Disney Theatrical Productions

Producing Broadway Musicals the Disney Way

Amy Osatinski, Amy S. Osatinski

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429662744
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

Disney Theatrical Productions: Producing Broadway Musicals the Disney Way is the first work of scholarship to comprehensively examine the history and production practices of Disney Theatrical Productions (DTP), the theatrical producing arm of the studio branch of the Walt Disney Corporation.

This book uncovers how DTP has forged a new model for producing large-scale musicals on Broadway by functioning as an independent theatrical producer under the umbrella of a large entertainment corporation. Case studies of three productions (The Lion King, Tarzan, and Newsies) demonstrate the flexibility and ingenuity of DTP, and showcase the various production models that the company has employed over the years. Exploring topics such as the history of DTP, its impact on the revitalization of Times Square, and its ability to open up a new audience base for Broadway theatre, this volume examines the impact that DTP has had on American musicals, both domestically and internationally, and how its accomplishments have helped reshape the Broadway landscape.

This book is relevant to students in Musical Theatre, History of Musical Theatre, Theatre History, and Arts Management courses, along with general Disney enthusiasts.

Part I

ONCE UPON A TIME

D I S N E Y E N T E R S T H E
G R E A T W H I T E W A Y

1

B E O U R G U E S T

D I S N E Y ’ S B E A U T Y A N D
T H E B E A S T

The 1980s were a tough decade for Disney animated features. Disney had a string of artistically barren films, leading to speculation about the future of the company. However, in 1989, The Little Mermaid changed the division’s trajectory. In his article in Time Magazine in 2014, “How the Little Mermaid Cued the Disney Animation Renaissance,” Richard Corliss notes, “Disney had earned Best Song Oscars in 1941 … and in 1947 … then nothing—until The Little Mermaid again changed the studio’s luck. In the past quarter-century, ten Disney tunes have won the Best Song Oscar.”¹ The Little Mermaid marked the beginning of a string of animated hits, the second of which was Beauty and the Beast. In Michael Kantor’s 2004 documentary, Broadway: The American Musical, Julie Andrews, the documentary’s narrator, marks that just as 42nd Street was “resurrected by Disney,” Disney was “resurrected by the Broadway musical.”²

Walt Disney Pictures released the film Beauty and the Beast in 1991 to tremendous critical acclaim. In her 1991 review, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Updated in Form and Content,” Janet Maslin of the New York Times calls the film “fresh and altogether triumphant.”³ On the opposite coast, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, heralds the film as Disney’s “most satisfying in decades.”⁴ It was not, however, until Frank Rich, the New York Times theatre critic, lauded the film’s score, calling it the best on Broadway, that the wheels started turning at Disney to create a live-action version of the film for Broadway. Despite Rich’s praise, it was not an easy decision.

In 1991, Michael Eisner was the CEO of the Walt Disney Corporation (WDC), and Beauty and the Beast was not his first foray into the world of Broadway. From 1982 to 1985, Paramount Pictures (of which Eisner was the chairman until 1984) had a theatrical division: Paramount Theatrical Productions. The company produced three Broadway shows, including the musical My One and Only, a revisal of the musical Funny Face (1927).⁵ The show ran for 787 performances and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, three of which it won. Despite the respectable number of performances, in an interview with Michael Kantor for Broadway: The American Musical, Eisner describes the show as “difficult and unsuccessful financially.” He notes, “we decided that if you are going to do all that work for one theatre, you might as well do all that work for two thousand theatres, i.e. stay in the movie business.”⁶

Eisner’s previous Broadway experience kept him resistant to the idea of a Disney outing on Broadway. In the 2004 PBS documentary, Broadway: The American Musical, Eisner, who was the CEO of Disney at the time, describes the decision to bring Beauty to the stage, citing Rich’s article as the final push Eisner needed to try his hand at a live, Broadway musical. The leap from animated musical to live stage musical is a big one, but one that made sense for Disney. Eisner explains, “Walt Disney World alone puts on more live theatre than all of Broadway.”⁷ Disney employs a tremendous number of theatre professionals in its parks, both on stage and off, so Eisner decided, “when it came to Beauty and the Beast I said we were just going to do this ourselves, we didn’t want any investors.”⁸

By taking on all of the risk and producing the show internally, Disney was able to have complete creative control. Kenneth Cerniglia, Disney Theatrical Productions’ resident Dramaturg and Literary Manager, notes that Disney Theatrical Productions (DTP) is “shielded” from the negative effects of having outside producers because DTP “only has to answer to [themselves] and [their] shareholders.”⁹ This was especially true with Beauty and the Beast as there was no precedent of Disney success with live, commercial theatre.

Despite the gamble, Disney approached the show the same way the company approaches everything: if it was going to be done, it was going to be done right. Disney enlisted employees from other divisions, especially the Imagineers,¹⁰ to work on the show’s more magical moments; for example, the transformation of the Beast into a human in midair is a Disney Imagineering trick. Eisner notes the benefits of working on a live show, explaining, “it was easy, because you can change it daily” even when the show is performing in front of a live preview audience, it was unlike a film where you put out what you think is the best product and keep your fingers crossed that it will hit the mark.¹¹

Beauty and the Beast went through several workshops and an out-of-town tryout in Houston, Texas. Everett Evans of the Houston Chronicle called the show “cartoonish, broader, and more obvious” than the film and noted that the show lacked a “consistent, unifying visual style.”¹² In contrast, Evans goes on to praise the technical elements of the show, especially the transformation of the Beast, and the acting of many members of the company. Beauty and the Beast ran to sold out houses for its entire stay in Houston, and even added an additional two weeks of performances because of the demand, further solidifying its potential for success when it reached Broadway. Before the show closed in Houston on January 9, 1994, several changes were implemented, including cutting 15 minutes of the show and reworking choreography on several numbers.¹³ The show landed on Broadway in March 1994 for 46 previews before its official opening night at the Palace Theatre on April 18, 1994.¹⁴

Cerniglia insists that initially Disney had no plan to produce shows after Beauty and the Beast.¹⁵ Though Disney renovated the New Amsterdam in hope of producing future musicals there, Michael Eisner notes, there was a “pass/fail” on Beauty and the Beast. It was either going to work as a stage production and be profitable, or it wasn’t.¹⁶ In his article “How Disney’s Beauty and the Beast changed Broadway and Musical Theatre Forever,” Dom O’Hanlon notes,

Cast and creative team found themselves initially hesitant to sign on to the project without wanting to be part of what was ultimately seen as a huge risk and experiment—no one quite knew whether audiences would be interested in paying a significant amount of money to see a show they could already watch in the comfort of their own home for free.¹⁷

Disney didn’t make a full commitment to producing Disney-branded shows on Broadway until Beauty recouped its investment. Had Beauty and the Beast failed, Disney could have allowed other producers to rent the theatre for outside productions. This cautious approach can be seen in the fact that DTP did not set up permanent offices in New York until the early 2000s once the company had put up three Broadway shows.¹⁸ Until that time, there was only a small satellite office in New York to run both Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. The fact that Beauty was an experiment is also evident in the organization and structure of DTP when Beauty and the Beast opened. In the opening night Playbill, the listing for Walt Disney Productions¹⁹ only listed seven employees, much like other producers, rather than the extensive roster that would be listed for subsequent productions. In fact, on opening night, another company, Dodger Productions, was the general management company²⁰ for Beauty and the Beast.²¹

Beauty was a great gamble, and one that was far more profitable than anyone could have imagined. It ran for 13 years and over 5000 performances on Broadway. It was nominated for nine Tony Awards (including Best Musical) and won for costume design. Since its inception, it has had productions and tours all over the world, including Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Great Britain, Argentina, China, Spain, Brazil, Korea, South Africa, Russia, and Italy.²²

Despite Beauty and the Beast’s eventual profitability and impressive run, stepping back to opening night, the fate of the show was not guaranteed. The real question was if the draw of Disney and the title could overcome the bad reviews. Both the New York Times and Variety published negative reviews after opening night. Jeremy Gerard of Variety wrote the show “feels bloated, padded, gimmick-ridden, tacky and, despite the millions, utterly devoid of imagination.”²³ He goes on to criticize almos...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword: The Myth and The Mouse
• Introduction: Dangerous to Dream
• PART I Once Upon A Time: Disney Enters the Great White Way
• PART II Anything Can Happen: Disney Theatrical Productions’ Production Models
• PART III We’re All in this Together: Collaboration and Cooperation
• Conclusion: Part of Our World
• Afterword: A Whole New World
• Bibliography
• Index