Disney’s HERCULES Sets Sail: Inside the Making of the New Cruise Line Musical

Adapting a Disney animated musical for the Broadway stage is no small feat. For this process, the creative team brings the well-known story and songs into a theatrical space, writing a new book that builds out the original screenplay into a full evening of theater, complete with new songs, new story beats, along with that familiar flair of Disney magic.

In some ways, adapting a musical for a cruise ship brings the opposite problem. Rather than expanding the story to a full book musical, the story needs to be streamlined to fit a shorter running time, usually in the 50-60 minute range. With this challenge, there’s also the question of faithfulness to the source material. How much should be kept, and what can be changed to account for a shorter running time and the cruise audience?

For Disney’s Hercules, the original show coming to Disney Cruise Line’s new ship, the Disney Destiny, the main priority was to create a show that was the best of both worlds. Rather than replicating the film exactly, the artists and creatives hoped to mine the rich material and heighten it for a New Medium. 

“We're really focused on creating the most spectacular, meaningful, and resonant evening of theater that we can,” says Jenny Weinbloom, the VP of Live Entertainment at Disney Signature Experiences. “Sometimes that means deviating from and reimagining the source material. Our task is to take that story and music and reimagine it through the lens of a theatrical vocabulary. So much of what we do is that act of translation: taking what's inherently animated about this story, stripping that away, taking the story to its core and rebuilding it again for the stage in a theatrical language.”

For this new adaptation, the songs and score of Hercules, which are already infused with an R&B and Gospel sound, have been reorchestrated and heightened with new genres to bring a reimagined, modern flair to this version of the story. “We wanted to do some new things with this music, but not take it so far that it wasn’t recognizable and still lovable for audiences that know and love the music of Hercules,” musical director Bradley Knight explains. 

For the creative team, it was a priority to include all of Alan Menken and David Zippel's original songs like "Go the Distance," "Zero to Hero," and "I Won't Say I'm in Love." Additionally, they incorporated "Shooting Star," a ballad for Hercules that was originally written and later cut from the animated film. This time, however, it's in a new context.

"It was originally brought by our script writer, Sara Wordsworth, who just felt like we needed one more musical moment," says Knight. "It's interesting because the song was originally written as Hercules' big solo ballad... but Sarah's idea was to use it as a love duet between Meg and Hercules. The idea was to compact the story of how their relationship really comes together fast." Musical motifs and cues have also been expanded, including those for the Titans and for the god of the underworld, Hades himself. 

In addition to Knight and Wordsworth, the creative team is led by brothers Kevin and Marcel Wilson, who oversee rehearsals as directors and choreographers. The pair were chosen for their enthusiastic passion and contemporary lens through which they intended to tell the story, from diverse casting to original movement.

"We went on this amazing world tour of casting and auditions, and we opened our minds to be able to look at characters that we could all connect to," says Kevin Wilson. "It allowed us to bring in all different types of casting. I think that it really serves the show, and people are really going to connect with it."

Through the audition process, the team found Corey Bradford, who went on to be cast in the title role of Hercules. For this interpretation of the character, inspiration was taken from '90s superstars such as Michael Jordan. When Bradford showed up, the magic in the room was immediately apparent, recalls Michael Serna, the show's Executive Creative Director. There was no question that Bradford was the perfect person for the role.

When the Disney Destiny embarks on its Maiden Voyage this November, Hercules will be one of three shows on the boat, appearing alongside Frozen and Disney Seas the Adventure, a revue-style show featuring familiar songs and characters across Disney IP. Bradford and the rest of the cast will appear in all three productions, in a setup akin to a repertory theater company. And in addition, the performers are also involved in other live entertainment, such as deck parties or onboard nightclubs.

"Some people are coming in to play certain roles, but in another show, they may be doing rappel work in a pirate show, or they may be climbing a rope and swinging," explains Ed Whitlow, Director of Disney Cruise Line Artistic Operations. 

Like a Broadway production, there are also performers ready to hop into the principal parts should unexpected circumstances arise. "Some of the performers play numerous roles," says Serna. "It becomes a real Tetris game when somebody is sick [because] they have to kind of just juggle around. But we do our best to prepare everybody the best we can," says Serna.

With live shows like Hercules, the creative team at Disney Cruise Line is acutely aware that this may be the first time young children are exposed to the magic of live theater. Even among theater for young audiences, professional theatergoing opportunities for very young kids are rare, Weinbloom points out. 

"[These shows provide a way] to engage with my child in a more narratively driven, theatrical experience that is not only appropriate for very young children, but that welcomes them with open arms and says, 'You belong here in this theater, sitting alongside all different kinds of people in all stages of life.'"

With the Disney Cruise Line expanding to a total of 13 ships by 2031, there are sure to be many more musicals coming in the future. Meanwhile, audiences can see the debut of this new version of Disney's Hercules when the Disney Destiny sets sail on its Maiden Voyage on November 20, 2025.