ImmyJ79 writes:
I’m just curious…..
How many of you have ever heard of this musical, “Once on This Island”? If not, here’s a little summary:
“Set in the Caribbean, “Once on This Island” tells the mythical tale of a beautiful peasant girl (Ti Moune) who saves the life of a young Mulatto aristocrat (Daniel) after his car crashes near her rural village. Ti Moune pledges her own life to the god of Death in order to keep the boy alive; when he survives, Ti Moune becomes convinced that the powerful gods of her island have destined her to share his life. Against the warnings of her beloved parents, Ti Moune sets off on a journey to find Daniel and convince him that he must marry her; she becomes his mistress and he falls in love her. But at a magnificent ball where she is presented to the island society, Ti Moune learns that Daniel’s parents have already arranged for their son’s marriage to a girl from his own class. In despair, and goaded on by the god of Death, Ti Moune tries to kill Daniel, but at the last moment, her love for him triumphs. Ti Moune fulfills her promise to the gods, proving the power of love by giving her life in exchange for Daniel’s. “
Song clips can be found here.
Basically, it’s “Little Mermaid” on land, but more spiritual and energetic.
Now, wouldn’t this make the best Disney Feature Animation? I absolutely love this show and the music is awesome. I think transforming this show into a new Disneymovie would bring back so much that Disney has been missing these past few years. It’s romantic, musical, fun, and such a beautiful story.
Would love to hear anybody’s comments on this idea. Also, how can I help show Disney this wonderful musical and it’s potential?
Jimmy 🙂
Actually, Jim, I’m not sure if anyone at the Walt Disney Company has ever considered turning the stage version of “Once on This Island” into a feature length cartoon. But I do know that – for a number of years now – the Mouse has been eager to get into bed with the folks who created the songs for “Island” : composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynne Arhens.
Of course, nowaday, Flaherty & Arhens are probably better known for their Tony Award winning work for the musical, “Ragtime,” as well as their Academy Award nominated score for 20th Century Fox’s feature length cartoon, “Anastasia.” But what Disney had in mind wasn’t to have Stephen and Lynne write songs for a brand new stage musical or another animated film. But – rather – create a score for a brand new musical for ABC television … which was to have starred and been produced by pop music diva Whitney Houston.
Disney saw this project – a radical retelling of “Sleeping Beauty” that was to have been set in Spain – as the natural follow-up for Houston’s 1997 version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella.” That Emmy Award winning production is what spurred Mickey to get back into the musicals-for-television business, with “Annie” in November 1999, “Geppetto” in May 2000 and “The Music Man” debuting in February 2003.
Flaherty & Aherns finished work on their score (“With lots of Spanish guitars and rhythms,” or so said Stephen) back in early 1999. Screenwriter Richard Kramer – best known for his work on the late, lamented ABC family drama series, “Once & Again” – crafted a script that had a rather interesting take on the “Sleeping Beauty” tale. It played up the psychological side of the story, adding more than a dash of sex to the proceedings.
Had things gone according to plan, Disney’s all-new musical version of “Sleeping Beauty” would have been shot during the summer of 2000 (with Whitney Houston in the pseudo Malificent role) and aired on ABC in either February or May 2001 (As a special programming event for the crucial “Sweeps” ratings period) … But then the summer of 2000 came & went and “Sleeping Beauty” never went before the cameras.
What happened? Some suggest that it was the abysmal reviews and mediocre ratings that “Geppetto” racked up earlier that spring that made Disney think twice about doing yet another original musical for television. But other company insiders whisper that it was actually Whitney Houston’s pot bust in January 2000 (During a routine inspection at Kaehole-Kona International Airport in Hawaii, security staffers found a bag containing 15.2 ounces of marijuana in Ms. Houston’s luggage) that made Mickey think twice about moving forward with this particular project.
Whatever the cause, this all-new version of “Sleeping Beauty” has been on the back burner at Disney for over two years now. Whitney’s production company – Brown House Productions – still insists that this original TV musical is in active development. Though when I spoke with PR reps for that firm earlier this week, no one could give me any definitive information about proposed casting on the project, when shooting might start, etc.
But – what the hey – remember that this is Hollywood we’re talking about here, folks. A place where things (and studio heads) can change virtually overnight. And – given that Brown House Productions actually churned one of Disney’s only hits during the summer of 2001 (“The Princess Diaries”) and that Mickey’s extremely anxious for production of “Princess Diaries II” to get underway soon – it’s not too farfetched to imagine that, in order to make Ms. Houston happy, Disney might actually put the musical version of “Sleeping Beauty” back in ABC’s production pipeline.
But – for now – Disney seems to be concentrating on taking already established stage musicals and turning them into special event programming for ABC. Academy Award winners Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz are supposedly adapting their score for Disney’s animated 1996 musical, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” for use in an all-new live action TV movie version of the Victor Hugo story (Which will air on “The Wonderful World of Disney” sometime in late 2003 / early 2004).
Back in August of 2000, Disney also acquired the TV movie remake rights to that long running Broadway hit, “Fiddler on the Roof.” The Mouse has reportedly had informal discussions with “Seinfeld” vet Jason Alexander about the sitcom star signing on to play Tevye in the three hour long adaptation of the beloved stage musical. But any further talk of a TV movie version of “Fiddler” will have to wait ’til late 2003 – when Jason finishes up playing Max Bialystock in the eagerly awaited West Coast version of Mel Brooks’ smash hit, “The Producers.”
And let’s not forget about Disney’s long delayed TV movie version of “Mame” (First it was Barbra Streisand who was holding up production because she couldn’t decide if she wanted to play the role that Angela Lansbury had made famous back in the late 1960s. Now it’s Cher who supposedly can’t decide if she wants to “Open a New Window” or not). So maybe Disney’s new “Sleeping Beauty” isn’t really being held up because of Mickey’s having second thoughts about this TV musical’s potentially low ratings score. Or because the Mouse reportedly has concerns about Ms. Houston’s alleged drug problem. Maybe the project actually has been on the back burner because Disney does have too many musicals already in development for ABC.
But – if you’re still serious about making Disney aware of the great movie musical possibilities to be found in “Once on this Island, ” ImmyJ79 – then I suggest you lob a letter at Craig Zadan & Neil Meron of Storyline Entertainment care of Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, CA. Craig & Neil are the guys who actually rode herd on Disney’s live action TV movie versions of “Cinderella” and “Annie.” If anyone can convince the Mouse to turn “Islands” into a feature length animated cartoon, these are probably the guys.
Michael Crawford writes:
Hey Jim, likin’ da page…
Anyway, I request a scoop. EPCOT. What’s going on with that? It was one thing when they killed almost all the reasons that I personally liked the park; they wouldn’t care because I’m just one guy. But the fact remains that their numbers are in the toilet and going south. So are they going to do anything? Is it a priority at all? Will Mission: Space be anything more than a Gravitron? Is AT&T really dropping out of Spaceship Earth?
EPCOT has lost any semblance of shared vision or cohesion. It used to be my favorite Disney park. Are they going to do anything, or just let it rot?
thanks in advance for any info
milk
Michael,
I’m glad to hear that you’re “likin’ da page.” As for revealing what’s going on with Epcot (Specifically, what’s going wrong with Epcot) … Sigh … How much time have you got, Michael?
Because it’s going to take a while to tell the Epcot story right. What Walt originally wanted to build. What Card Walker eventually decided to build instead. The dozens of daringly different pavilions and attractions that WDI initially proposed for this project … only to have their ideas shot down by Disney’s far too conservative management and/or because no sponsor would come forward to pick up the tab for these extravagant attractions.
Tell you what, Michael. In honor of Epcot’s 20th anniversary, we’re going to launch a brand new series here at JimHillMedia.com next month. A multi-part saga that will explore the entire history of this much maligned project. We’ll take you from Walt’s original dream of a futuristic city to Card’s creatively compromised theme park. We’ll reveal those weird little moments in the park’s history (Like when Marty Sklar and John Hench suddenly realized that – if they jammed together WED’s scale models for the World Showcase dining & shopping district and the Future World theme center together – they just might have the makings of a halfway decent theme park) as well as the truly sad times (Like when dipping attendance levels at Epcot Center resulted in Ron Miller losing his job as head of Walt Disney Productions).
We’ll also take a look at Epcot’s future. Will “Mission: Space” alone be enough to bring attendance at this WDW theme park back to acceptable levels? (The Imagineers seem to think so. Friends at WDI keep telling me that “Mission Space”‘s centrifuge-based ride system will deliver thrills that theme park visitors have never ever experienced before. Simulated G forces pressing you down into your chair during blast-off. Not to mention floating up out of that same chair as your ride vehicle experiences a brief moment of weightlessness … Here’s hoping that this soon-to-be-opened Future World show really does deliver the goods.) Or is the Mouse really going to have to fall back on “Plan B,” which allegedly involves turning World Showcase into an enormous Pleasure Island after 7 p.m. each night?
Come back in October, Michael … And I promise that I’ll give you an earful on Epcot.
And – finally – Woody Pecked Mickey, while commenting on yesterday’s “Toad You So!” story, said:
I don’t know why Jim didn’t mention Disney’s closing of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”
You wanna know the real reason that Mickey decided to shut down WDW’s “20,000 Leagues” ride, WPM? That attraction was very expensive to operate (Particularly when you factor in that lengthy rehab that “20K” had to undergo every year in order to keep those colorful coral reefs & pretty plastic fish looking sharp). Plus there were also some environmental concerns (Cast members that worked at the attraction who felt sick from constantly breathing in all the diesel fumes from the sub’s engines had allegedly threatened to report “20K” to the EPA).
That’s why Disney decided to sink the subs. Not because they had a better attraction waiting in the wings. But just to avoid the mounting costs as well as the potential liability involved to continue to operate “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” at WDW’s Magic Kingdom.
Of course, staying true to form, Disney’s publicity department insisted – when asked – that WDW’s subs weren’t actually closing permanently. Even though an article had appeared in “Eyes and Ears” (the official weekly newspaper for WDW Cast members) that flat out stated that this Fantasyland attraction would be shutting down for good on September 5, 1994, Disney World’s marketing department still insisted that this had just been a misprint. That “20,000 Leagues” was only closing for its usual lengthy rehab. That this Fantasyland favorite would re-open again … eventually.
What I personally found galling about how Disney’s PR department behaved during the period surrounding WDW’s “20,000 Leagues”‘s closing was how open and arrogant these people were when it came to their lies. Case in point: A friend of Michelle and I – a stringer for Reuters – came out to the Magic Kingdom that afternoon to get pictures of the last sub as it pulled away from the dock.
The very next day, Reuters made these photographs available to newspapers around the globe – along with a caption that read “Last voyage for Disney World’s ‘20,000 League’ ride.” Which it was.
The very next day, Disney World publicity contacted Reuters and insisted that the news syndicate issue a correction or retraction for that photograph’s caption. For their photographer was wrong. WDW’s “20,000 Leagues” was NOT closing permanently. This Magic Kingdom attraction would be re-opening … eventually.
So Reuters issued the correction / retraction that the Walt Disney Company was asking for. The news syndicate then told our photographer friend that – due to the errors that he’d made in reporting the Magic Kingdom story – Reuters would no longer be accepting any more of his pictures. For fear of being stuck with yet another news item that they’d eventually have to print a retraction for.
Mind you, my friend’s photography career did eventually recover. But that incident with Reuters was a definite set-back. All because some PR flak at the Mouse House wasn’t ready for this particular piece of info to leak out to the mainstream press yet. That WDW’s “20,000 Leagues” really was closing for good.
It took Disney World’s publicity department ’til early 1996 to finally admit the obvious. That the “20,000 Leagues Ride Under the Sea” ride at the Magic Kingdom was NOT re-opening. Still – trying to put the best possible face on this incredibly awkward situation – WDW’s marketing department now insisted that a “significant new attraction” was currently under development at WDI. More importantly, that Disney expected to unveil the resort’s new plans for the “20K” lagoon “sometime very soon.”
That was over six years ago, folks … And I’m still waiting for that official announcement from WDW’s publicity department about what the Imagineers intend to do with the “20,000 Leagues” lagoon. Not to mention a long overdue apology for my photographer friend. A guy who ended up being professionally penalized by Disney’s PR staff … All because he got a story right.
Okay … That’s enough venting about WDW’s inept PR department for one day. Thanks again for all your kind notes and e-mails about the site, folks. Also thanks to all of you who submitted designs for last week’s “Why For” logo contest. Jon, Michelle and I will be reviewing the designs this coming weekend and announcing a winner sometime early next week. Thanks again for all your effort.
That’s it for now. See you all again on Monday,
jrh