No doubt you heard the news last week. All those high profile stories about how Disney Theatrical and Broadway impresario Cameron Mackintosh (the producer of such long running hits as “Cats” and “Les Miserables”) – after years of haggling – have finally come to terms. How these two theatrical giants have finally hammered out a co-production deal which will allow the long awaited stage version of “Mary Poppins” to go forward.
The only problem is … that’s ALL that’s been agreed upon to date. Mouse House reps and Cameron’s crew have yet to agree on who’s going to direct the show, who’s going to write the book, and – most importantly – which poor actress is going to attempt to fill Julie Andrews’ Oscar winning shoes as the “practically perfect” English nanny.
So – since all of these crucial creative decisions have yet to be made – it looks like it’s going to be at least three years before the stage version of “Mary Poppins” finally gets off the ground. Beyond that initial co-production agreement, the only other thing that Disney & Mackintosh have agreed on is that “Poppins” will have its world premiere in London, rather than Broadway.
Why London? Not for the reason that you might think (I.E. The story of “Mary Poppins” is actually set in London. Which is what might make it a somewhat logical choice for the stage version of this film to debut over there). But – rather — because Mackintosh insisted on it.
And – since Disney couldn’t go forward with a stage version of this much beloved movie musical without Cameron’s permission (Why? Well, because – while Mickey holds the copyright to the Sherman Brothers songs used in the 1964 Academy Award winning film – Mackintosh has the all-important theatrical rights to the P.L. Travers books that the Disney film was based on) – what Mackintosh wants, Mackintosh gets.
So – if the “Poppins” project sticks to its very tentative timetable – the stage version of the film (Which will reportedly feature Mary making her big entrance in the show by flying in directly OVER the audience) will debut in London sometime during the 2004 – 2005 season. The Broadway version of the show will allegedly pop up in NYC a year or so later.
So does that mean that all us stateside Disneyana / theater fans will have to wait ’til 2006 before we get to see a brand new Disney stage show? Hardly. According to my sources at Disney Theatrical, the Mouse has no less than four other stage shows currently in the works. And the current plan is to have one new brand Disney Theatrical production open on Broadway every season from here on.
So what’s up next from the Mouse? First up should be “Hoopz,” a musical that’s loosely based on the history of the Harlem Globetrotters. This is the show that Disney Theatrical has actually had in the works for a number of years now. Savion Glover – of “Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk” fame – actually starred in & directed a workshop version of the show back in 2000. At that time, “Hoopz” featured music by jazz artist Brandford Marsalis as well as choreographic contributions from Reg E Gaines & Kenny Leon.
But – in the end – Disney Theatrical decided that it didn’t really like Savion’s take on the material. So it shoved Glover aside (Not to worry, though. Savion’s already at work on another basketball themed musical. What’s that show’s title? The appropriate if somewhat simplistic “Ball.” Anywho … ) and brought in a brand new creative team.
Now riding herd on “Hoopz” is director Marion McClinton & playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. Parks – who is probably best known for her work on the Pulitzer Prize winning play, “Topdog/Underdog” – has radically overhauled the show’s book, while composer Jeanine Tesori has fashioned an all-new score.
If all goes according to plan, Disney Theatrical will mount yet another workshop production of “Hoopz” in NYC early next year (Perhaps Disney will end up unveiling its revamped Globetrotters musical at the Westbeth Theatre Center, the very same rehearsal space that Savion Glover used to stage his version of the show). After that (Provided – of course — that the new workshop goes well), Disney plans to take “Hoopz” out of town – staging a full blown production of the musical in Providence, R.I. as part of the Trinity Repertory Company’s 2003 – 2004 season.
Of course, should the new version of “Hoopz” not make the cut either, not to worry. Disney’s already got Ariel warming up in the wings.
“Ariel?!” Yep, You heard right, folks. Even as we speak, the Mouse is getting ready to mount an elaborate live stage version of Disney’s 1989 animated hit, “The Little Mermaid.” Director / choreographer Matthew Bourne (who’s probably best known in theatrical circles for his all-male version of “Swan Lake,” which won him the 1999 Tony Award for Best Choreographer as well as Best Director) is the guy who Disney tapped to translate Ariel’s tail … er … tale. Lez Brotherston has also been signed to design the sets & costumes for the stage version of the 1989 animated musical.
Speaking of “The Little Mermaid”‘s music … Given that the original film only had seven songs (“Fathoms Below,” “Daughters of Triton,” “Part of Your World,” “Under the Sea,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” “Les Poissons” and “Kiss the Girls),” the stage version is going to need at least 5 or 6 new songs to help pad out the evening’s entertainment. And given that Alan Menken’s original collaborator – the late, great Howard Ashman – is no longer with us, Menken had to recruit a new writing partner – lyricist Glenn Slater – to help him fashion some new numbers for Sebastian et al to sing.
So who’s Glenn Slater? He’s this extremely gifted lyricist who was recently named as one of Variety Magazine’s “50 Creatives to Watch.” Winner of the 1996 Kleban award for lyrics, Glenn has been collaborating with Alan for a couple of years now. Menken & Slater have already written songs for Disney’s forthcoming cartoon western, “Home on the Range” as well as the Mouse’s extremely ambitious (though currently on hold) live action / animated fairy tale spoof, “Enchanted.”
(I’ve also heard that Menken and Slater have put together a couple of new songs for that new “Aladdin – Live on Stage” show, which will be staged at DCA’s Hyperion Theater starting this December. A sampling of one of those songs – a new ballad for Princess Jasmine entitled “To Be Free” – is currently on file over at www.mouseinfo.com. To hear that sampling [as well as read Mouseinfo’s excellent coverage of the “Aladdin – Live on Stage” press conference], follow this link.)
Mind you, Disney’s live stage version of “The Little Mermaid” will have to wait ’til Bourne wraps up his next project. “And what’s that?,” you ask. A ballet based on Tim Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands” (Which will feature a new musical score by Danny Elfman).
And this delay is what may allow Bob Crowley – best known as the director / designer of Disney Theatrical’s Tony Award winner “Aida” – to get his own new stage project off the ground ahead of Bourne’s “Mermaid” and McClinton’s “Hoopz.” “And what show is that?,” you ask. How about an environmental musical based on Disney’s animated version of “Tarzan”?
And what’s an environmental musical? The idea behind this experimental staging of the show is that the legend of Tarzan (featuring Phil Collins’ Academy Award winning songs & score) would be played out all around the theatre-goers. With a set that’s made up of huge trees that jut right up out of the auditorium floor, which (in theory) would allow cast members to move about the theater by swinging on vines. Right over the audience’s head.
Disney Theatrical envisions Crowley’s proposed stage version of “Tarzan” as their opportunity to break into Cirque de Soleil’s niche. market. An extravaganza that they could stage in the round in an enormous circus tent that they’d be able to truck from town to town. Which would allow the Mouse to take their new stage version of “Tarzan” to parts of the country that typical Broadway shows don’t usually reach. Which (potentially) would allow Mickey to tap into virtually untapped markets.
Sounds like a fun show, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not the only innovative, somewhat edgy show that Disney Theatrical has in the works. I mean, let’s not forget about Julie Taymor’s ambitious follow-up to her Tony Award winning version of “The Lion King.” This time around, Taymor’s attempting to take Disney’s 1940 animated classic, “Pinocchio,” and adapt that to the stage.
Given Julie’s affinity for working with puppets, this project would seem to be a natural for the visionary director. But Taymor’s reportedly not taking the easy route. Based on what I’ve been hearing, she plans a very loose adaptation of the much beloved Disney film, which will mix Ned Washington, Paul J. Smith & Leigh Harline’s Oscar winning score in with a new book that the director will base on the film’s script as well as story ideas culled from Carlo Collodi’s original satiric novel.
Reportedly working with Taymor on her adaptation of “Pinocchio” are her long-term partner & collaborator, composer Elliot Goldenthal, as well as novelist Robert Coover (who’s actually written an adult novel, “Pinocchio in Venice”). Julie hopes that her take on the much loved story will be “a whacked-out, commedia dell’arte style, funky, hand-made, nasty-edge theatre, with a rambunctious, wild, edgy quality.”
Sounds pretty bizarre, eh? Well, keep in mind that – just because a show is announced (or even gets a workshop production) – that doesn’t necessarily mean that Disney will actually get around to producing a full blown version of that particular show. After all, look what happened with the first production of “Hoopz” and/or “When You Wish” (Tina Landua’s musical revue that featured a decontructionist take on classic Disney songs like “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Someday My Prince Will Come” and “Bibbity Bobbity Boo.” This show had a full blown workshop production earlier this year which starred Faith Prince & Douglas Sills. But there’s no word yet as to whether Disney has any plans to do any further development of this show).
If none of the shows mentioned in this article ever make it out of the rehearsal hall, not to worry. Disney Theatrical has even more ideas for shows in the works. Among the concepts that they’re currently kicking around are a Broadway musical based on “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” as well as a play-with-music version of Touchstone Pictures’ 1989 release, “The Dead Poets Society.”
All this – plus supposedly a stateside tour of the live stage version of Disney’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame” (which is now the longest running show in Berlin theater history) – means that all us Broadway & Disneyana fans will have plenty to occupy our time while we wait patiently for the theatrical version of “Mary Poppins” to cross the Atlantic.
Provided – of course – that any of these proposed shows actually survive their workshop production. After all, how many of you folks out there got to see the “Invisible Man” musical that Disney Theatrical had in the works a few years back? See what I mean?
Your thoughts?