When is too much not enough?
That’s what I kept wondering as I was reading through “Disney on Broadway” (Disney Editions, 2002). This attractive paperback was edited by Michael Lessell, the writer behind “Elton John & Tim Rice’s AIDA: The Making of the Broadway Musical” (Disney Editions, 2000) which is a perfectly fine book.
And that’s honestly part of the problem with “Disney on Broadway.” You see, someone at Walt Disney Records reportedly got the idea to create a best-of CD. A recording that would feature the very best songs from the theatrical productions of “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” and “Aida.”
And — since the Mouse loves synergy — evidently someone at Walt Disney Records thought that it might be smart if Disney Editions created a book that would help support this recording. So Disney hired Lessell to take pieces of Donald Frantz and Sue Heinemann’s “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: A Celebration of the Broadway Musical” (Hyperion, 1995), Julie Taymor and Alexis Greene’s “The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway” (Hyperion, 1997) as well as his own “Elton John & Tim Rice’s AIDA: The Making of the Broadway” and cobble them together to create a companion volume for the “Disney on Broadway” recording.
The end product is admittedly quite handsome. And — since “Disney on Broadway” is currently retailing for $25.00 — also affordable. But having said that, I’m still not comfortable with the idea that this is really just the Cliff Notes version of three earlier, better books. Or — more importantly — that “Disney on Broadway” (the book) was created mainly to support/promote “Disney on Broadway” (the recording). Not because the public was actually demanding a book like this.
Maybe I’d feel better if “Disney on Broadway” had made an effort to move beyond the material that had been previously covered in the earlier books. Maybe if Lessell had included a story about “King David” (the very first show that Disney Theatrical staged at the newly renovated New Amsterdam Theater back in May 1997) or “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (the stage version of Walt Disney Pictures’ 1996 release which was performed in Berlin from June 1999 through June 2002), I might be able to make a stronger “buy” recommendation for this book.
Because — in spite of the “Reader’s Digest” treatment that Lessell has given to the three earlier books — there are still some pretty cool stories to be found in “Disney on Broadway.” Like the moment when Thomas Schumacher told Michael Eisner that trying to turn “The Lion King” into a Broadway musical “was the dumbest idea I’ve heard.”
Or how about the time in Atlanta — during “Aida”‘s out-of-town tryout — when the show’s main piece of scenery (a 10-foot tall computerized pyramid that WDI built for Disney Theatrical which could unfold to form an Egyptian barge, a throne room, steps leading to the palace, a Egyptian princess’s dressing room … and so on) mysteriously lost power during the first act and refused to budge. The cast eventually came to refer to this awful incident as “The Night That the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”
Plus “Disney on Broadway” (the book) has hundreds of colorful illustrations — most of which seem to have been cribbed from the three earlier books. Though — as I was comparing “Disney on Broadway” to my copies of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” and “Elton John & Tim Rice’s AIDA” — I did notice that Lessell did attempt to freshen things up a little by folding in a few new photographs.
So I guess what I’m saying — if you don’t already own copies of those three earlier, better books about Disney theatrical productions — then you might enjoy picking up a copy of “Disney on Broadway.” But if you already have Frantz and Heinemann’s “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: A Celebration of the Broadway Musical,” Taymor and Greene’s “The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway” and Lessell’s “Elton John & Tim Rice’s AIDA: The Making of the Broadway” in your library, then there’s really no reason for you to have to pick up this book.
Well, whaddaya know? I finally wrote a book review where I said “Maybe you DON’T need to buy this book.” Given what a hardcore bibliophile I am, I never thought that I’d be saying something like that. Well … go figure.
Your thoughts?
| Okay. I’ll admit it. I didn’t exactly given this book an enthusiastic review. But – even so – if you’d like to help support JimHillMedia.com, you can do so by ordering your copy of “Disney on Broadway” from Amazon.com by clicking the link to the right. Your cost will (unfortunately) remain the same (though it is currently 30% off!) But – if you go there through us – we get a tiny cut of what you spend. So if you’re planning on picking up the book, help keep Jim Hill behind the computer where he belongs and order a copy of “Disney on Broadway” through the link to the right. |
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