Since January is traditionally thought of as the start of the new year, I thought that it might be fun to use today’s “Mélange” to talk about what 2005 has in store for the Mouse. Particularly when it comes to Disney’s theatrical division.
2004 certainly ended well for that arm of the company. What with the stage version of “Mary Poppins” getting generally great reviews following its opening in London last month. So — naturally — stateside Disneyana fans are now wondering when that practically perfect nanny will be popping up on Broadway.
Well, now might be a good time to get yourself a “Spoonful of Sugar,” folks. For the medicine / message that I’m about to deliver isn’t all that good. Based on what I’ve been hearing, it may be as long as the Fall of 2006 before the stage version of “Poppins” finally crosses the pond.
“What’s the hold-up?,” you ask. “Is it because Mary is having trouble getting that carpet bag through airport security?” Well, no. One of the main problems here is that the show’s creative team all already have other commitments for the coming year. So it’s actually going to be a while before Disney Theatrical can get director Richard Eyre & choreographer Matthew Bourne back in the same room together to begin the arduous task of casting, then rehearsing the Broadway version of “Mary Poppins.”
The other factor is that the Mouse is looking for just the right house for “Poppins” to land in. Which — right now — is actually a lot harder than you might think. Given that — for the first time in years — virtually every theater on Broadway is already spoken for. With many of the great houses for musical theater already occupied and/or waiting for previously booked shows to come in. So Disney’s carefully considering its options right now.
One theory has Disney Theatrical putting “Mary Poppins” in the Palace, the historic old vaudeville house that was once home to the company’s first Broadway show — “Beauty & the Beast” — for years & years. Only to have Disney shift “Beast” over to the Lunt-Fontaine in November of 1999 to make room for “Aida.”
The only problem with this theory is that — starting next month — the Palace is due to be occupied by a brand-new musical, “All Shook Up.” Mind you, given that this show’s gimmick is that its score is made up entirely of old Elvis Presley songs, the current belief among theater insiders is that “All Shook Up”‘s chances of having a very long run on Broadway seem shakey at best. Should this show close before the Fall of 2005 … Well, that would then leave the Palace (and — more importantly — its 1,740 seats) open, making this theater the perfect spot for the practically perfect nanny to land.
“But what if ‘All Shook Up’ turns out to have legs?,” you query. “I mean, nobody though that ‘Movin’ Out’ — that show that was built around Billy Joel’s song catalog — would ever last. But that musical has been filling seats at the Richard Ridgers theater since November of 2002. So what if ‘All Shook Up’ ‘s investors avoid ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and this Elvis-based show winds up hanging on well into 2006?”
To be honest, that’s exactly what worries the folks at Disney Theatrical as well. Which is why they’re supposedly exploring some alternate scenarios, like pulling a “Beast” with “The Lion King.” As in: Moving this Tony Award winner out of the New Amsterdam and having it set up shop somewhere in the 42nd Street area. So that “Poppins” can then drop into this historic old house (formerly the home of the “Ziegfeld Follies” !) and start filling up its 1,771 seats.
But that’s the worst case scenario, folks. Disney Theatrical really wants to keep “The Lion King” in the New Amsterdam (if only to avoid the cost involved with schlepping Julie Taymor’s extraordinary sets & costumes off to some other theater). Which is why they’re hoping & praying that another house — ideally the Palace — becomes available for “Mary Poppins” very soon.
“So what’s Disney Theatrical going to do to occupy its time ’til ‘Poppins’ arrives?,” you ask. Well .. That division’s president — Thomas Schumacher — kind of has his hands full right now. His latest pet project — “On the Record” — hasn’t been doing all that well since this new musical revue initially hit the road back in November.
This modestly budgeted show — which features a cast of eight singing 64 classic Disney songs — has been dogged by somewhat middling reviews. And it’s never a good sign when one of your name performers — Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner — suddenly bails out of your show a little more than a month after “On the Record” started its nationwide tour.
Mind you, Skinner’s decision to drop out of Disney Theatrical’s new revue could wind up costing this musical theatre vet big-time. How so? Well, Emily was one of a handful of Broadway insiders who — back in February of 2003 — took part in a reading for the stage version of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.” And it was thought (at that time, anyway) that Skinner had a virtual lock on the role of Ursula.
But now that Emily has exited “On the Record,” Disney Theatrical’s no longer under any obligation to cast this actress as the Sea Witch. Which means that “Little Mermaid” ‘s new director Francesca Zambello (Yep. The same woman who directed “Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular” at DCA’s Hyperion Theater) can now indulge her whims.
“And what sort of casting ideas is Ms. Zambello supposedly toying with?,” you wonder. Well, they allegedly go from the somewhat safe & predictable (As in: Having Emmy Award winner Megan Mullally play Ursula. Of course, the only problem with doing that is that Disney Theatrical would then have to wait ’til “Will & Grace” completes its run on NBC before it could safely sign Mullally to play this part) to the truly ballsy choice (As in: Hiring Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein to pull another Edna Turnblad. Meaning that Harvey would dress in drag every night in order to put his own special spin on the Sea Witch).
Seeing Fierstein dress in drag to play Ursula wouldn’t be all that shocking to theater-goers who’ve already seen his Tony Award-winning turns in “Torch Song Trilogy” and “Hairspray.” (And — to be honest — after hearing Harvey croak his way through “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” now audiences would finally understand why the Sea Witch really wanted to get her hands on Ariel’s voice.) But — given that Disney Theatrical prides itself on producing family-friendly entertainment (More importantly, that your typical audience member for a Disney Broadway doesn’t actually have a lot of experience with attending other Broadway shows), it seems kind of unlikely that Mickey would have the cojones necessary to cast Mr. Fierstein as Ursula.
Which really is a shame. Given — as the well-recieved recasting of Broadway’s “Fiddler on the Roof” revival is now proving — sometimes it really pays to put Harvey in a somewhat unlikely sounding part.
Speaking of “Fiddler on the Roof” … Did you see who’s now playing Golde to Fierstein’s Tevye? “Second City Television” favorite (and Tony Award winner) Andrea Martin.
Now where this gets interesting is that this isn’t the first time Ms. Martin has been cast to play the long-suffering wife of that Russian milkman. How many of you remember that — almost two years ago — that ABC was getting ready to produce a three-hour-long TV movie version of this memorable musical? Which was to have featured Andrea as Golde, opposite “Alias” ‘s Victor Garber in the role of Tevye?
That television program — which was to have been produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the same folks who did “Annie” & “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” for Disney — was literally weeks away from shooting when the network suddenly got cold feet. Not because of the subject matter, mind you. But because of the war in the Middle East.
You see, Disney’s insurance company was concerned — what with “Fiddler” slated to shot in Prague in the late spring/early summer of 2003 — that production of this TV movie could potentially be interrupted by the war. To make matters worse, the insurance company was also insisting that Storyline Entertainment (I.E. Zadan & Meron’s production company) hire additional on-set security in order to keep Garber, Martin et al safe from potential terrorist threats.
Given that these additional security costs were turning an already expensive project into a prohibitively expensive one, Craig & Neil reluctantly pulled the plug on their “Fiddler” TV movie. With the idea being that — once the war was over and it was safe for their cast to once again travel overseas — that they’d then put this production back in motion.
Of course, given that the situation in the Middle East now seems somewhat open-ended, Storyline Entertainment supposedly has a different battle plan in place for their “Fiddler” TV movie. Which is to wait until the current Broadway revival ends its run in NYC and then completes a nationwide tour, THEN make the three-hour movie television version for ABC.
Now where this gets interesting is that Zadan & Meron — under their Zadan/Meron movie production banner — just signed with New Line Pictures to produce the movie version of Harvey Fierstein’s last Broadway hit, “Hairspray.” The musical version of this 1988 John Waters movie is actually supposed to begin production in Baltimore later this year, with the finished film due to hit theaters sometime in 2006.
Now wouldn’t it be funny that — as they’re working with Harvey on “Hairspray” — that Craig & Neil come to think of Fierstein as the absolutely perfect person to play Tevye in their “Fiddler” TV movie? So that — when it’s finally time to go over to Prague and shoot this picture — that it’s Harvey working with Andrea Martin again.
Unfortunately, that project is still a few years off. In the meantime, Zadan and Meron are already hard at work on their next project. Which they’ll be making with Dean Deblois, the co-director of Disney’s animated hit, “Lilo & Stitch.” Craig & Neil will be handling the production end of Dean’s next picture. Which will feature some animation but — truth be told — will mostly be a live action film.
This motion picture — tentatively entitled “Banshee” — will be a period piece set in Ireland. When I spoke with Deblois at last year’s Comic Con, he described the film as being family-friendly but suspenseful. Being in the tradition of such Disney films from the 1970s as “Escape from Witch Mountain.” As for details on the movie’s story … They’re all being carefully kept under wraps right now. Except (of course) for the few bare bones plot points that were leaked out to the trades a few months back. Which described “Banshee” as being about …
” … a boy who is ignored by the world and pretends to be a ghost?until he comes into contact with a real ghost.”
As for Dean’s old partner — Chris Sanders — he’s already at work on a new project of his own. A CG animated feature for Disney entitled “American Dog.” Which isn’t due to hit theaters ’til sometime in late 2006 /early 2007.
Speaking of animation … I got a lot of e-mail this past weekend about all the concept art that was featured in Friday’s “Why For” column. It seems that you JHM readers just can’t get enough looks at what-might-have-been.
Well, with the hope that the following images will help make your Monday happier, I’ve unearthed a few more images from Maroon Studios. You know, the “Roger Rabbit” -themed area that was supposedly to be built as part of the Sunset Boulevard expansion project at Disney-MGM?
Anyway, what follows are some concept shots for a restaurant that was proposed for Maroon Studios: The Toon Commissary.
Copyright 1989. The Walt Disney Company.
The basic idea behind this restaurant was this was where the toon stars would dine when they weren’t busy making pictures for R.K. Maroon. This explains the Imagineer’s somewhat toony take on the place. From its “Caution! Wet Floor!” sign …
Copyright 1989. The Walt Disney Company.
… right down to the entrees that this restaurant would serve. Check out those baby carrots!
Copyright 1989. The Walt Disney Company.
Of course, while you were dining at the Toon Commissary, rubberhead versions of Roger, Mickey, Donald, Goofy and the gang would invariably wander through. Signing autographs, posing for pictures, etc.
Sounds like a pretty entertaining place to eat, don’t you think? So why didn’t Disney actually build the thing? It’s the same old story, folks. Steven Spielberg and the Mouse got into a p*ssing contest over who really controlled the rights to the “Roger Rabbit” characters. The end result was — over the past 10 years — virtually nothing of size has been done with these characters.
Which is really a shame. Given that I know that Disney’s already got a couple of scripts on file for “Roger Rabbit” sequels. And there’s at least one or two of these screenplays (Chief among these “Roger Rabbit II: Toon Platoon” and “Who Discovered Roger Rabbit?”) that would make really entertaining films. Remind me to tell you about them someday.
Well, that’s pretty much it for this week’s “Monday Mélange.” Except — of course — for this week’s JHM trivia contest.
In honor of Harvey Fierstein and Andrea Martin (I.E. The once and future Tevye & Golda), I thought that I’d make this week’s questions fairly easy for JimHillMedia.com readers. And the question is:
Andrea Martin & Harvey Fierstein both have ties to Disney animation. Can you name the movie and/or the TV show that these two Tony Award winners have done voice work for?
BONUS QUESTION: What were the characters’ names?
Just send your answers in an e-mail to me at jim@jimhillmedia.com. Later this week (on Friday, to be exact), I’ll announce which three randomly selected winners will recieve their very own bag of fresh roasted, whole bean “Just Plain Joe” Coffee.
That’s it for today, folks. Hope you enjoyed the somewhat random mix of this week’s “Mélange.” Talk to you tomorrow, okay?
jrh