www.backstage.com: New information has emerged about “Tuck Everlasting,” “Aladdin,” “and “Jekyll & Hyde,” three large-scale musicals that have their sights set on Broadway.
First, a new musical based on Natalie Babbitt’s popular children’s novel “Tuck Everlasting” will have a run at Boston’s Colonial Theatre this summer, a stint that is being billed as a pre-Broadway engagement. Dates for the New York production have yet to be announced, however.
8 comments:
My goodness, looks like alot of news shows will be hitting the Great White Way soon. What's peculiar is that every one of the new shows mentioned was based on a book or film that existed previously. It seems that has been commercialized theatre's only sense of inspiration for awhile. I don't doubt that there are people writing new and original scripts and music all the time, but why don't we see these works more often? I'll be interested to see how these shows are received by audiences, since the preconceived notions they about the stories from the books and movies will have some effect on how they view the shows.
It seems like another famous and familiar movies and books are made into a production. I would be interested in seeing all of the productions because I am very curious about how these will be turned out to be. However, I still yearns for an original production to be came out. These days, they have been putting every Disney films into a Broadway musicals. I understand their songs are amazing and widely known and some pre-popularity will be guaranteed, but it wouldn't be as stunning and unexpected as seeing new works. Though, I still hope these productions turn out to be successful.
You know, I've gotta say that I'm pretty excited for most of these new shows. Yes, like Jacquelyn mentioned, everything on Broadway is just some form of adaptation - but I would rather see "Kinky Boots" or "Tuck Everlasting" over "The Wedding Singer" any day. It's nice seeing some adaptions being pulled from books and a disney classic.
That being said, the revival choices look less than exciting. I find it interesting that they are reviving a show that did poorly on the broadway stage - rather than going with a tried and true revival. Have they run out? Or perhaps this is a reaction to the 20's classic musical revivals, going for something in a darker direction than the happy go-lucky. However, I could see a show such as Urinetown, which had a successful off-broadway and consequently successful run in high schools across the nation.
I agree with what those above me have said, although I don't find it surprising. With the economy how it is, it isn't surprising that Broadway producers are less willing to take risks and bet their money on a new musical when there are less risky ventures to be had producing a Disney movie-turned-musical or another movie that will already have some audience draw because of its name. Even "Kinky Boots" and "Big Fish" are known enough as films that some ticket sales are almost guaranteed.
I'm worried that we may be seeing a huge decline in new large-scale Broadway productions, and I'm not sure if it's because audiences are incredibly fickle and aren't as willing to spend the money to go see an "unknown", or if its because producers are much more conservative, or a combination of the two.
The most intriguing of these shows to me is actually Tuck Everlasting. Aladdin, while one of my favorite Disney movies, seems to me like it'll just be another "Disney Musical." Every time a Disney movie is produced it's worse than the last. Beauty and the Beast was a good stage production. The Lion King was also a fairly good stage production. The Little Mermaid was... less so, and now they want to do Aladdin? I'm tired of people ruining the stories and movies that I love because they want to make more money. I think J+H can be very interesting design wise, but I saw a production of it last year and I didn't love the script. I know I'm not exactly qualified to say what a good script is or not but nothing about it resonated with me. I think If people go to see this show it will be because of the effects. Tuck Everlasting however, aside from the original plot, doesn't have many existing expectations for what the show should be. There are some moments from that book that could be so beautiful on stage and the music could sound like anything. This is a classic story that people everywhere know and love and it's something that (aside from the movie that was only ok) people don't generally think of as something on stage. I'm very eager to see how this show turns out and I hope things go well for the revivals and the new productions as well.
I'm really exited to see how all of these productions turn out. I'm most excited about Aladdin, thinking about what rigging it would require to get the magic flying carpet (among other things) to fly over the audience. It may very well end up being like any other Disney musical, but hey, they have great material and stories. Jekyll & Hyde was actually one of my favorite summer reading books in high school and I've never seen the musical version, but I'm happy to hear it'll find a home on Broadway. As for Tuck Everlasting, it'll be an opportunity for the designers to totally reimagine and recreate the world of the book for the stage and give a face and distinct design aesthetic to the stage show.
i personally love the movie and book tuck everlasting and would absolutly love to see it as a play or musical. I think it will apeal to alsmost any audience besides maybe extremely testosterone-y males, but theyre not likely to go to the theater anyways, unless there girlfriends brought them. Aladdin, a famous and classic childs story will hopefully do extremely well, most any disney production does. And Dr. Jekell and MR. Hyde has been around for a very long time and is a great show!
Well, I'm both happy and a little disappointed. Although these are "new" to broadway, the stories themselves are not. It's going to be fun to see how they are adapted to fit the stage, but I don't understand why these productions have to be the most-well-known ones. I think it would be interesting if Disney would go back to one of their unknown films, perhaps maybe one of their black and white films, like Steamboat Willy and create a new story with that. Everybody knows the story of Aladdin. Why don't they take something audiences are not so familiar with and work with that? With the recent economic recession, producers are not looking to take risks too soon. Instead, they are playing it safe, which is pretty annoying. Theatre is all about experimentation and creating new things. I am a little excited about Jekyll and Hyde however. The story gives off that Sweeney Todd feel to it, and I think that can work on Broadway.
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