Disney•Pixar’s COCO musical adaptation in development

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 1/24/23 at 9:40pm

https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2023/01/24/disney-on-broadway-developing-stage-adaptation-of-coco/

 

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 1/24/23 at 10:06pm

Makes sense. A while ago I got a survey from the Hennepin Theatre Trust about what Disney stage musicals we'd like to see come through on tours, and in addition to the usual suspects they also had titles like Coco and The Greatest Showman, so I imagine most of their musical films are at some level or another of development for the stage.

[BJR]

Posted: 1/24/23 at 10:13pm

I expected this and wouldn't be surprised at Encanto.

[BwayLB]

Posted: 1/24/23 at 10:16pm

Not surprised but I don’t think it makes 100% creative sense because the point is solving a family mystery to lift a music ban. So I’ll pass

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 1/24/23 at 11:20pm

BwayLB said: "Not surprised but I don’t think it makes 100% creative sense because the point is solving a family mystery to lift a music ban. So I’ll pass"

Well there’s quite a lot of dancing in Footloose, in which dancing is banned…

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 1/24/23 at 11:20pm

An interesting choice, simply because it isn't really a musical. So, will the Lopezes be writing new material to make it one, or will it be a "play with songs," which is what the film is?

[BwayLB]

Posted: 1/24/23 at 11:22pm

The Distinctive Baritone said: "BwayLB said: "Not surprised but I don’t think it makes 100% creative sense because the point is solving a family mystery to lift a music ban. So I’ll pass"

Well there’s quite a lot of dancing in Footloose, in which dancing is banned…"

Well I do love the 2011 remake more so than the original.

[Ke3]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 12:57am

Is Aida the only "original" musical Disney has ever done? I've always thought they should rummage around in the discard pile and see if they could reuse some ideas for the stage. I understand why they do what they do though.

[Melissa25]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 7:41am

I can’t wait to see the art and costume design for this. Take my money.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 8:39am

Ke3 said: "Is Aida the only "original" musical Disney has ever done? I've always thought they should rummage around in the discard pile and see if they could reuse some ideas for the stage. I understand why they do what they do though."

Technically, they did On the Record, a touring show (really revue) using their catalogue of songs, and Peter and the Starcatcher was based on a book, and the brief concert of King David all can be claimed as "original" shows, if you are considering Aida as original.

 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 9:05am

Disney is always working on stuff and turning their movies into stage adaptations.

 

Currently: Hercules, Aida revival, Beauty and the Beast revival, Mulan, Enchanted and now Coco. Pocahontas was worked on years ago and nothing even happened. They also floated the idea around of turning Finding Nemo into a full Broadway show after it's success in the parks. Disney has such a deep library of material, but it doesn't mean this will be on Broadway anytime soon.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 9:35am

Not to count out the projects that have happened, but were more subtile: The Jungle Book at the Goodman in Chicago, Bedknobs and Broomsticks that just finished touring the UK, an adaptation of Pinocchio at the National Theatre in London. I remember about 10/11 years ago, there was noise of a production of Dumbo with Steve Wonder writing the music, and the same people who created the puppets for War Horse creating the chracters.

ACL2006, I never knew anything about Mulan or Pocahontas. Along with Hercules, I always thought that if you told the story using traditional Chinese or Peking Opera, Indigenous storytelling, and Greek theatre devices and forms would be so cool to blend the two together sort of how Hal Prince staged Pacific Overtures. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 10:23am

Disney didn't produce The Jungle Book and had no involvement in it. I was surprised we never heard of it after it's run at the Goodman.

Pocahontas had a few table reads and they tinkered with some new songs but Disney never went much further with it. It's been DOA for a while now.

Mulan was being worked on about 6-7 years ago, but Frozen and now Hercules got pushed ahead. They did put out a Jr./kids version of it.

Updated On: 1/25/23 at 10:23 AM

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 10:35am

ACL2006 said: "Disney didn't produce The Jungle Book and had no involvement in it. I was surprised we never heard of it after it's run at the Goodman."

Jungle Book, like Pinocchio were not produced by Disney Theatrics, correct. Although, I have a hard time believing they would just hand over their music, and not have someone from the Disney company around at one point or another.

 

[bdn223]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 11:27am

fashionguru_23 said: "ACL2006 said: "Disney didn't produce The Jungle Book and had no involvement in it. I was surprised we never heard of it after it's run at the Goodman."

Jungle Book, likePinocchio were not produced by Disney Theatrics, correct. Although, I have a hard time believing they would just hand over their music, and not have someone from the Disney company around at one point or another.

"

Jungle Book and Pinocchio were produced under the Newsies/Freaky Friday/Aladdin business model, where Disney gives regional theaters and directors a level of free reign to develop a show for "licensing" purposes. The runs are not to be promoted as pre-Broadway engagements, but instead proof of concept productions to allow the show to be licensed to other regional, High school, community, and college theaters. Depending on how things go the Disney might allow the creative team to mount a second or third regional production before officially releasing a licensed version as was the case with Freaky Friday and Aladdin, but there is no immediate timeline for Broadway plans. If by chance the regional production is met with such immense praise and success as was the case with Newsies at Papermill and Hercules in Central Park Disney will quickly prep the show for a Broadway run. On the other hand, if the proof of concept doesn't work, Disney simply allows for immediate licensing (Freaky Friday/Bedknobs and Broomsticks) or shelves the show (Pinocchio/Jungle Book), with limited liability on their end as most of the development cost lie with the regional theater as Disney likely only paid to plus up technical aspects of the production. This spider web development approach allowed/allows Disney Theatrical to not only develop multiple shows at once, while also allowing each show to develop at its own pace without having to be rushed to Broadway before its ready. Then if one if their current Broadway productions starts to look like it is going to need to close soon, Disney has options with a least a couple shows they know should be Broadway ready to pick from to replace it with. This was the case with Aladdin, which had 5 different regional/international productions before its official Pre-Broadway tryout in Toronto in 2013 before opening at the New Amsterdam in 2014.

We can look at Frozen as an example of what happens when Disney Theatrical is not forced to not use their development model and instead has to fast track a show to Broadway. Bob Iger said he wanted the show on Broadway by Spring 2018 and that forced timeline clearly lead to a production to open on Broadway in Spring of 2018 before its creative team thought it was ready, as can be seen in the changes that led to the touring and West End productions being significantly better received than the Broadway production. 

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 11:29am

Still would love to know what Timbers had planned for Frozen. 

And I loved Coco, but I don't see it working on Broadway without feeling a little amusement park given the character's stylings, etc. But, hey, they made Lion King work. 

[BwayLB]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 11:35am

^ I don’t see Coco working either. One of those works of art that is best left alone.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 11:54am

COCO absolutely wrecked me the one time I watched it.

Probably best for Disney to develop these shows via regional theatres and IF they hit, then move it (or further develop it) for Bway. But I could also see COCO being more intimate than some of their other shows.

[Blankments]

Posted: 1/25/23 at 12:40pm

Really do hope if this happens that the Lopezes are mostly kept away from it. Obviously keep Remember Me but what makes the movie stand out so well musically is the songs from Adrian Molina and Germaine Franco that don't sound like the Disneyified numbers you usually get. I know Molina is working on his directorial debut at Pixar, but really would like Franco involved in the songwriting to make this really special