Playbill: DreamWorks Theatricals and Music Theatre International's Emerging Writers Program are developing musical versions of DreamWorks animated films How to Train Your Dragon and Trolls. Both titles will come to MTI's Broadway Junior collection, which are all tailored to be performed by actors 18 or younger.
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I personally have had the wonderful experience of workshopping new Jr. titles with the ITheatics workshop, this program that ITheatrics has created in the summer is a beautiful program that welcomes children from all over the world to come together and share their talents to learn and workshop and bring new and potential shows for children and theaters all over the world! I personally am very excited to see the music that could bring How to Train Your Dragon to life, I am excited to see all the different artistic ways theaters can create the dragons! I am curious about how Trolls will be read as a Jr. show, all the music is known and loved and I wonder which songs and scenes they choose to keep and which ones they choose to cut. All in all the movie Trolls is a wonderful uplifting story that is great for children to connect to and give them hope when there may not be any in their lives.
I was recently able to see the new live action adaptation of 'How to Train Your Dragon' in theater, and I have watched the trilogy of animated movies multiple times. The music that is in the movies has always been an element that I enjoyed, and since seeing the live action I had thought about the fact that the script and music had the potential to become an amazing musical. As it turns out this article has confirmed my own ideas. In the movie theater the part that specifically made me think of the movie and story as a musical is the scene where Astrid and Hiccup fly together on toothless for the first time. I am sure that anyone who has seen the movie can agree that the music in this scene both in the live action animated movie is one of the best songs in the movie. Now imagine if Hiccup and Astrid were singing in this scene on stage on a flying toothless set piece. At least that is the image that popped into my head when I read this article, and that is a very exciting thought that I look forward to seeing become a reality.
I got to see both of these films in the theater when they came out! Personally I think that this is going to be really interesting to see. I am more interested in the "How to Train Your Dragon" one since I really like it and have seen all of the version of it from animated to live action. I am really curious however to see how they will transform something like this into a musical, If they will have to change the script and how they will use aspects of technical theater like Lighting and scenery to portray this movie! I am excited for the lighting! In addition to all of this, I think it will be a fantastic opportunity for new young actors and it will be fun for them to play characters they grew up watching!
This is fascinating to me! I know that there is a How to Train Your Dragon live show somewhere currently that has stunning effects and giant flying dragons. And I know that the fandom is getting a big resurgence right now with the live action movie and Epic Universe land so I do think it is timely. Though part of me feels like not everything has to be a musical and I think the soundtrack is already so iconic that it would be remiss to alter it, rather than having a scored play. I think Trolls could be fun since it is already a musical and will just be adapted but I’d be so curious to see what the production and costuming would look like since it is so involved and specific. I’m also curious how much they would keep the original vs. changing it for the musical, and if they would only go with Trolls 1 or include plot lines from further movies.
This is going to be very interesting to see how it’s executed. Both of these stories are pretty simple, but also complicated at times. Especially with the How to train your Dragon. I was fortunate to see the How to train your Dragon show at the new Epic Universe, and they did a wonderful job with that. The only complex problem a lot of these small theatres and schools are going to have is the projections and set needed for these. Depending how these are written, these stories need some decent sets and the How to train your Dragon show will need to make some sort of flying effect. It’s going to be really interesting how this is played out, and I am very excited to not only see the script but also listen to how they turn it into a musical. It’s going to be a very popular title as well, so it has the chance to be the next Newsies in schools.
This is so incredibly exciting! I honestly think that bringing more popular titles such as these into the theater is something that could bring the next younger audience into theater. Bringing something so nostalgic to people and turning it into a stage production is what will bridge the gap of interest.
The second aspect of this that I am so excited about is the opportunities for innovation of these characters. Since they are a little more difficult to portray due to their fantastical elements, this is an amazing opportunity to utilize ideas like puppetry to really bring the shows to life.
This has come completely out of left field for me, but it is a welcome surprise. I probably should have seen it coming with the amount of renditions of movies and books coming out right now. I am very excited to see what these look like, especially How to Train Your Dragon Jr. Having worked on Jr. productions before, I know there are plenty of kids out there who would be thrilled to be in a How to Train Your Dragon musical. I believe that I myself would be super excited if I were to get a role in that production as a kid. However exciting the prospects of that production may be though, it also worries me a little. I can’t help but fear that the musical will come out in mediocre or poor quality. I mostly blame Disney for setting my expectations so low when it comes to different renditions/remakes of their IPs. I just really hope that the songs are good and that the material provided to any future jr. actors and crews of this show are good and that it doesn’t let them down. I’m also curious, would Trolls Jr. just be a jukebox musical considering how the movies are?
I often find myself divided on where I stand regarding the whole turning movies into musicals (and Disney/Disney Jr. musicals specifically) thing. On one hand, the semi-pretentious BFA-student side of me will beat the dead horse of wishing there were “more original musicals.” On the other hand, the part of me that just enjoys theatre is a big fan of how effectively the Disney on Broadway genre encourages kids and people who wouldn’t naturally be interested in theatre to try it out with something they already know and enjoy. Over the summer, one of the productions I worked on was Frozen, and by far my favorite part of that experience was that every night, there would be countless little kids dressed up as Anna and Elsa coming to see the show. Once these two new musicals are written, I definitely think that there will be hordes of small Toothlesses coming to see the shows.
I have mixed feelings about this announcement. Typically I do not like when shows like these go to stage. However, I think How to Train Your Dragon could be particularly interesting technically. It has been a while since I have seen the movies but I do remember enough to know that there is a lot going on. I mean the dragons are massive and there are so many of them. This provides the opportunity for some amazing puppets to be made and operated and I think that is really exciting. I think figuring out how they fly and fight and travel to lots of different locations are really unique challenges that I am curious about. I do think there is a world in which this does not go as well. I am thinking like King Kong. That puppet was insane but never got a lot of traction as a show. I do think this one has a little more ground because it is such a popular series with a large fanbase. Trolls is whatever…I would never see it or like it but I am sure it would bring in children and money which is never bad.
This came as a big shock to me in many ways and left me with many questions. First, I was wondering why How to Train Your Dragon and Trolls, especially being recent releases or having a sequel in production. I remembered the first versions of these films were released a lot longer ago than I thought, and that putting these influential children’s works on the stage can be beneficial. I was also curious how they would portray many characters such as Toothless the dragon and the many unusual Trolls creatures. I personally really look forward to seeing Toothless realized for live theatre, as How to Train Your Dragon was a huge title during my formative years. I also wonder how/if they’ll honor the original scores. How to Train Your Dragon has an incredible score that I’ve heard praised time and time again, but the original doesn’t have any vocals. I really hope they can thrive under the pressure the film leaves them. I’d never heard of MTI’s Broadway Junior collection until reading this, but I’ll definitely keep my eye on it! It seems really exciting.
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