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• Tourists mob Muppets & Mouse shops, snatch up last “Mermaid” tickets

  Jim Hill reports in from NYC. Where – based on what’s been going on at FAO Schwartz, World of Disney and the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre – the economy appears to be on the mend Read More... Posted Wednesday, August 19, 2009 12:00 AM | 4 Comments Filed under: Disney, Pixar, Broadway, musical, Muppets, Disney Theatrical, Beauty and the Beast, New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, NYC, Denver, animated character, 5th Avenue, Broadway musical, 2009, Disney / Pixar, animated feature, ticket sales, shops, store shelves, 2010, Up, Tampa, New York, The Little Mermaid, musical theater, Muppet, Muppet Whatnot Workshop

• “Mary” moves to Cleveland, “Sleeping Beauty” awakes in San Francisco and Connecticut gets ready for an “Enchanted” Q & A

  Tired of hearing about Comic-Con? As a deliberate change of pace, Jim Hill talks up a trip of Disney-related events that AREN’T being presented in San Diego next week Read More... Posted Thursday, July 16, 2009 12:00 AM | 2 Comments Filed under: Broadway, musical, Disney Theatrical, Alan Menken, Disney Legend, Cartoon Art Museum, Sleeping Beauty, Stephen Schwartz, Tony Award winner, San Francisco, Academy Award, Broadway musical, stage version, Cleveland, animated feature, 2007, Tony Award, Mary Poppins, Tony Award-winner , Academy Award nominees, stage show , stage, Cadillac Palace Theatre, Academy Award-nominee, Enchanted

• The parade passes WALL-E by : Pixar star's appearance cut from Sunday's Tonys telecast

  Jim Hill reveals how the Living Character Initiative version of WALL-E ALMOST got to take part in a televised tribute to composer Jerry Herman Read More... Posted Tuesday, June 02, 2009 12:00 AM | 2 Comments Filed under: Pixar, Broadway, WALL E, Disney Legend, Pixar Animation Studios, Tony Award winner, Living Character Initiative, Broadway musical, 2009, animated feature, tribute, Tony Award, Tony Award-winner , WALL-E, Jerry Herman, Put on Your Sunday Clothes, It Only Takes a Moment, Hello, Tony, composer, songwriter, Disney Pix

• "From the Deep Blue Sea to the Great White Way" charts Ariel's journey to Broadway

  Jim Hill reviews Michael Lassell’s latest making-of book for Disney Theatrical Productions. Which reveals how Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” went from being an Academy Award-winning animated feature to becoming a popular musical for the stage Read More... Posted Wednesday, May 20, 2009 12:00 AM | 1 Comments Filed under: theater, Broadway, Andreas Deja, Ron Clements, John Musker, Lunt-Fontanne Theater, Julie Taymor, ASIFA-Hollywood, Tom Sito, Broadway musical, stage version, animated feature, Thomas Schumacher, Michael Lassell, stage, Woodbury University, The Little Mermaid, designer, Fletcher Jones Foundation Library, 20th anniversary

• A special "May the (Stephen) Schwartz Be With You" edition of Why For

  Jim Hill's back with even more answers to your Disney-related questions. This time around, he talks about "Enchanted" 's score evolves over the course of that motion picture, where Stephen drew his inspiration for "Out There" as well as talking up an event that's being held at Woodbury University this coming Monday night Read More... Posted Friday, October 17, 2008 12:00 AM | 2 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, music, Broadway, musical, Disney Theatrical, Beauty and the Beast, Alan Menken, Kevin Lima, Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, James Baxter, James Baxter Animation, Stephen Schwartz, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Paris, Kiss the Girl, ASIFA-Hollywood, panel discussion, stage version, ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, 2008, October, animated feature, 2007, Happy Working Song, So Close, That's How You Know , animators , Mulan, Belle, Warner Bros. , 2010, Don Hahn , stage, Woodbury University, Pocahontas, Broadway-bound, The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Disney Music , Carol de Giere, Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz from Godspell to Wicked, Enchanted, The Alchemy of Animation: Making an Animated Film in the Modern Age, Craig Lucas, James Lapine, Cathedral of Notre Dame, Out There, Quasimodo, Hunchback, Mike Belzer, Nik Ranieri, Fletcher Jones Foundation Library, Fletcher Jones, Ever After, Ever

• "Defying Gravity" details Stephen Schwartz's sometimes difficult dealings with the Walt Disney Company

  Jim Hill reviews Carol de Gieve's career biography of this Academy Award-winning songwriter, which features some great behind-the-scenes stories about the five Disney projects that Schwartz worked on Read More... Posted Wednesday, October 01, 2008 12:00 AM | 6 Comments Filed under: book, Disney, DreamWorks, Broadway, musical, Michael Eisner, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, DreamWorks Animation, Stephen Schwartz, Los Angeles, Walt Disney Studios, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Broadway musical, September, animated feature, 2007, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Disney Feature Animation, Peter Schneider, London, TV movie, show business , 1996 , 1986, Tony, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Academy Award-winning, world premiere, Walt Disney Company, musical theater, musical theater fan, Broadway credits, trio, long running hits, long running hit, hit, Godspell, Pippin, Wicked, Disneyana fan, resume, lyricist, 1990s, 1978, Working, Radiator Springs, Children of Eden, 1991, graduate school, NYU, therapist, Sir Tim Rice, A Whole New World, Kevin Bannerman, Carol de Giere, Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz from Godspell to Wicked, Applause Books, softcover, songwriter, career, lyrics, 1992, Shirley Jones, Colors of the Wind, John Smith, Native Americans, Romeo, Romeo & Juliet, Juliet, West Side Story, Something's Coming, creative process, 1994, The Prince of Egypt, China, Matthew Wilder, David Zippel, Written in Stone, Destiny, Geppetto, Academy Award-nominee, Enchanted, Gregory Maguire, middling reviews, rhyme, reviews

• Tune Tuesday : "Shrek the Musical" gets off to a great start in Seattle

  WARNING !! There be spoilers ahead in this preview piece about DreamWorks Theatrical's Broadway-bound production. Which is a musical adaptation of DW's Academy Award-winning animated feature Read More... Posted Tuesday, September 09, 2008 12:00 AM | 8 Comments Filed under: Disney, music, theater, DreamWorks, Broadway, musical, Walt Disney, The Lion King, The Walt Disney Company, New York City, YouTube, Mickey Mouse, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Julie Taymor, NYC, LA, Academy Award, movie, Broadway musical, stage version, 2008, animated feature, 2001, Donkey, ogre, Shrek, Fiona, opening night, Broadway production, Big Green Ogre , Great White Way, Jeanine Tesori , David Lindsay-Abaire , Jason Moore , Seattle, 5th Avenue Theater , Lord Farquaad , Academy Award winner, December , November, childhood, stage show , design team, August, director , stage, audience, Big Apple , New York, creative team , DreamWorks Theatricals, Broadway-bound, musical adaptation, DW, Academy Award-winning, movie-based musical, theater community, Ponyo, playset, Young Frankenstein, The Little Mermaid, 9 to 5 : The Musical, world premiere, Ahmanson Theater, Shrek the Musical, out-of-town, opening, librettist, composer, designer, Tim Hatley, swamp, spoilers, Momma Ogre, Poppa Ogre, Big Bright Beautiful World, opening number, title character, introductory number, I Know It's Today, Cloris Leachman, Brian D'Arcy James, outhouse, backstory, second act, challenge song, I Think I Got You Beat, choreographer, Rob Ashford, New York audiences, Broadway Theatre, playhouse, Walt Disney Company, 1928, movie theater, strategy, the Colony Theater, Colony Theater, Steamboat Willie, Fantasia, Snow White, diecast

• "Dream Worlds" offers look at abandoned Disney animated features

  Jim Hill reviews Hans Bacher's new "Production Design for Animation" book. Which features visual development art from "My Peoples," "Fraidy Cat" and "Wild Life" Read More... Posted Wednesday, January 23, 2008 12:00 AM | 6 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, Broadway, Andreas Deja, Disney Theatrical, Beauty and the Beast, 101 Dalmatians, Dinosaur, Walt Disney Animation Studios, France, WDAS, the New World, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, LA, Germany, film, Broadway musical, stage version, animated feature, 2007, Disneyana fans, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Hans Bacher , logo, visual development, visual development artist , production designer, paintings, drawings , inspirational material , artists , animators , Dream Worlds: Production Design for Animation , Focal Press, December , Wales, China Doll, emperor, series finale, My Peoples, Elgin's Peoples , Angel and Her No Good Sister, Once in a Blue Moon , A Few Good Ghosts, Fraidy Cat, Alfred Hitchcock , crime story , London, development art , Wild Life, The Secret Lab, urban, hipster, George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion, story points, school rivalry , edited, massaged , Disney Publicity , production notes, European version, Loire , generic-looking , Mulan