Jim On Film
Page 3 of 3
The Songwriters
Right now, there is a host of extremely talented composers and lyricists making
headway in New York. Jason Robert Brown (Parade and the additional music
for the upcoming stage version of Urban Cowboy), Michael John LaChiusa (Marie
Christine and The Wild Party), Paul Gordon (Jane Eyre), and
Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel) are
just some of the songwriting talent who are ripe for the picking. Disney’s most
prolific writers from the past decade have all come from Broadway, including
Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Time Rice, and Stephen Schwartz. Of course, the
temptation would be to return to the extremely gifted Alan Menken; however, to
diversify talent would help create a diverse body of work. In other words, it
might be a good idea to expand into a style different from Alan Menken’s for
some films.
The Directors and Choreographers
For Newsies, Disney picked choreographer Kenny Ortega to co-choreograph
and direct because he had done work for the studio on other projects, including
the musical television series Hull High. Head East. Newsies was a
wonderful film, but if Disney were to create another live-action musical film,
they should do what they did for their television productions and for Miramax’s
Chicago, get someone from Broadway. Kathleen Marshall, the amazing
choreographer who set everyone’s feet dancing in their rows during the recent
Kiss Me, Kate revival is doing choreography for The Music Man. If
Disney starts to produce live-action musicals again, continue this trend.
New Stories
There has been some talk about a possible live-action film version of the stage
version of Beauty and the Beast. This would be wonderful to see (and, one
might hope, also a film version of Aida starring its three amazing
original leads), and no doubt, it would be a smash success for the studio.
(c) Disney
But with the recent turn toward film revivals of Broadway shows, Disney would do better to turn to original material. Not, of course, that there isn’t room for a great film version of many stage musicals, but Disney would do best to create its own stories so that, in the end, its profits are its own.
If the studio were to turn to remakes of Broadway greats, then they should stick with the original book of the show. Only topped by miscasting the leads with big names with little musical talent, the biggest mistake any studio ever made in making film versions of stage musicals was moving too far away from the original book.
Once upon a time, Disney was the leader in setting trends. Disney set the trend for family films, for theme parks, for children’s television, for family adventure films, for animated musicals, and for computer animated films. With the recent box office success of Moulin Rouge and Chicago, audiences are ready for more live-action musicals. Disney has a ready family audience, the audience that would probably be most receptive to the idea of a musical appropriate for families. If it was done right using true musical talent, Disney could stumble upon another trend to lead to box office encores.
Discuss It!
Related Links
-- Jim Miles
Jim On Film is published every other Thursday.
The opinions expressed by our guest columnists, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future of Disneyland and the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted January 8, 2003
Copyright Jim Miles. Licensed to LaughingPlace.com.