All Things Disney Music Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

Santino Fontana (the voice of Hans in Frozen) is live now with Broadway producer Ken Davenport:

 

[JamesSmith]

Guys, I'd like to send an email to ABC/Disney asking if they would consider older pre-Little Mermaid songs for their Sing A Longs. I'd like to recommend the theme from "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh." Just love Thurl Ravenscroft's rich baritone singing that tune. Anyway, does anyone have any ideas where I can look for an email address?


Would love to hear some contemporary singers try some older classics.

James

 

[Jake Lipson]

I don't know about an email address but you could always post on ABC's social media pages. Good luck, but I don't really think it will matter much. They designed those two specials to be appealing to the widest number of families possible, who aren't going to recognize the theme from a TV show that aired in the '60s. The people they are focusing on with those specials would scratch their head at that type of song, and that's not what they want to happen there. Plus, there has been no announcement of a third special anyway.

 

[JamesSmith]

You can always hope.

--james

 

[Jake Lipson]

I really don't want to be posting this news because it completely sucks. But the Broadway production of Frozen will not resume performances after the pandemic. It played what retroactively became its final performance on March 11, the day before the Broadway shutdown.

Disney does intend for the national tour to resume when possible.

Coronavirus Crisis Causes Disney's Frozen to Close on Broadway

The coronavirus pandemic has a Broadway casualty. As a result of the industry-wide shutdown and resulting economic fallout, the decision has been made that Frozen will …

www.broadway.com

 

[Jake Lipson]

More new details on the demise of Frozen from The New York Times.

"This difficult decision was made for several reasons but primarily because we believe that three Disney productions will be one too many titles to run successfully in Broadway’s new landscape,” Thomas Schumacher, the president of Disney Theatrical Productions, said in a letter to his staff.

Schumacher said the company remains committed to “The Lion King” and “Aladdin” on Broadway, to “The Lion King” and “Mary Poppins” in London’s West End, and to touring productions of “The Lion King” and “Frozen” in North America and “The Lion King” in Britain. The company, which around the world had 29 shows either running or in preproduction earlier this year, has already cut short a North American touring production of “Aladdin” because of the pandemic, closing it six weeks early after a nearly three-year, 41-city run.

More details at the link, about Frozen and other upcoming projects.

Disney Closes ‘Frozen’ on Broadway, Citing Pandemic (Published 2020)

The show is the first Broadway musical felled by the coronavirus.

www.nytimes.com

Separately, Broadway World is reporting that the previously-announced revised touring revival of Disney's Aida, which was to begin at the Paper Mill Playhouse, will not happen now but will open in Germany in 2022. https://www.broadwayworld.com/artic...derway-for-German-Production-in-2022-20200515

 

[Jake Lipson]

Don Daryl Rivera, who has played Iago in the Broadway production of Aladdin since the beginning, talked to Broadway.com about the show yesterday from his home. He'll return to the role whenever Broadway comes back.




And here, for reference, is "Diamond in the Rough," Jafar and Iago's new song for the show featuring him singing opposite Jonathan Freeman:

 

[KPmusmag]

I got a big kick (no pun intended) out of this very well-done tribute to Mary Poppins on Disney sing along part II. While it was obviously finished in Disney's editing studio, the performances appear to be recorded at home and the planning and creativity are really inspiring, not to mention the performers' skill. I love the cardboard chimneys - and the penguins are a nice touch; that had to be a challenge to match all that up.

 

[Jake Lipson]

This isn't really music-related, but is very much Disney-related without focusing on one single specific film. So I thought here would be the best place for it.

A new interview with Don Hahn:

 

[Jake Lipson]

Tim Rice recently launched a retrospective podcast about his career called Get On To My Cloud.

The most recent episode includes his memories of writing with Alan Menken for Aladdin (for the original film) and Beauty and the Beast (on stage and for the remake) following the death of Howard Ashman. It's a fascinating discussion even includes a demo version of A Whole New World with different lyrics which he changed before the final version was recorded.

I downloaded it through iTunes, but it's probably available on all major podcast sources.

 

[Mike Frezon]

even includes a demo version of A Whole New World with different lyrics which he changed before the final version was recorded.

Jake: Do you own The Music Behind the Magic? It is one of the best collections WDR ever put out.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Jake: Do you own The Music Behind the Magic? It is one of the best collections WDR ever put out.

Sadly, no. I wish I did. I was too young when it came out to be aware of or want something like that, and of course it's now out of print and mostly at ridiculous prices. I borrowed it from a library several years ago though so am vaguely familiar with it. It seems like the majority of the behind-the-scenes type tracks for The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast have been repurposed on the Legacy Collection versions of those soundtracks, so I don't feel like I need to spend a lot for it. But I'd love to get the Aladdin stuff, since Disney seems to be stubbornly refusing to release a Legacy version of that one.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Several Genies from the stage production of Aladdin are on Stars in the House doing a virtual reunion/discussion now. This online series of remote discussions and reunions was created to support The Actors Fund during the pandemic and is now also supporting the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Jelani Alladin, who originated the role of Kristoff in the Broadway musical of Frozen and also played Hercules in last summer's Central Park production, is live now talking to Broadway.com.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Broadway.com is live now talking with Mattea Conforti. She played Young Anna in Frozen on Broadway and Young Elsa in the prologue scene in Frozen II.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Broadway.com is live now talking with John Riddle, who originated the role of Hans in the Broadway production of Frozen. He was playing Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera at the time of the Broadway shutdown in March and hopefully will return to that role when Broadway is able to resume.

 

[MatthewA]

This is everything:

 

[Jake Lipson]

Disney+ will premiere a new documentary, Howard, on August 7:

 

[Jake Lipson]

A new interview with Alan Menken talking about the various projects he has going on during quarantine:

Songwriter Alan Menken: I Don't Know How Broadway Will Come Back | iHeartRadio Broadway

Legendary songwriter whose won 9 Oscars, 11 Grammy Awards, and a Tony Award, Alan Menken, joined the "Len Berman and Michael Riedel In The Morning" show to talk about his history writing Disney songs and more.

www.iheartradiobroadway.com

 

[Jake Lipson]

There is an unsubstantiated rumor that the London production of Aladdin was filmed and will be released on Disney+ by the end of the year.

Disney's Broadway Musical Aladdin To Premiere on Disney+ Following Hamilton Success?

As previously reported, Disney's hit West End musical Aladdin was filmed for worldwide release just before closing in London last year. Today we learn new details on the expected release that will...

filmedonstage.com

I have no idea if this is true or not, but obviously I hope that it is.