would comment. But sources close to the project deem it "highly unlikely" and "almost inconceivable" that the British producer of "Cats" and "Les Miserables" would proceed on "Mary Poppins" as a stage musical without Schumacher at the Disney helm. The two men have been in talks for several months regarding a stage version of the P.L. Travers classic, which Disney set to song in 1964 with Julie Andrews in the title role.
In the world of showbiz, however, one never knows: Mackintosh could use a hit, not having produced a blockbuster since "Miss Saigon" hit the Gotham boards in spring 1992.
A natural for the stage, "Mary Poppins" has come lately to the movies-into-musicals trend due to an unusual rights problem: Mackintosh controls the rights to any stage adaptation of Travers' book, while Disney holds rights to the film's songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.
Once the "Poppins" deal is signed, and that apparently depends on Schumacher staying with Disney, the transformation to stage musical could be fairly rapid. Unlike Disney's animated "The Lion King" or "The Little Mermaid," which contain just a half dozen songs each, the "Mary Poppins" film boasts 14 original songs, enough for a full-size stage production. Tunesmiths on "Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast," as well as the upcoming stage version of "Little Mermaid," have had to supplement their initial film scores to make them theater-worthy.
Schumacher may exit Disney altogether; reup as president of the animation and theatrical divisions; or hold on to the reins of only the latter group. If he leaves the company entirely, several other stage projects in development would not be immediately affected for one simple reason: At Disney, Schumacher has always rejected any inclusion of the so-called key-man clause in contracts with stage talent. The clause, common in publishing but rare in the noncorporate world of Broadway, allows a creative to take his project elsewhere if a key executive leaves the company after the contract is signed.
A few creatives were successful at including the clause in their contracts with Livent when Garth Drabinsky headed the now-defunct company.
Schumacher has been extremely successful at signing cutting-edge talent to work on Disney projects, including several scheduled to workshop in the near future. These creatives and their projects include director Julie Taymor on "Tarzan"; director Matthew Bourne on "Little Mermaid"; and composer Jeanine Tesori and book writer Suzan-Lori Parks on "Hoopz," an original musical about the Harlem Globetrotters.
By Robert Hofler
November 05, 2002 07:14 AM ET
NEW YORK (Variety) -- Broadway and the West End have been looking at a big spoonful of box office sugar ever since Disney and producer Cameron Mackintosh began negotiations for a stage version of "Mary Poppins," a potential first joint venture for the two producing entities.
Then came word over the weekend that Disney animation chief Thomas Schumacher may leave his job in June, but stay with the company's theatrical stage unit under a new contract. Will "Poppins" fly if Schumacher does not reup and instead exits the House of Mouse?
Neither Schumacher nor Mackintosh would comment. But sources close to the project deem it "highly unlikely" and "almost inconceivable" that the British producer of "Cats" and "Les Miserables" would proceed on "Mary Poppins" as a stage musical without Schumacher at the Disney helm. The two men have been in talks for several months regarding a stage version of the P.L. Travers classic, which Disney set to song in 1964 with Julie Andrews in the title role.
In the world of showbiz, however, one never knows: Mackintosh could use a hit, not having produced a blockbuster since "Miss Saigon" hit the Gotham boards in spring 1992.
A natural for the stage, "Mary Poppins" has come lately to the movies-into-musicals trend due to an unusual rights problem: Mackintosh controls the rights to any stage adaptation of Travers' book, while Disney holds rights to the film's songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.
Once the "Poppins" deal is signed, and that apparently depends on Schumacher staying with Disney, the transformation to stage musical could be fairly rapid. Unlike Disney's animated "The Lion King" or "The Little Mermaid," which contain just a half dozen songs each, the "Mary Poppins" film boasts 14 original songs, enough for a full-size stage production. Tunesmiths on "Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast," as well as the upcoming stage version of "Little Mermaid," have had to supplement their initial film scores to make them theater-worthy.
Schumacher may exit Disney altogether; reup as president of the animation and theatrical divisions; or hold on to the reins of only the latter group. If he leaves the company entirely, several other stage projects in development would not be immediately affected for one simple reason: At Disney, Schumacher has always rejected any inclusion of the so-called key-man clause in contracts with stage talent. The clause, common in publishing but rare in the noncorporate world of Broadway, allows a creative to take his project elsewhere if a key executive leaves the company after the contract is signed.
A few creatives were successful at including the clause in their contracts with Livent when Garth Drabinsky headed the now-defunct company.
Schumacher has been extremely successful at signing cutting-edge talent to work on Disney projects, including several scheduled to workshop in the near future. These creatives and their projects include director Julie Taymor on "Tarzan"; director Matthew Bourne on "Little Mermaid"; and composer Jeanine Tesori and book writer Suzan-Lori Parks on "Hoopz," an original musical about the Harlem Globetrotters.