'Little Mermaid' Swims to Broadway

I wonder if they will be considering any of the dozens of women who have portrayed the singing and swimming teen at Walt Disney World over the years.

NEW YORK (AP) – Broadway is trading one spirited Disney heroine for another. Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" will close July 29 on Broadway, making way for "The Little Mermaid," a stage version of its acclaimed 1989 animated film, which will arrive in December. "There is an enormous affection for this show ('Beauty and the Beast')," Tom Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical, said Wednesday. "I want to give audiences a chance to play that out. In an ideal world, you should give as much care and consideration to the closing of a show as to its opening." By the time it ends its run this summer at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, "Beauty and the Beast" will have played 5,464 performances and 46 previews, surpassing the runs of such musicals as "42nd Street," "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Hello, Dolly!" The musical opened in April 1994 at the Palace Theatre and transferred to the Lunt-Fontanne in November 1999. It holds the long-run record at both theaters. "Beauty and the Beast" currently stars Deborah Lew as Belle, the young woman who transforms a morose creature (portrayed by Steve Blanchard) with the power of her love. Among the actresses who have played Belle during its 13-year run are Susan Egan (the original), Toni Braxton, Deborah Gibson, Andrea McArdle, Christy Carlson Romano, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Ashley Brown (Broadway's Mary Poppins). No word yet if Disney will bring in some big names during the show's final six months, but Schumacher said, "There might be a few surprises before the end."

"The Little Mermaid," which will open Dec. 6 at the Lunt-Fontanne, tells the story of Ariel, a young mermaid who yearns to live on land. Preview performances begin Nov. 3. The show, directed by Francesca Zambello, will play an out-of-town tryout in Colorado at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, which is part of the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Preview performances begin July 26 with an opening set for Aug. 23. Schumacher said casting will be announced later. "The Little Mermaid" has a book by Doug Wright, author of the Tony Award-winning "I Am My Own Wife." The score will feature songs from the movie by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, who died in 1991, as well as new material by Menken and lyricist Glen Slater. The show will be the third Disney musical to open on Broadway in 18 months. "Tarzan," on view at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, arrived last May, while "Mary Poppins" opened in November. And a fourth, "The Lion King" has been playing on Broadway since November 1997.

Disney Movie Skips to Another Record

My 18 month old daughter watches a lot of the Disney Channel. Her tv usually stays there since I watch the HD big screen in the next room. I happened to flip on her little tv during her nap and caught the premiere of Jump In. I wasn't sure what I was watching, i.e. I didn't know it was a new movie/premiere. I just recognized the kid from High School Musical and thought "What is my company doing now?" Turns out, the pieces I caught were pretty well put together. I wasn't sure exactly how they justified the over-the-top dance routine at the end of the jump rope competition, but the double-dutch patrons didn't seem to flinch at all, so I guess it's all part of the pseudo-musical style.

It looks like Disney is locked in on their target demo for the moment. I'll take it, especially since the stock is up near a 52-week high these days.

(Multichannel News) – High School Musical? That’s so yesterday for Disney Channel viewers. The spec-tacle of the moment is Jump In. That fast-paced, high-stepping movie involving a Double Dutch rope-skipping competition is now Disney’s most-watched telefilm ever, drawing a record 8.2 million viewers in its Jan. 12 debut. That beats last year’s debut at this time of the multimedia phenomenon High School Musical by a half-million viewers. Musical drew a then-record audience of 7.7 million. That, in turn, leads to the question of the moment: Just how hot is Disney with young viewers? The Jan. 20, 2006 premiere of High School Musical is now only the fourth-most watched film on the network in the past year. Besides Jump In!, it trails last August’s girl-powered musical Cheetah Girls 2 (8.1 million viewers) and this past October’s Return to Halloweentown (7.8 million), the fourth installment of the fright-fest franchise. If that wasn’t enough, the soundtrack of Jump In! debuted at number five on the Jan. 10 Billboard Music Charts, with 48,840 copies sold. By comparison, the High School Musical soundtrack took seven weeks to break the top five, on its way to No. 1. It eventually finished as the country’s top-selling album last year, with more than 2 million units sold. “We’ve gone from strength to strength,” said Disney Channel Worldwide president of entertainment Gary Marsh. “We all thought High School Musical was the top of the ladder, but it was only a bridge to the next level,” he said. Marsh attributed Jump In!’s success to the network’s now tried-and-true game plan: Blitz kids with previews of the movie on both the channel and on disney-channel.com weeks prior to its premiere to build up anticipation. Then, sit back and let tweens and their parents tune into the movie’s debut in record numbers. Given the incredible success of Jump In!, you’d figure Disney has finally reached its ratings pinnacle, right? Not necessarily, says Marsh. “The answer is to keep making great movies that inspire kids with positive messages and positive music, and if we keep doing that, there is no limit,” he said. Marsh can hedge his bets on how high is up for its original movies because he knows he has one major wild card left in his hand: the sequel to High School Musical is scheduled for August.