Disney theatrical musicals

[Bill1978]

(And wait, whut...are we really getting an Anastasia musical? Is that just nostalgia, is it Fox trying to get their feet into Corporate Studio Broadway, or is Don Bluth still determined to "protest" Disney's marketing by matching every equivalent Anastasia product as he was in 1997, only now with the stage musicals instead of the ice shows and Sea World Orlando attraction?)

The world sure is, it is already heading to out of town tryouts with the goal to get to Broadway. The original songwriters have contributed more songs with apparently one song from the movie cut - my guess Rasputin's.

https://www.hartfordstage.org/anastasia

Back to Frozen, I still won't get excited for the play until I have heard the cast recording. When the Hunchback recording was released I decided to listen to all the Disney Broadway recordings, and even though they all have they good points to them musically it was only Beauty and Hunchback that I was able to follow the plot of the musical with. Even though I know the plot of the movies for all the others, the additional songs did not help me to visualise what was happening on stage and quite often there seemed to be big gaps in the story. Hopefully Frozen will avoid those pitfalls. I'd also like them to rework the ending so Hans wasn't an out of nowhere villain. Although I imagine the production will probably give him a song to sing where he declares he is a villain earlier.

[Dan]

To be fair, the cast recordings do not give the whole spectrum of the show. Not to mention some songs and numbers don't make the albums altogether, so the cast recordings are pretty much elaborate music albums that, while carry out a story, doesn't tell the whole story (another reason I note the Hunchback recording is not perfect in my review). The only recordings that come close to covering the full spectrum are from sung-through shows (essentially singing almost all the time) like Les Miserables and Rent, and even then they don't have everything.

It'll be fun to see what Robert and Kristen spin together, particularly as it is essentially a follow up to their show Up Here.

[James]

Once Upon a Stage: 30 Years of Disney on Broadway
https://animatedviews.com/2025/once-upon-a-stage-30-years-of-disney-on-broadway/

"Disney Theatrical Productions is celebrating 30 years on Broadway with an exhibit at Epcot in the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Part of the park’s annual International Festival of the Arts celebration, the exhibit runs through February 24th. Check out our photos from the event below, as well as Disney’s rundown of their past three decades on the Great White Way."

And just a heads up that I merged all the Disney musical threads into this one.

[Ben]

Disney celebrates being on Broadway…1000 miles away!

Had no idea Hercules was happening until I saw a bus shelter ad just before Christmas, but looks like they’re going to continue to mine the catalog for more shows. I wonder whatever happened to The Jungle Book? And I love how Newsies went from being this obscure and pretty loopy flop movie to a massive stage hit.

[Jérémie]

Will see Hercules this fall. Can't wait !

[James]

Disney celebrates being on Broadway…1000 miles away!

Disney actually has two reasons for doing it here. First, there is a bit of a connection. Epcot has an arts festival every January to February and from the very first year it started, each evening has ended with a concert by various rotating Broadway stars who have been in Disney productions performing songs from Disney shows.

The second reason? Disney opened a purpose built event space at Epcot last January and has yet to use it yet! This part of the park was closed for an extremely long time and this space in particular was called "the final piece in the reimagining of Epcot". When it opened in 2024, reviews were not kind. (See here, here, here, and here for some damning examples!) This exhibit is the first time guests are getting to see the space used for something other than cafeteria style seating.