Will Disney ever take this to Broadway?
They don't need to since they have Frozen heading there.
No. And not no in the way that Aladdin originally wasn't intended for Broadway, then they retooled it and sent it there--no in the way that Menken&co will never agree to the changes that Disney Theatrical wanted in order to put the show on Broadway.
They wanted to revert the show back to the happy ending that they tried out in that high school production on Youtube--Esmeralda lives, Frollo realizes he's become a monster and runs away, movie ending where everyone accepts Quasimodo and it ends on a positive note.
They wanted to completely axe the choir, due to the fact that Broadway would require a union choir and that would add a serious chunk of change to the show's production cost.
They wanted to remove the more adult elements that they introduced for this version, including more blatant references to lust and sex (calling people whores, a gypsy references Frollo having a boner, Frollo says Quasimodo is 'growing into a man' and Esmeralda is tempting him with lustful feelings, Frollo basically mimes jerking it during Hellfire at one point, etc)
Too expensive and too adult for Disney. If it was a property that wasn't originally a Disney animated film, they would have probably done it (like Aida) but parents would associate it with the cartoon. There were already walk-outs at the La Jolla and Papermill production from parents who didn't pay attention to the content warnings.
It's a shame we won't get another production with this cast. But there's already 4-5 productions of the show coming in 2016-2017, so there's that.
I'm worried that the upcoming Anastasia musical will share the same fate. They're stripping the story down and rewriting it to be more realistic/no cartoonish elements. I don't think it'll be nearly as dark as Hunchback, at least.
>>80502500
I wish, but there's no way they can have four shows running at once. Between Aladdin, The Lion King, and Frozen, there's already a risk of Disney shows eating into the audiences of other Disney shows. A fourth one would just be too much.
>>80502806
How do you know all this stuff? I'm especially surprised that there were people who walked out of the original productions. To me, this show wasn't any more adult than Into the Woods, which Disney made into a movie and will now always be associated with Disney.
>They wanted to revert the show back to the happy ending that they tried out in that high school production on Youtube--Esmeralda lives, Frollo realizes he's become a monster and runs away, movie ending where everyone accepts Quasimodo and it ends on a positive note.
To be honest, I was okay with all that. My problem was with Frollo's backstory reverting to the movie one and much of what made him sympathetic in the stage version being undone.
>>80502966
That hawkgirl?
>>80503548
>How do you know all this stuff?
Some of the after-show talks they did with the cast and crew, talking with the cast myself, along with bits and pieces from interviews and statements from the creative team made after it closed. Menken specifically went into Disney wanting to get rid of the choir, something he refused to do... I don't blame him, the show is so unbelievably rich with the choir in it.
>I'm especially surprised that there were people who walked out of the original productions.
there are parents who are really sensitive about anything they deem "adult material." Even though both productions had notes about the content when you bought the tickets... Papermill even suggested 12 and up.
Yes, if the King's Academy version had the La Jolla backstory, the "Frollo realizing he's become a monster and running away" ending would make more sense and could be interesting. But I don't mind the sadder ending. I'm also one of the few people that wasn't totally outraged by how they reworked Someday, I feel the new version is more appropriate to the show's tone--it's desperate and sad, rather than being this big hopeful bombastic number.
>>80503600
yup
Regarding the choir, it would have been very expensive on Broadway. Because Actor's Equity requires a minimum salary of $1,861 per week for any actor in a musical--plus $20 if they're in a chorus role. So that's minimum $1881 per choir member per week, and the show required 32 choir members. That's $60,192 per week on the chorus alone.
>>80503779
What they did with Someday makes complete sense, but I'll never understand their decision to cut A Guy Like You. It's like their minds were shrouded with imagery from the film version, and they forgot that when performed on stage, the song is one of the most brilliant, subtly dark comic relief numbers ever.
>>80504261
I think they felt the song was too lighthearted, but as we've seen with the German stage version, the song doesn't have to be played as silly on stage. They did the same with Court of Miracles. The song is not lighthearted by any means in the movie, but for the stage version they slowed it down and made it more menacing.
>>80502530
This. Frozen is going to be a guaranteed success while Hunchback has been one of their lesser known movies. Frozen is definitely the obvious choice to bring to Broadway.
>>80503548
>I wish, but there's no way they can have four shows running at once. Between Aladdin, The Lion King, and Frozen, there's already a risk of Disney shows eating into the audiences of other Disney shows. A fourth one would just be too much.
Also this. Say you're a family of four going on vacation in New York. Unless you're super fucking rich, you'd probably only be able to afford seeing one or two shows. Most people would likely pick one of the other three shows before Hunchback. And that's not taking non-Disney shows into account.
>>80504261
I suppose "Flight Into Egypt" is supposed to be spiritual substitute for "A Guy Like You" in this version of the musical?
>>80502530
I wonder what they're going to do with Olaf and Sven.
I can't imagine they'll cut them from the Frozen show because of the Frozen hype being so recent. It wasn't that big of a deal for Aladdin to cut Abu and make Iago a human sidekick, but Olaf and Sven? Hmmm.
>>80504494
Flight into Egypt occupies the same place in the story, yes. It has the Gargoyles (or the choir, if we want to drop their original name entirely) convincing Quasimodo to chase after Esmeralda and be a real hero like in the Bible. A Guy Like You had them trying to convince Quasimodo he's capable of being loved not by explaining that love isn't based solely on looks, but by trying to convince him that it's possible for someone to be attracted to ugliness. It feels out-of-place in the movie, and the visuals make it even weirder, but it was hilariously dark in the German version, and the upbeat tempo just made it even moreso.
>>80504500
If they could get all of Lion King's cast and the enchanted objects from Beauty and the Beast to work, then they can figure out something for Olaf.
Ideally, they would just take Sven out entirely. He honestly has no real reason to be there.
>you'll never see this smile on Broadway
>>80504741
or this heartbreak
>>80504741
>>80504983
It was weird to me how they went out of their way to make him sound like he had Down's syndrome, then had him explain he was deafened by the ringing of the bells. Is that a lie he tells because he's embarrassed about being retarded?
>>80505666
>then had him explain he was deafened by the ringing of the bells.
>Is that a lie he tells because he's embarrassed about being retarded?
The reason he talks like that is because of the bells, although the actor made it even more exaggerated than Charles Laughton and other actors normally do.
One of the running themes for Quasimodo in the show is that it is other people's treatment of him that makes him seem "different." Whenever he was alone, or singing to himself, he sounded "normal" and confident and sure of himself, and had almost no problems talking or getting his point across. Whenever Frollo entered, or people who dismissed him as the freakish hunchback talked to him, he immediately reverted back to sounding more disabled, stumbling over his words, cowering, etc
