Disney on Broadway News Feed Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:16:39 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/ en-us Disney Theatrical Productions proudly welcomes Tony Award® winner FAITH PRINCE to the Broadway company of THE LITTLE MERMAID. Prince will star as "Ursula," the evil sea witch.

"We are beyond thrilled that Faith Prince is joining the cast of THE LITTLE MERMAID," said Thomas Schumacher, producer and president of Disney Theatrical Productions. "She is that glorious creature - a leading lady in the great Broadway tradition and we think a perfect match for the role of Ursula, one of Disney's most uproarious villains. We can't wait to see what happens when she dons Ursula's trademark wig and tentacles."

Based on the animated Disney film and the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, THE LITTLE MERMAID officially opened on Broadway on Thursday, January 10, 2008. ]]> Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/tlmfprincetostar tlmfprincetostar Click to hear MARY POPPINS' composers Richard M. Sherman and George Stiles on the American Theatre Wing's weekly theatrical interview show, "Downstage Center:"
Sherman and Stiles, the film and stage composers (along with their partners Robert B. Sherman and Anthony Drewe) of MARY POPPINS, got together for a special program that explores the creation of the original film score and how it was adapted and supplemented for the stage musical. Sharing a piano, they play and sing snippets of a variety of songs from MARY POPPINS – including songs that were cut from both versions, some of which ended up in other familiar scores. Separately, Sherman and Stiles also provide quick overviews of their respective careers, with Sherman recalling how he and his brother Robert became the house composers for Disney and later wrote the stage musicals Over Here and Busker Alley, and Stiles reviewing his partnership with Anthony Drewe and how they spent seven years writing Just So, only to win the Olivier Award for their more swiftly created Honk
MARY POPPINS has become the biggest hit to open during the 2006-2007 season and is the must-see new musical for theatergoers of all ages.
MARY POPPINS, a co-production by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on November 16, 2006, and quickly proved to be a hit with audience members and critics alike.
The London production continues its record-setting run as it enters its third year at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End.
Based on P.L. Travers's cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, MARY POPPINS features the Academy Award®-winning music and lyrics of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. The stage production has been created, in collaboration with Cameron Mackintosh, by Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who has written the book, and the Olivier Award-winning team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who have composed new songs and additional music and lyrics.
Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre leads the award-winning creative team assembled for MARY POPPINS with co-direction and choreography by Tony® and Olivier Award winner Matthew Bourne. MARY POPPINS features set and costume design by Tony Award® winner Bob Crowley, co-choreography by Olivier Award winner Stephen Mear, lighting design by Howard Harrison, sound design by Steve Canyon Kennedy, orchestrations by William David Brohn, music supervision by David Caddick, and music direction by Brad Haak.
]]> Wed, 02 May 2007 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/hearshermanandstiles hearshermanandstiles Rogelio Douglas Jr. Goes from Living By the Sea to Singing Under it as he Crawls into Sebastian's Shell in THE LITTLE MERMAID

Rogelio Douglas Jr. got his first exposure to shellfish growing up in the Coney Island neighborhood of New York. "We used to catch these little fish, I don't remember what they were called," he laughs today about his activity with his siblings. "We had a pier near our house and we used to go out and catch these little things. We had a cage and we'd put tuna in it to catch them. Then we'd go and sell them to the fisherman and they would use them as bait!"

Now, instead of catching the fish in a net, he's avoiding the cook's knife eight times a week as he steps into the role of Sebastian, the singing crab, in Broadway's THE LITTLE MERMAID. This is Douglas' Broadway principal debut, but he is no stranger to the Great White Way. Avid theater goers might recognize him as the lead tap dancer in Riverdance and one of the original cast members of Tony® Award-winning musical In the Heights, which is what called him to the attention of the team at Disney.

"I was on as [in the role of] Benny and I think it was either my second or third performance and [a casting director] at Disney just happened to be in the audience. After the show, she gave me her card and told me to call her…I called her the very next day and we set something up and it actually was only two days after my birthday," he recalls, adding that he's still surprised he got the role. Quite a birthday gift indeed!

When the call came that he got the part, he was with his brother getting his hair braided. "I hung up the phone and started to scream. It was one of those moments," he says, chuckling that he was running around the room with his hair half finished. "It looked like a lion's mane!" he laughs.

But getting the role was the easy part. With Tituss Burgess, who originated the role of Sebastian, leaving to star in a new revival of Guys and Dolls, Douglas had only a month to prepare for one of the most rigorous parts in the show that includes the show-stopping production numbers "Kiss The Girl" and the Oscar®-winning song "Under The Sea."

"The hardest part is learning where to breathe," he says of the rehearsal process. "I have that dancer's spirit in me where I just don't breathe and I think, 'Oh, I can breathe at the end of the number.' When you're singing, that doesn't work."

The other hard part for Douglas is not joining in some of the other dance numbers, especially during the big second act curtain raiser. "When they're doing 'Positoovity,' it's almost like the [tap dancers] are coming at me. A part of me, the inner hoofer--who I cannot reveal, cause I'm Sebastian the crab--wants to just bust out a step, and it's hard to contain that," he says, only partially joking. But it might be harder if he didn't have some of the best sequences (and some of the funniest lines) in a show that is packed with them.

"I'm a ham and who doesn't want and that attention, and I get--I'm gonna say it--the best songs in the show," this self-described "kidder" smiles. But along with the big numbers comes a lot of expectation. After all, who hasn't heard the Samuel E. Wright version of "Under the Sea" from the 1989 Disney movie?

"Any expectation the audience has just melts away after a while and they accept that I am Sebastian," the cool-headed Douglas says. "I don't have to worry about trying to be like the movie or like trying to be like Tituss Burgess, as long as I'm just true to the role and capture the sense of who Sebastian is."

And the idea of playing an animal on stage isn't that strange to Douglas who, as a native New Yorker, grew up going to Broadway shows and fell in love with Cats and Les Miserables at a young age. "I remember saying, 'I'm going to be the first black Jean Valjean"" he says.

After seeing a dance recital, Douglas started dance lessons at the age of 8. He says his mother was thrilled with the idea, but his father resisted having a son who danced. Luckily for everyone who gets to enjoy his moves on stage, Douglas says that his very determined mother eventually convinced his father to give in. His opening night as Sebastian, his mother and his very first dance teacher were there in the audience to support him.

And that night wasn't the first time Douglas' dreams came true. "It was my dream to be on Broadway and to be in a brand new show," he says about his time In the Heights. "Everybody wants that Rent experience. Everybody wants to be in a brand new groundbreaking musical and it was a fantasy for it to include all the music I listened to growing up. I listened to salsa and meringue and I listened to hip-hop especially. We were like a new breed of musical and it was perfect for me, because I love Les Mis but I like A Tribe Called Quest."

He likens In the Heights to THE LITTLE MERMAID in that both shows reach a very broad audience, one that might not have been exposed to musical theatre before. "People that are coming in to see THE LITTLE MERMAID are 5 and 8 but then there are people at 48 and maybe even in their 70s," he says about the audiences he's seen. "They're all loving it and they're all leaving touched, moved and inspired. And I feel very lucky to be a part of that."

Sometimes it's still hard for this very humble boy from Coney Island with big aspirations to believe he's finally arrived. "I think I feel very fortunate and lucky to be a part of two great shows on Broadway—especially in the same year," he exclaims. "Who does that happen to? I just have to stop and pray and say, 'Thank you, God. Thank you.'"

And as for those little fishes he used to catch back off the pier, he vows not to do it again. Taking on the mantle of Sebastian even has him turned off of eating anything that was born in the water. "I'm not a big seafood eater anymore," he says, breaking into Sebastians trademark Caribean accent. "I have a warm place in my heart now for fishes." It's better down where it's wetter, indeed.

]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/tlmrdouglasjr tlmrdouglasjr The Walt Disney Studios celebrates the 45th Anniversary of the 1964 classic film, MARY POPPINS, with a 2-disc special edition DVD featuring brand new bonus materials from the hit stage production based on the popular film starring Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke and on the P.L. Travers books. Released on January 27, 2009, the DVD set will feature a new 45-minute documentary, "Mary Poppins: From Page to Stage" that takes audiences behind the scenes for a close look at the creation of the stage musical produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and Cameron Mackintosh. Another extra from the stage version is the musical number "Step In Time" shot for the first time in its entirety onstage at the New Amsterdam Theatre, the show's Broadway home since 2006. And rounding out the bonus features is a downloadable MP3 of "Step In Time" as well. ]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/mp45annivdvd mp45annivdvd Disney Theatrical Productions proudly celebrates the one-year Broadway anniversary of THE LITTLE MERMAID on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. The show officially opened on Thursday, January 10, 2008 and was the #1 selling new Broadway musical of 2008, grossing over $60 million to date. Terry Teachout of The Wall Street Journal raved, "I expect it to run from here to eternity and back again. I'd see it again in a heartbeat." The Philadelphia Inquirer declared the show "a triumph of stagecraft." The Chicago Tribune hailed THE LITTLE MERMAID a "tidal wave of stellar performances!" ]]> Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/tlmyearanniv tlmyearanniv Disney's THE LION KING celebrates its 10th Anniversary in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, December 20, 2008 with a gala performance and celebration at the Theatre Haru. The Tokyo production of THE LION KING was the first to be mounted after the show's award-winning New York City debut and is the second longest-running staging of the show, after Broadway. ]]> Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/tlktokyotenyears tlktokyotenyears by Robert Viagas

The wind must be in the East along Broadway. Original MARY POPPINS star Ashley Brown has unfurled her umbrella and is heading off on tour. But Broadway families are lucky; a new Mary Poppins is arriving in the person of London-born Scarlett Strallen.

"Her Mary is very authentic, and she's got a great accent," said associate director Anthony Lyn who integrated her into the Broadway production.

She is a proud member of an English show business dynasty, and the first to play a leading role on Broadway "I was born basically in a trunk," she said in an interview at the legendary Times Square restaurant Sardi's, where she was right at home among the images of stars from the past. "My parents were both dancers and my aunt is Bonnie Langford, a very well-known performer back home. My sister Summer is playing Maria in The Sound of Music in London, my sister Zizi is in Dirty Dancing at age 17," and a still-younger sister, Saskia, is on her way up.

All the girls attended a dance school started by her great-grandmother and run by her grandmother.

"I loved show business from the word go," Scarlett said. "I saw my parents go to work every night, and dress up and have fun. Obviously it's hard work, but they were having a great time. I thought, why would I want to do anything else?"

She made her professional stage debut at age 9 in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects of Love. "I couldn't believe my luck. I had my own tiny little broom cupboard of a dressing room. I had my own wig and everyone was so lovely to me and I thought, 'This is what I want to be!'"

There was one part of show business that the young Strallen definitely didn't like, and it gives her a unique perspective on the role of Mary Poppins.

"We had lots of nannies and they were NOT like Mary Poppins," she recalled. "They were more like Ms. Andrew [an evil nanny character added to the stage story]. When my parents were both doing Cats at the same time, they would go off at six o'clock at night, and I would be screaming at window, 'Come back! Come back!' Because I hated our nanny so much." There was a bright spot: "We had one wonderful Nanny, Good Linda, and she stayed with us for two or three years. She was more of a Mary Poppins. She was quite magical."

Seeing both sides of the coin helped Strallen to find just the right balance for her performance as the magical nanny who flies via umbrella, tidies up a nursery with a song, brings an entire park full of statuary to life, and most importantly, brings a troubled family back together by showing them what's really important in life.

"I grew up loving the Disney film and I adored Julie Andrews, so that is incredibly close to my heart," Strallen said. "But what is magnificent about our show is that we draw on the original P.L. Travers stories, which were slightly edgier. People love Julie so much that they have an expectation of what Mary Poppins will be, so I have to marry the two and find a balance between her strictness and her sweetness--her magic and her down-to-earthness as well."

MARY POPPINS is a musical for the whole family in the literal sense. The musical tells a bit more than the movie about the Banks parents and their struggles with parenthood, marriage and trying to overcome their own childhood issues.

Associate director Lyn said Strallen's upbringing and training made her uniquely qualified to play Mary Poppins, a role she played twice in London before being asked to recreate her performance on Broadway. "She was trained primarily as a dancer. Her singing and acting came later. She's now accomplished in all those things to a world-class standard, but thanks to her dance training she moves magnificently as Mary, not only the dance routines, but even just the way she moves around the set is beautifully fluid."

Tom Kosis, resident choreographer at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre where MARY POPPINS plays, said Strallen's dance chops enabled her to carry out some changes original choreographers Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear envisioned for the show. Though now in its third year at the New Amsterdam, they wanted to make the show somewhat more dance-intensive so Lyn and Kosis were given the resources to restage, rechoreograph and redesign several of the scenes, including the "Jolly Holiday" number in the park.

"She's a dancer from her soul," Kosis said. "Every time she moves its organic and that inspires a choreographer."

And, in turn Mary Poppins inspires Strallen. "Mary for me is obviously very magical," she said. "She has this air of mysticism about her because she flies in without explanation and she flies away without explanation. She doesn't need to explain. She's practically perfect (and incredibly vain). She's a wise old owl-witch type person. She comes in and fixes the Banks family--it's a very distressed, worried family--and then they're fine. And then she flies off."

So who--or what--is Mary Poppins?

"I always imagine at the end--I don't know if this sounds silly--but I imagine that when Mary Poppins flies off she becomes a star. Like a star in the sky. She's angelic, really."

Robert Viagas is program director of Playbill Radio and editor of Playbill Books.
]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/mpscarlettstrallen mpscarlettstrallen by Robert Viagas

When Adam Fiorentino was 17 years old, the Aussie who is making his Broadway debut as the new Bert, the multi-talented chimney sweep in MARY POPPINS, faced a life-changing decision.

After dancing from the age of 4 in his native Melbourne and dreaming of Broadway, he made the practical decision to become a doctor and even began studying for medical school. At that fateful moment, the phone rang. He was offered his first professional gig in the ensemble of the touring production of the Peter Allen musical The Boy From Oz.

"I thought to myself, OK, do I stay and become a doctor? Or do I move to Brisbane [and become a professional dancer]? My philosophy has always been that I never ever want to become an old man and regret not doing something. Not taking a chance. I could always do education, but I can't always do this. So I did it."

It was the beginning of a road that took the wiry, dark-haired, dark-eyed actor around Australia in productions of Cats, Grease, Mamma Mia!, Footloose and Leader of the Pack, and the stage adaptation of Saturday Night Fever in which he played the John Travolta role of Tony Manero. He was invited to take his Boogie Shoes to London where he reprised the role in the West End production.

But he has reached the high point of his career - literally and figuratively - playing Bert, the "Chim-Chim-Cheree"-singing sweep who helps Mary Poppins save the troubled Banks family of 17 Cherry Tree Lane in the Disney/Cameron Macintosh show.

Associate director Anthony Lyn said bringing in a new actor shouldn't be like simply slipping on someone else's costume. "If we've done our job right," he said, "we capitalize on the qualities the new actor has." He said Fiorentino's Bert is "very warm and cheeky, with a real twinkle in his eye."

Bert literally flips for Mary. Among his many daring special effects is dancing upside-down on the three-story proscenium of Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre at the climax of the song "Step in Time."

The New Amsterdam's resident choreographer Tom Kosis said he trained Fiorentino on a special ten-foot-high practice rig. "He had to learn how to tap without using his weight," Kosis said. "Tapping upside down is not like tapping on the stage. You have to flip your ankles. It's much more like drumming."

"I was never really terrified," Fiorentino said, "because I've done bungee jumping in the past." He also said he has complete trust in the show's designers and the stagehands of the New Amsterdam. But there's something more that helps keep him aloft. "It's the excitement and the buzz you get from the audience."

How about magic? Clearly Mary Poppins is magical. But what about Bert?

"Bert is a human being who is able to perform magic when Mary is around," Fiorentino said. "He helps facilitate some of Mary's lessons. In order to do that he is able to use magic. He loses those powers when she goes away. He's got a very deep connection with Mary. When Mary goes, it's a really sad time for him."

Fiorentino does have one love story with a decidedly happy ending: his love affair with New York City. The first time he heard the word "Broadway" was when he was 6 or 7. He and his mother used to watch movies on TV together every Sunday, and when the classic film musical On the Town was shown, Fiorentino was hooked. The story of sailors on a 24-hour leave in Manhattan showed them, "running around New York. And I thought: I want to be there! For me, that's where everything happened."

And the city lived up to his expectations when he first set foot there on a trip two years ago, on leave from Saturday Night Fever. "I was staying at a hotel right around the corner from David Letterman's theatre. When I came out onto Broadway there were all these road workers on break. One of them turned into the other and said, 'Did you hear that so and so isn't doing this show any more, she's moved to this other show?' And I thought, I want to live in the place where the guys working on the side of the road know about theatre.

"Two years later, here I am!"

Robert Viagas is founder of Playbill.com and author or editor of a dozen books on theatre.
]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/mpadamfiorentino mpadamfiorentino
The original Broadway cast recording of THE LITTLE MERMAID was nominated for Best Musical Show Album by The Recording Academy. Congratulations to the MERMAID cast and creative team on this fantastic accomplishment! For a complete list of GRAMMY® nominations click here.
]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/tlmgrammynom tlmgrammynom
The Broadway production of THE LITTLE MERMAID, based on the animated Disney film and the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, welcomes new cast members to the company: Rogelio Douglas, Jr. (Sebastian), Eric LaJuan Summers (Jetsam), Robert Creighton (Chef Louis) and Heidi Blickenstaff (Ursula).
Blickenstaff will begin performances on Tuesday, January 27, 2009. Summers and Creighton joined the cast on Tuesday, November 4 and Douglas joined on December 9, 2008. ]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/tlmnewcast tlmnewcast Disney and Cameron Mackintosh are pleased to announce an open-ended run of MARY POPPINS which will take residence at the Circus Theatre in Scheveningen, Holland, outside of Amsterdam.
The production will open in April, 2010 and will take up residence at the Circus Theatre following TARZAN'S record setting run there. MARY POPPINS will be produced by Joop van den Ende Theatreproductions/Stage Entertainment, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's producing partner in Holland. ]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/mpholland mpholland
BBC RADIO 2 CELEBRATES THE MUSIC OF DISNEY will feature the 70-piece BBC Concert Orchestra performing Oscar®, Grammy® and Tony Award®-winning music spanning over 65 years of the Disney songbook.

The West End company of THE LION KING, which is currently celebrating its tenth triumphant year at the Lyceum Theatre, will also perform concert versions of "Circle of Life" and "One by One." Listen in online on December 26, 2008 by going to BBC Radio 2.
]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/disneybbcradio disneybbcradio Richard Zoglin named THE LITTLE MERMAID as one of the top 10 musicals or plays of 2008.

Disney can't win with the critics anymore, and even some fans (including this one) had a hard time getting excited about the inevitable stage version of the studio's first animated musical hit of the modern era. But Disney once again scores with its sheer theatrical exuberance and polish. Opera director Francesca Zambello, directing her first Broadway show, goes for charmingly low-tech special effects (the fish "swim" on roller-skate wheelies) and gorgeous, variegated visuals to tell the affecting Hans Christian Andersen story of a mermaid who longs to be human. Ignore the critics, take the kids and don't pretend you're not enjoying it too. ]]> Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/top10timemag top10timemag The Broadway production of MARY POPPINS continues to fly high as it enters its second year. MARY POPPINS celebrates its two-year anniversary on Sunday, November 16th. Produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Thomas Schumacher of Disney Theatrical Productions, the Broadway production has grossed over $100 million to date and will have played 837 performances by Sunday.
]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/mptwoyears mptwoyears Disney Theatrical Productions and Mandalay Bay are proud to announce the award-winning Broadway phenomenon THE LION KING coming to the Mandalay Bay Theatre May 2, 2009 with preview performances beginning April 20, 2009. This sit-down production will join the six other highly successful companies of THE LION KING around the world in New York, London, Hamburg, Paris, Tokyo and Fukuoka. Mandalay Bay's production of THE LION KING will be virtually identical to the other companies seen around the globe and will be staged with all of the same spectacular music, sets, and costumes that have made it a worldwide phenomenon. Ticket prices, on-sale dates and performance schedules will be announced at a later date. "We're incredibly pleased to bring THE LION KING to the audiences of Las Vegas," said Thomas Schumacher, producer of THE LION KING and president of Disney Theatrical Group. "Mandalay Bay has seen great success with other shows thanks to its extraordinary commitment to producing theatre of the highest caliber. When we decided to bring THE LION KING to Las Vegas, we knew that this was the right show at the right venue at the right time." Bill Hornbuckle, president and chief operating officer of Mandalay Bay, said, "We are known for offering our guests exciting and spectacular entertainment options. The addition of THE LION KING, one of the most successful production shows in history, will continue this tradition. We are certain THE LION KING's international appeal will be embraced by Las Vegas locals and visitors alike." Richard Sturm, president of sports and entertainment of MGM MIRAGE, the parent company of Mandalay Bay, stated, "It's a honor to have Disney Theatrical Productions bring THE LION KING to Mandalay Bay. The show has a tremendous reputation throughout the entertainment industry and we anticipate a strong demand for THE LION KING in Las Vegas. We are looking forward to a successful partnership." ]]> Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/vegasannouncement vegasannouncement September 15, 2008 - Members of the Broadway cast of THE LION KING played a memorable performance in the Rose Garden of The White House for President and Mrs. Bush. The White House State Dinner, only the 6th in Bush's nearly 8 years, was in honor of the President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufor, and Mrs. Theresa Kufor. Laura Bush hand-picked THE LION KING to perform after having just seen it on tour at The Kennedy Center. 220 guests, a who's who of Washington including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, were in attendance for the 20 minute performance. A special moment occurred during the on-site rehearsal in the afternoon. The 11 actors were completing their run-through when President Bush came out of the Oval Office to the Rose Garden to meet the cast and express his gratitude. Due to the great buzz about THE LION KING, President and Mrs. Bush requested that an official portrait be taken with the cast and the President of Ghana. The honor of performing at The White House will be remembered forever by the cast members of THE LION KING.







]]> Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/tlkwhitehouse tlkwhitehouse By Michael Lassell
The New Amsterdam Theatre--built in 1903 and now home to the hit musical MARY POPPINS--is The Walt Disney Company's flagship venue in New York City. But as recently as 15 years ago, Broadway's oldest theatre was in an appalling state of decay and had been shuttered for a decade. It may not have given up the ghost, exactly, but it certainly had one foot in the architectural grave. Among the bevy of Broadway's surviving theatres, she was one of the undead. The neighborhood itself, once the "Crossroads of the World," had grown dirty, deserted, and downright dangerous. When Dana Amendola, a theatrical manager who was brought up on Martha's Vineyard, first saw it, the once beautiful theatre was on its last legs. The affable Amendola, who has since become the Operations VP of Disney Theatrical Productions, had seen the distressed theatre in the 1994 Louis Malle film Vanya on 42nd Street, a movie about a troop of actors rehearsing in the skeletal remains of a once-grand theatre--the real-life New Amsterdam. Then, one day he had a chance to sneak in. "It was mess," Amendola says. "The awe-inspiring decorations of 1903 had been painted over, the box seats had been ripped out, the lighting instruments stripped off the walls and stolen. Most of the marble had been removed, the mirrors were cracked or caked with grime, the stunning murals were mildewed beyond repair. Three feet of water sat stagnant in the downstairs lounge because the roof was open to the elements and several murals that had peeled off the walls were floating in the soup. There were mushrooms the size of dinner plates growing off the walls," Amendola remembers. Clearly, the New Amsterdam was a rotting carcass. It was a particularly sad fate for what is, Amendola explains, a unique theatre building. To his knowledge, he says, the New Amsterdam is the only art-nouveau theatre in North America. The New Amsterdam was saved from the wrecking ball by Michael Eisner--then Disney's CEO. Eisner, an architecture aficionado, had grown up in New York and remembered double movie bills at the New Amsterdam. At the urging of starchitect Robert A.M. Stern, who had worked with Eisner on many Disney projects, Eisner stepped up to the preservationist plate. The creative executive took one look at the theatre and fell in love with its possibilities. He could feel the fading faint pulse of potential as a home for Disney stage productions--even before the fledgling theatre division had opened its first show (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, which opened in 1994 and played for over thirteen years). Eisner took a 49-year lease on the ruin. Disney had already restored the 1926 El Capitan in Los Angeles, which has been a keystone of the reclamation of Hollywood Boulevard. Saving the New Amsterdam in the eleventh hour meant taking a corporate a risk, but it was one the building, and Times Square, deserved. The original cost of the New Amsterdam was $1.5 million (twice the cost of the closest comparable theatre). Reputedly built on the site of the mayor's stables, it was owned by impresarios Abraham Lincoln (Abe) Erlanger (also known as Little Bonaparte) and his partner, attorney Marcus Klaw. Their architects-- Herts & Tallant --created Broadway's largest theatre in the latest style. Its sinuous art-nouveau curves and carved woodland flora and fauna, its paintings of great theatrical lovers, porcelain-glazed terra-cotta staircases, and aluminum-leafed ceilings captured the imagination of everyone who saw it. The New Amsterdam first opened in the fall of 1903 with a widely panned production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, but the building--now New York's oldest surviving theatre --was a smash. More than one commentator declared it the most spectacular theatre in the world. The New York Times dubbed it the "House Beautiful," a sobriquet it retained for decades. In its early years, the theatre hosted New York and world premieres of plays by George Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen; Ben-Hur played here, and so did George M. Cohan's Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway. And then came Florenz Ziegfeld and his scantily but elegantly clad chorus girls with the Ziegfeld Follies of 1913. For the next dozen golden years the theatre was inseparable from the reputation of the canny showman and his endless string of young beauties in their ornate costumes. In addition to the Follies, the New Amsterdam was the home of Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic, which played in the so-called Rooftop Garden, above the main stage. The Frolics, it was reputed, were even more risqué than the main-stage fare. Amendola, who clearly loves the New Amsterdam, and who has even written a book about it (A Day in the Life of the New Amsterdam Theatre, Disney Editions), has an encyclopedic grasp of the building's history. "Jack Dempsey hosted a party here when he won the world boxing heavyweight championship in 1919," Amendola instructs, "and the Duke of Windsor had his bachelor party on the roof before he married Wallis Simpson." In the Ziegfeld years, Fred Astaire and Bob Hope played at the New Amsterdam, Irene and Vernon Castle danced, W.C. Fields juggled, and Fanny Brice warbled "Secondhand Rose" and cracked up one audience after another. But the Great Depression and the rising popularity of the movies took their toll on the New Am. The most magnificent theatre in New York was converted to a movie palace. The last live production, in 1937, was Shakespeare's Othello, starring Walter Huston; the first film was Max Reinhart's version of the 1903 opening play, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (with a 15-year-old Mickey Rooney in the role of Puck). For the next half century, New Yorkers went to the movies at the New Amsterdam and the building and its neighborhood spiraled downward. From bedazzling opening nights that were the toast of Broadway, the New Amsterdam had descended to showing Kung Fu flicks, and the neighborhood was deemed unsavory, unsafe, even unhealthy. The champagne sizzle was gone; what remained was a sad and dismal back-alley shadow. By the time Disney came along in the 1990s, the New Amsterdam needed a lot more than TLC. What cost $1.5 million to build in 1903 (when the top ticket price was $1) cost $36 million to restore. Under the talented and energetic leadership of architect Hugh Hardy of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer and Associates, hundreds of workers, craftspeople, and artisans turned their attention to the New Amsterdam, and by 1997 the theatre opened its doors once again to live productions with a limited engagement of Alan Menken's King David oratorio followed by THE LION KING. That show (now in its 11th year and still a sell-out) began drawing huge audiences to the reclaimed New Amsterdam. Around it, the abandoned neighborhood transformed itself into a safe, family-oriented entertainment district. By 1997, Flo Ziegfeld had been long gone (he died in 1932). But some of the original Ziegfeld girls hadn't yet gone on to the great Busby Berkeley number in the sky. Doris Eaton Travis, now aged 104, was one of five Eaton siblings who all performed at the Follies, including her brother Charlie, who went on to a successful film career. Doris hasn't yet stopped performing at the New Amsterdam. She still offers the occasional song and dance for fundraising events, like Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' annual Easter Bonnet Competition. There are some, however, who say that at least one of Flo Ziegfeld's especially cherished dancers, a young woman by the name of Olive Thomas, continues to visit the theatre regularly despite having been interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx in 1920. Could the New Amsterdam be haunted by the spirit of the tragic Olive Thomas? Thomas was born Oliva R. Duffy in Charleroi, PA, on October 20, 1894. She married Bernard Thomas when she was just 16 and took his last name before leaving him and Pennsylvania behind shortly thereafter. She moved to New York City, where she may have worked in a Harlem department store. In 1914 she won a contest run by famed illustrator Howard Chandler Christy, winning the title of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." With pale skin, dark hair, and eyes variously described as blue, grey, and violet (much like Elizabeth Taylor), she began to model for some of the most famous illustrators of the day. She even appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. Olive was soon thereafter "discovered" by Ziegfeld, who had a personal as well as professional eye for the ladies. At first he put her into his ultra-glamorous main-stage Follies but he plucked her out of the chorus and moved her to the Frolics, where she became a bona-fide headliner. In 1916, Ziegfeld's favorite eloped to New Jersey with Jack Pickford, Mary Pickford's kid brother. He wasn't Flo Ziegfeld, but he wasn't married, either, as Ziegfeld was. Ziegfeld was unwilling to divorce his famous other half, Billie Burke (who went on to play Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz). Olive and Jack's marriage was fractious, but Thomas began to make movies under her own name, and she was becoming a box-office success. Ziegfeld was reportedly furious when one of her films opened directly across 42nd Street from the New Amsterdam and Olive's name on the marquee was bigger than his own on the New Am. The Pickford family disapproved of the marriage. Mary was particularly put off. Perhaps the motherly sister felt protective of her wastrel of a brother. She may have been offended by "Ollie's" plain-speaking refusal to put on airs or renounce her scandalous past, or perhaps she was resentful that her sister-in-law's screen persona, ringlets and all, began to rival her own in popularity. In 1920, Olive Thomas starred in a film called The Flapper. As the carefree embodiment of the Jazz Age, the flapper became a cultural icon, and the model for the minx was Olive. In 1920, the unhappily married Pickfords sailed to Europe for a reconciling second honeymoon. One night, after a round of parties, Olive ingested a fatal dose of her husband's mercury bichloride, a frequently prescribed drug. She died an agonizing five days later in the American Hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, at the age of 25. Pickford brought his controversial but widely adored wife back to America and buried her at Woodlawn in the Bronx (final resting place, too, of many leading Broadway lights, including George M. Cohan and Irving Berlin--and, by 1927, fellow Ziegfeld girl Marilyn Miller, the second Mrs. Jack Pickford). But, if you ask some people, death was not the end of Ollie Thomas. The first recorded sighting of the former Ziegfeld girl at the New Amsterdam Theatre, Dana Amendola relates, was by a young apprentice working with an older handyman repairing chairs in what is now the New Amsterdam Room in the late '30s. Left alone, the young man set about his work but, feeling a presence, looked up to find a beautiful woman, who blew him a kiss, and turned to ascend the stairs to the auditorium above. When the young man went to follow her, there was no one there. He described his experience to his older boss, who said simply, "Oh, that's the ghost of Olive Thomas. I've seen her, too." But appearances by the phantom flapper are not limited to the distant past. Sometime after Disney took possession of the New Amsterdam and began its restoration, a night watchman making his rounds with a flashlight suddenly caught a glimpse of a woman he described as incredibly beautiful. He was able to pick her out of photographs of old Ziegfeld girls. He picked out Olive Thomas. And a picture of Olive in the very dress he described her wearing showed up some six months later. The guard never returned. The still coquettish ghost of Olive Thomas, if that's what the apparition is, seems to prefer making herself known to men--but not always. Psychic Sylvia Brown claims to have seen Thomas up on the roof in mid-frolic. The figure was walking as if in mid-air, which confused her. But, she was later told, the girls of the Frolic entered the theatre across a glass runway above the heads of the patrons. The runway was gone, but apparently nobody thought to tell Olive! Then one day, during the run of THE LION KING, the theatre had three of the surviving Follies girls back to the theatre for a visit. It was the first time that any of the chorines had been on the New Amsterdam stage since 1923. That night, the head carpenter related to Amendola, as he was about to leave for the night, all of the show's props that were hanging on the wall began to shake violently. Perhaps Olive has a jealous streak. And she's mischievous, too! Amendola himself insists that there are times when you can feel an unmistakable tug on your clothing when there is no one anywhere near you. If it is the ghost of Olive Thomas haunting the New Amsterdam, there is no history of her being hostile or dangerous. In fact, speculates Amendola, she may have returned to the New Amsterdam because her days at the Follies were her happiest. Just as a welcoming caution, however, Olive's picture now adorns every entrance of the theatre, and staffers on their way home at the end of a performance, frequently blow her a kiss and wish her a fond good night. For the full story of the New Amsterdam, see The New Amsterdam: The Biography of a Broadway Theatre by Mary C. Henderson. ]]> Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/haunted haunted By Michael Lassell
You may not know his name, but if you make a habit of attending Broadway musicals, the chances are you've seen his work. He's certainly known to the tribe of gypsies who make New York's theatre district its stomping ground: he's been in some of the best-known shows of recent decades and he's even got a caricature on the wall at Sardi's, a certain sign of having arrived. At the moment he's playing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on West 44th Street in New York City, as Grimsby, Prince Eric's faithful majordomo, in Disney's hit musical-stage version of THE LITTLE MERMAID. The altogether congenial and somewhat larger than life Jonathan Freeman made his first entrance during the post-World War II baby boom in Cleveland, Ohio. As an adult, he's appeared on television, on shows like Law & Order: CI and in such films as The Ice Storm. But at heart he's a stage actor. He's appeared in dozens of plays, classical and contemporary, in New York and out, on Broadway and off. On the Great White Way, he costarred with Matthew Broderick in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; earned a Tony nomination for his hilarious performance in She Loves Me; strode the boards in 42nd Street and On the Town; took a full-throttle turn as camp director Roger DeBris in The Producers; and, before moving on to THE LITTLE MERMAID, served a semester as Cogsworth (the clock) in Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (which Disney Theatrical Productions closed after a run of more than 13 years so that THE LITTLE MERMAID could play in the same theatre). Even if you've never seen Jonathan Freeman before, you probably know the actor's voice. Nearly everyone has heard it. But more on that later. Cleveland, Ohio may not seem the best place to begin a career in theatre, but Jonathan Freeman wants to quell the misconception. "The Cleveland Playhouse is the oldest regional theatre in the United States," points out the proud native of the Buckeye State. There was also a well-regarded company for kids, the Children's Theatre in the Heights. And if that wasn't enough, young Jonathan was able to go with his parents and grandparents to the local road house, the Hannah Theatre, which is where he saw his very first Broadway productions. "This was in the days," Freeman remembers, "when shows had short Broadway runs and then went out on tour, and the first national tour usually had the original cast. The Hannah was always a big stop, and that's where I started seeing musicals when I was seven or eight years old." But seeing them wasn't enough for this born performer. "One day I went to see a play, and I happened to mention to my parents, 'I'd really like to do that.' And," he snaps his fingers, "the next day I was enrolled at Children's Theater in the Heights." As a kid, Jonathan played adults in children's plays and kids in adult productions at the Cleveland Playhouse. He was a big kid (now six feet one) and always had a deep voice ("I don't remember it ever changing," he says). "In a very funny and weird say," he says, I'm now playing the kinds of roles I grew up playing as a kid. Like the Lord High Chamberlain, somebody's best friend, Mr. Darling in Peter Pan. I did all those parts. I was forty when I was ten," he laughs. "When I got out of University and came to New York," he remembers, I had to starve myself to stay bone thin so I could play these stupid juvenile roles I didn't even like. I played the juvenile in a play with Jimmy Coco and Dodie Goodman called George Washington Slept Here. " "Then in 1989, I was cast in a play by Eric Overmyer called In a Pig's Valise. Nathan Lane was the star, and it was directed by Graciela Daniele. Graciela was the first person to cast me as a villain, and for that I owe her a great debt of gratitude, because my whole life started over again. I could stop starving myself to play roles I didn't really care about." And then came Disney and Aladdin. All right, hands up! How many people already knew that Jonathan Freeman was the scarifying voice of Jafar in Disney's animated feature Aladdin And in the Return of Jafar sequel and subsequent appearances of the character? He is the official voice of the villainous vizier. He's played Jafar in the Action Hearts videogame series and on thirty episodes of House of Mouse. That's even his voice in Fantasmic!, the nightly Mickey vs. The Baddies extravaganza at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Freeman can be seen chatting about Jafar in the additional material on the Aladdin Platinum Edition DVD. For the ten percent of kids who are not drawn to the young hero or heroine, he says, "Jafar is a something of a hero--not because he's evil, but because he's triggered their imagination somehow." Freeman, who generally preferred the villains of Disney's classic animated features when he was growing up, loves the idea of triggering the imagination of children and adults alike. "As a kid I was huge fan of Disney movies. Specifically, I was a huge fan of Disney villains. It's all I really ever wanted to do, and I'm not kidding. It sounds kind of trite and stupid, but the characters that appealed to me were Captain Hook, Maleficent, Stromboli--those kind of wild, wild-eyed, bigger than life, sometimes magical-powered characters that had something that I think is lacking for a lot of kids, which is power. You know, when you're a kid, you don't have any power at all, so seeing the villains point their fingers and blow things up was hilarious to me, and fun." On the same DVD, Freeman can be heard singing the last song Howard Ashman and Alan Menken wrote together before Ashman passed away. It was called "Humiliate the Boy," and was sung at the point in the story when Jafar is to reveal that Prince Ali is, in fact, only a common thief. "It was ultimately cut out of the film," laments Freeman, "but I'm very proud to have had that chance." Freeman's relationship with Howard Ashman and Alan Menken goes back to the days of The Little Shop of Horrors. "I remember having a great audition for them," Freeman recalls, "but whatever happened, I didn't get the part. Then several years later I heard that they had a three-picture deal with Disney." Freeman laid down the law for his agent. "I went into her office one day," he confesses, "and there a big pile of stuff on her desk, and I threw it on to the floor in a little bit of a rage, and said, 'All you have to do is get me auditioned. You don't have to get me the part. Let me worry about that.'" As it turned out, the casting director for Aladdin had cast Freeman in Pig's Valise. He got the audition. "That was the beginning of my long association with Disney," the actor relates. This relationship led him to the role of Cogsworth the clock in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. "It's a gorgeous show," says Freeman, "and Cogsworth is a hilarious character. I started having more fun with it the longer I did it. He became more real, and I think I got better at it. What I didn't get better at was dealing with the costume, which was very tough. The clothes took their toll on me, and so, honest to God, when they asked me to THE LITTLE MEMAID, the first thing I thought of was, 'Yes! I can get out of this clock suit.' I made some joke about it in my Little Mermaid audition but nobody thought it was very funny." Although Freeman is an accomplished singer, it was not for his ways with a song that he was hired for THE LITTLE MERMAID; Grimsby is not a featured singing role. So why was he hired? The actor is also not the same physical type as the animated Grimsby at all. "Well," he says, "I can only give you my perspective, because actors never really know why they're cast or not cast in a show. I think it had to do with what Francesca Zambello, the director of THE LITTLE MERMAID, kept calling 'gravitas.'" Indeed, while the "faithful retainer" has been a stock character of comedy as well as tragedy since ancient times, Grimsby of the stage musical needs to be somewhat weightier than a cartoon figure. (One of the ironies of making live theatre musicals from animated feature films is that once you put breathing actors onstage, their characters have to transcend many of the very qualities that made their predecessors perfect cartoon figures.) One of his biggest fears, which he expressed to Zambello, was that the character would be cut during the pre-Broadway try-out in Denver. "Absolutely not," she told him. Because Grimsby is the only parent figure in Prince Eric's life, and even if the character did not have a big song, he was tied thematically to what Zambello saw as some of the most critical themes of the new musical's script." She was also looking for a great actor who could make the most of emotional moments that might be little more than passing suggestions in the script. "Jonathan Freeman has the flair to turn a stock character into a real human being with a heart and soul," says Zambello. "The role of Grimsby is not as easy as you may think. It's a challenge, because it go could in an obvious direction. Jonathan brought color, humor, and wisdom to it and was able to lift Grimsby to something quite special." "It's not a very glamorous part," says Freeman. "I don't have a big number. I do have a couple of scenes that I'm really proud of, that I love, that are very simple and very sweet. Which is something people don't ask me to do a lot, even though it's probably my best work, those little moment to moment things." All in all, the experience on THE LITTLE MERMAID has been a good one for a variety of reasons, Freeman reports. "For one thing, Francesca is wonderful to work with, and Tom [producer Thomas Schumacher] is smart. He knows when to let people go and when to kind of reel them in." But most of all, Freeman appreciated the collaborative nature of the creative work on THE LITTLE MERMAID. "This is one of the things I tell my students," says Freeman, who coaches young actors at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. "I'm not sure collaboration is a dying art, but if you want to succeed in the theatre, you not only have to be able to collaborate, you have to really enjoy the collaborative process--especially in musicals. This was a great team of collaborators." "That doesn't mean you can't be a strong personality. You have to be a strong personality. You can shine as an individual and still be a good collaborator." ___________________________ Michael Lassell is the author of books on Elton John & Tim Rice's AIDA, TARZAN®, and (with Brian Sibley) MARY POPPINS, as well as the forthcoming THE LITTLE MERMAID: From the Deep Blue Sea to the Great White Way (all from Disney Editions). ]]> Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/meetjonathanfreeman meetjonathanfreeman BY MICHAEL LASSELL
If you watched the Tony Awards on TV, you've already gotten a gander at Sebastian from Broadway's THE LITTLE MERMAID--whether you've seen the latest Disney musical or not. That's because Whoopi Goldberg, the Tony Awards host, wore the crimson crab's costume when she came onstage after the telecast's opening number from THE LION KING.
"I knew it was going to happen," says Tituss Burgess, the singing actor who is fortunate enough to portray the choir-conducting crustacean eight times a week, "so I wasn't surprised, but it was hilarious. It was like I was there but not there."
If you have seen Disney's live-action manifestation of Hans Christian Andersen's tale of the mermaid who longs to be human, then you know that when Tituss Burgess is wailing, there is no question of whether he's there or not, because the 29-year-old R&B artist from Athens, Georgia, lights up the stage with the sheer joy of performance.
"Tituss Burgess is one of the great revelations of THE LITTLE MERMAID experience for me," says composer extraordinaire Alan Menken, who won his first best song Oscar for "Kiss the Girl" and another for the score of THE LITTLE MERMAID film. "Before he was cast as Sebastian," says Menken, "I knew Tituss through his participation in the development process on some of my other projects as one of those super-talented actors who can do nearly anything. But what I found out on Mermaid was that he's a star. Tituss has the heart of a lion and the voice of a tiger, and he's a pussycat--in the best possible sense. He's a joy to work with in every way."
Taking on such an iconic role from the realm of pop culture might have been daunting, but the fearless Tituss embraced it. To start, he looked to those things he and Sebastian have in common. Both write music, for example. Sebastian is a crab; Tituss is a Pisces, a water sign. And while Tituss seems a lot more generally positive than Ariel's cantankerous musical mentor, the handsome southerner hints that he has a crusty side, too.
There are differences, too, of course. The film's Sebastian could fit in the palm of Ariel's hand. The stage version is 5'10." The voice of the film Sebastian, Samuel E. Wright (who later created the role of Mufasa in Disney's THE LION KING on stage), is a baritone; Burgess is a tenor—so the Broadway Sebastian is sung in a much higher key than that of the film. Nonetheless, Burgess acquits himself with crowd-pleasing honor in two of the show's most famous songs, "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl," as well as the new second-act quartet, "If Only" with Ariel, Prince Eric, and King Triton.
He's popular with his colleagues, too. "I adore him," says Thomas Schumacher, President of Disney Theatrical Productions and the producer of THE LITTLE MERMAID. "We had not planned on hiring a tenor per se," he continues, "but when we heard him perform, Alan [Menken] got very excited, and we decided not only to embrace but exploit his extraordinary voice. And Tituss is a pro through and through. We're very lucky to have him with us in the show."
No self-respecting actor, of course, wants to simply replicate a previous performance, and neither Schumacher nor Mermaid's director, Francesca Zambello wanted a carbon copy of the 1989 film's Sebastian. Happily for Tituss, the producer and director wanted a youthful actor for the role, "one who could capture all the elements we love from the movie," says Schumacher, "but also to make it fresh. And Tituss relishes the experience of finding his own Sebastian while giving the audience enough of what they expect that they aren't disappointed. "I always put a lot of Tituss on anything I do," says Mr. Burgess, who made is Broadway debut in 2005 in Good Vibrations and soon after moved on to Jersey Boys.
"In the movie," Tituss explains, "the animated character has the advantage of being drawn, of film editing and cutaways. On stage, it's just me and gravity, so we have the challenge of keeping the action brisk but giving it heart and making it fun all at the same time."
Tituss is effusive in his praise of his director. "Francesca is very generous," he says. "She kind of stands back, lets you throw the paint up on the wall, and then she edits. The biggest direction she would give me was 'Go further, go further.' It was like 'The sky's the limit.'"
And it's a mutual admiration society: "Tituss is a warm, caring and loving human being at his core," says Zambello, "plus he's a special actor and super collaborator who is there to develop and shape any idea with you. Working with Tituss is a delight."
Menken, too, gave Tituss a lot of leeway. "He trusted that I was going to do my best to heighten the music," the actor says, "I think they both knew I shared with them a deep love for these songs." Tituss's resulting performance was cited as a standout by USA Today, which singled out his "soaring soulful voice" for particular praise. Other reviews noted his quiet dignity, jaunty impishness, and pure gusto.
If Tituss himself shares certain traits with Sebastian, he also identifies with Ariel. "When I was growing up in Athens," he says, "I just knew I had to get to New York to find my life." Not that he was unhappy at home. He grew up singing in church, along with his mother and studied music at University of Georgia. But then he moved north to pursue the impossible dream.
"I have to say that I feel more at home in New York than I ever did in Georgia," the musical actor says.
Among Tituss's many non-theatrical accomplishments are his solo CD, Here's to You, featuring R&B songs sung and written by… Tituss Burgess. He's done several cabaret shows based on this material, and on theater music, too, both alone and with such fellow Mermaid cast members as Sean Palmer (Prince Eric). But he's been so tied up with Mermaid, the hit show of 2008, that he hasn't had a chance to publicize the album.
"I'm a singer first," he says, "and there is a part of me that finds satisfaction in singing what I feel like singing when I feel like singing. I won't always be in a Broadway show, but I'll always be able to sing."
Tituss first learned he had landed the Sebastian role on December 23 in 2006. He had just finished a stint as the Cowardly Lion in The Wiz in LaJolla, California, and was having coffee with a friend when he got the news. "It was a very nice Christmas present," he says.
The man the audience loves to love did have some previous Disney experience, in THE LION KING show at Walt Disney World, and he reports that the audition process was not as difficult as many. He managed to land the plum part on his second callback. That's when he started to forge his close friendship with Sierra Boggess, who plays Ariel. The actor doesn't have to feign Sebastian's affection: "I'm in love with Sierra Bogges," he says.
Which is one of the reasons he's so happy that the book of the musical, by playwright Douglas Wright, gives Sebastian a clear emotional growth arc. "He goes from being her teacher to being her guardian to being a friend… and then to something like an older brother," says the softie underneath Sebastian's hard red shell. And his presence in the "If Only" quartet (featuring Ariel and the people who love her the most) seems altogether appropriate. "I wanted to makes sure the audience really, really got a sense of how Sebastian falls in love with Ariel—in a very innocent way."
So now that the pussycat with the voice of a tiger has played a Cowardly Lion and a brave and blustering Caribbean crab back to back, what's next for Tituss Burgess's animals-on-parade stage career? "No more animals!" he says with humor that contains a conviction: "The next time I walk out on a stage, I'm going to be playing a human!"
]]> Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/TitussBurgess TitussBurgess As the Associate Costume Designer, Mary has been an integral part of Director/Designer Julie Taymor's vision of Disney's THE LION KING since it began development over a decade ago. As someone with an art and textiles background who'd worked in regional theatre and on Broadway in such capacities as a dyer, a knitter, a weaver, a cutter, a stitcher and tailor, Mary found herself looking for the next big challenge. She wanted to work on a show that would put all of her skills to use. She got even more than she was looking for; more than a job, she found her passion.
"From the very beginning the creative development of the show was fascinating," Mary remembers, "I'd get swept along with an idea and forget that I was sitting at a folding table in a chilly loft on 27th Street and believe for a moment that I was on a vast dusty savannah, or standing at the foot of a tremendous waterfall." Far from being daunted by the enormous task of working on over 300 costumes -- none of which can be purchased as is and all of which must be individually hand-dyed, beaded or painted -- Mary found that THE LION KING was changing her life. "Something happened in those months at the 27th Street loft. After a year of development, design work, and rehearsals, on opening night I felt more like I owned a part of that show than I'd ever felt before."
Since then Mary has traveled with THE LION KING all over the world, across Asia to Australia and Africa, and all over North America and Europe. The show still has a profound effect on her. "Cliché as it sounds, this has certainly changed my life, and continues to be a life changing experience for people." And watching it all come together again, she's still touched by how moving the show is. "I believe that our work ethic, passion, and obvious drive to give everyone their best theatrical experience is infectious and inspirational. It remains one of the most fulfilling and emotionally accessible shows in modern musical theatre."
After more than a decade, traveling over five continents, someone may ask why Mary continues to work on the show. She doesn't hesitate for a second, "Just sit behind a six-year old at their first show, a jaded thirteen-year old, or a seventy-five-year old grandparent and watch them as the show unfolds. You'll know the answer."






]]> Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/MaryPeterson MaryPeterson By Dana Torres
Going to see a Broadway musical is a special experience. For many, half the fun is what happens after the curtain goes down. It's a tradition for fans to gather around the Stage Door after the show to get a glimpse of their favorite stars. If they are lucky, they may get an autograph or have the opportunity to chat with someone like Sierra Boggess, who plays Ariel in Disney's The Little Mermaid.
"We just wanted to tell Sierra how much we loved her performance," said Beth Looser, visiting from Houston. "It's always such a treat to see an amazing show on Broadway and then get the chance to actually meet to people who make the magic happen. Sierra was such a delight and posed for a photo with my husband, Greg. I think he was blushing."
The experience is equally gratifying for the cast. They deliver a first-class performance eight shows every week, and hearing just how much fun guests are having makes the hard work worth it.
"It's so exciting for us to meet people who have traveled from around the world to see the show," said Little Mermaid's Boggess. "When I walk out the stage door, the fans are screaming and the kids' faces light up. Everyone is just so happy. It is a really magical moment."
Jazmyn Cooper brought her daughter, Navaye, to the The Little Mermaid for a birthday celebration. After the show, they came to the Stage Door to meet actors from the cast. "This is her first Broadway show," Cooper said. "It is an amazing birthday present for her, and I want to show her who the characters really are offstage. I think it is something my daughter will remember and talk about forever."
So, after your next "Disney on Broadway" show, make your way to the Stage Door and share in the experience. You might have the chance to meet Gavin Lee, who plays Bert in Mary Poppins or Kissy Simmons, The Lion King's Nala or The Little Mermaid's Sebastian, Tituss Burgess.
"There is something about a Disney show that really warms your heart and brings out the kid in you," said Stephanie Bartley, on vacation in NYC from San Francisco. "So, after you see a show as thrilling as Mary Poppins, it's just icing on the cake to be at the Stage Door when the crowd goes wild. Where else but Broadway do you get an experience like this?"
Disney On Broadway Stage Door locations:
MARY POPPINS, The New Amsterdam Theatre: 41st Street at the rear of the theatre.
THE LITTLE MERMAID, The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre: Under the front marquee, on the left-hand side.
THE LION KING, The Minksoff Theatre:
Across from the entrance of the theatre, closer to 45th Street.
]]> Thu, 01 May 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/SierraStageDoor SierraStageDoor Broadway's supercalifragilistic, award-winning hit MARY POPPINS will be presented in Los Angeles by the Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre of the Los Angeles Music Center in the 2009 - 2010 season. It was announced by CTG Artistic Director Michael Ritchie and producers Cameron Mackintosh and Thomas Schumacher. MARY POPPINS will be presented in an exclusive limited engagement beginning November 2009. Tickets for MARY POPPINS will be made available to subscribers of CTG's 2009 - 2010 season before going on sale to the general public in mid-2009. "I am gigantically proud of MARY POPPINS continuing success and the opportunity to bring this show to West Coast audiences," said Thomas Schumacher, President of the Disney Theatrical Group. "On a personal note, it will be enormously gratifying to see our nanny take flight in a space that holds wonderful memories for me, having started my theatrical career at the Center Theatre Group." "I am delighted to bring MARY POPPINS to the Ahmanson in conjunction with Disney," said Cameron Mackintosh. "Over the years I have enjoyed many collaborations with the Center Theatre Group and this April my new production of 'My Fair Lady', which has been extremely well received all over America and been a huge hit in London, will open at the Ahmanson. Both productions are staged by two of Britain's greatest directors: 'My Fair Lady' by Trevor Nunn and MARY POPPINS by Richard Eyre, with fabulous choreography by the ever inventive Matthew Bourne. "MARY POPPINS has been a labor of love for me, ever since I first tried to get the rights 30 years ago," continued Mackintosh. "In 1993, Pamela Travers finally gave me her approval and the outcome, developed in conjunction with my friend Thomas Schumacher, has been an enormous success in both London and on Broadway. It is particularly thrilling now to bring Mary back home to the city where she first triumphed on film in 1964, as fresh and irresistible as ever." "CTG is honored to have been selected by two of the world's leading theatrical producers -- Cameron Mackintosh and Tom Schumacher -- to present this superb work in Los Angeles," said Michael Ritchie. "It is unusual for us to announce a production this early, a full year before tickets will go on sale, but there has been so much excitement around this production that we just couldn't keep the news to ourselves. We at CTG are very proud to present this truly magical and highly theatrical musical. This is happy news for everyone in Los Angeles." ]]> Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/MPinLA2009 MPinLA2009 BY MICHAEL LASSELL
When is a sea witch not a sea witch? When she's played by singer/actress Sherie Rene Scott, now appearing to great crowd-pleasing effect as mean Auntie Ursula in Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. One of brightest lights of the "new Broadway," Sherie plays the cephalopod sorceress who tricks Ariel, the hapless mermaid (Sierra Boggess), into trading her voice for legs and a chance at human happiness with Prince Eric (Sean Palmer).
So how did a svelte blonde with a rock n' roll edge to her powerful pipes wind up donning tentacles eight times a week? "I think Disney was just wise enough to recognize the inner witch in me," Sherie says with a laugh, "and the way to bring it out." That and a three-month audition process and a body of highly regarded work under her belt that includes stints in The Who's Tommy and Rent; she even won an Obie Award for her work in the 2006 revival of John Guare's Landscape of the Body.
Sherie was already a known quantity to Disney Theatrical, having created the role of the spoiled but ultimately heartbreaking Princess Amneris in Elton John & Tim Rice's "Aida," a part that showcased both her strength and her vulnerability along with her comic timing. "But the creative team to MERMAID was completely different," she explains, "so I had to meet them all and show them what I could do." In fact, she learned that she had gotten the role of Ursula in 2006, while she was still appearing in her Tony-nominated turn as Christine Colgate in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
"A lot of people were saying they would go with a man for the role of Ursula," Sherie remembers. "I was so happy that they really wanted a strong woman to play a strong woman."
The strong woman in question--actress, singer, wife, mother, entrepreneur, fundraiser, and vegetarian--grew up in Topeka, Kansas, in a conservative family that included an Amish Mennonite mother (a nurse) and a doctor father. Sherie began singing at age 7 (her debut: "It's Not Easy Being Green"). At 18 she moved to New York City to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse and to wait tables and work at the Banana Republic, a job she quit in 1993 to take her first stage job: the 25th anniversary production of Hair at the United Nations.
This very down-to-earth diva passes the time between matinees and evening performances on Wednesdays and Saturdays in her dressing room (two flights up, stage right). It's big, as Broadway dressing rooms go, so she's had part of it decorated as a sitting room, with daybed, comfortable chairs and a shell and coral mirror that takes up much of one wall. There's a television ("I never watch it during the show," she insists) and several toys that belong to Elijah, the three-year-old son she shares with husband Kurt Deutsch.
"It's my first dressing room with windows," she enthuses, wrapped in a soft throw, her Ursula makeup still in place, her hair tightly curled under a wig cap. This is one down-to-earth diva. Yet she has been known, she admits, to open those windows and entertain passersby with her rendition of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina."
To create Ursula, Sherie kept her eye focused on the script in hand and the work of the day, deciding not to revisit the film. She did her research and then created an inspiration board, a collage of the various characters who contributed to her vision, something she's done since she was a teenager.
Survivor extraordinaire Gloria Swanson inspired her most to let loose her inner Ursula, a mean, green combination of seductress and every Disney super-villain from Maleficent to Cruella DeVil. She delivers "Poor Unfortunate Souls" (originally written for THE LITTLE MERMAID film by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman) with devious self-delight and triumphs with her new Alan Menken/Glenn Slater song, "I Want the Good Times Back," the kind of craven cabaret number Brecht and Weill might have written for a Tim Burton movie.
"I wanted Ursula to be real and evil but delicious at the same time," she explains.
"When I first auditioned, I had three songs," she recalls, "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and two new ones. By the time we started rehearsal, "I Want the Good Times Back" had been written, and the other two had been chucked. And the scene wasn't really written for "I Want the Good Times Back." And the ending wasn't written. I had no idea what would wind up in the show, but I took heart in knowing that "Poor Unfortunate Souls" was probably not going to get cut."
But this is just a day at work for a Broadway veteran, and a veteran who has specialized in working on new shows rather than revivals. "All of the changes are normal, and if you don't have them, then something's wrong with the producers. You have to try every option so that you know exactly what works.
"There were times when I didn't have the new changes memorized, and I had the lines written on my hands--anything to just get it up on it's feet, because to me it would be worse to just go blank and shout 'Line!'"
And then there is the costume--a showstopper all by itself, glamorous and menacing at the same time. In fact, the hour-long process of getting into hair, makeup and wardrobe is a kind of dance. "I call it loading in," she says. And once it's all on, she can't even sit, much less walk down two flights of stairs from her dressing room. "The costume has its own antechamber just offstage," she explains
The ending of Broadway's THE LITTLE MERMAID--with a wiser and stronger Ariel taking charge of her own fate--particularly pleases Ms. Scott. "I remember when I saw the film, when I was around 20, and I thought 'Well, what man wouldn't fall in love with Ariel? She's beautiful, she's devoted, and she can't talk'," she says with a sly grin. "In some ways Ursula and Ariel really are alike. They're both independent women who have been silenced. Ursula feels that she has been deeply wronged, and she's extremely self-righteous--which is a deadly combination."
Silence is not a problem in her own marriage. When she and Kurt are not spending time in Manhattan or in their place upstate, they run a business together, Sh-K-Boom/Gaslight Records, which specializes in show music. Among their catalog of 50 titles (five of them nominated for Grammys) are The Drowsy Chaperone, Altar Boyz, Legally Blonde--The Musical, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. They also produce solo albums of Broadway performers, including Sherie's own Men I've Had, two albums by Adam Pascal (her costar in Rent and Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida"), as well as Billy Porter, Martin Short, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Patti LuPone, and others.
And if you thought that giving up eight shows a week as Ursula, splitting her time as a wife and mother between two homes, and producing records was not enough to occupy her time, think again. Sherie has also worked up a show of her own with Dick Scanlan (who wrote Thoroughly Modern Millie), directed by Tony winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), with musical direction by Tom Kitt (High Fidelity).
Called You May Now Worship Me, the one-woman show is described as a collection of musical short stories that trace Sherie's life from her prairie childhood to her eventual rise to "Broadway semi-star." The show, featuring songs made famous by Judy Garland, Tom Waits, and Mr. Rogers, among others, "reminds us that none of us are in Kansas anymore."
The next performance of You May Now Worship Me, produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS to benefit the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative of the Actors Fund, will be at 8 o'clock, Monday, March 31, at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre (230 West 49th Street). For tickets, call 212/840-0770 ext. 268 or go to www.BroadwayCares.org.
]]> Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/SherieScott SherieScott BY RYAN MARCH
A visit to the theater can raise some pretty provocative questions. What's it like to be on stage? What went into designing this place? Do people ever fall into that orchestra pit? What exactly does a producer do? Where's that guy hiding his microphone? Think they'd mind if I shot a quick photo?
Answers to these and other questions from the proverbial peanut gallery have arrived in the form of an interactive book from Disney Theatrical Productions President Thomas Schumacher and celebrated Disney writer Jeff Kurtti. Titled How Does the Show Go On? An Introduction to the Theater, the visually striking hardcover book literally peels back the curtain (with its cover opening from the center) to examine the theater experience from every angle.
"I've done a lot of work with young people in productions through the years, and this book concept just seemed like a great way to help kids really understand theater," Schumacher said from his office in New York City. "But it didn't take long for us to realize that the audience for this book is much broader than that. It speaks to anyone who is curious about theater and wants to learn more in a really fun way."
Packed with hidden treasures (from Tarzan® script pages to a commemorative opening night Playbill® from The Lion King), insightful production notes and behind-the-scenes photography, the book aims to reveal the inner-workings of major productions like never before.
"I had a tremendous advantage growing up, in that there was great funding for the arts when I was a kid," Schumacher said. "So our schools had strong theater programs that gave me a pretty good understanding of theater. But even with that, I didn't have a firm grasp of what goes into a major Broadway production until I produced my first Broadway show. I'm hoping this book helps to fill that void for fans."
Before getting his big break as a Broadway producer, Schumacher was a working actor.
"I just wasn't very good," the author admitted. "I remember working a season of Summer Stock and realizing that I wasn't the best out there. And why would you want a job you couldn't be best in?" (By the way, don't worry if you don't know what Summer Stock is. It's in the book.)
So instead, Schumacher honed his skills behind the scenes, working as a director, stage manager, production assistant, ticket vendor, light installer, costume runner, set builder, marketer and more (though not necessarily in that order), developing a deep appreciation for every job in the house.
"These are people who are often times ignored, and they were my greatest inspiration in writing this book," he said. "You see the actors on stage, but there are so many other talented people involved. I wanted to turn the spotlight on these roles and showcase what really makes a show successful."
(Schumacher is no stranger to theatrical success, having made his debut as a Broadway producer on a humble little Tony Award®-winning show called The Lion King.)
"And in the process, perhaps we inspire a few people to get out there and work in theater," Schumacher added. "Almost every town in America has a community theater, and there is so much demand for people in so many jobs to bring those theaters to life."
With all of his accolades and success, Schumacher remains as passionate as ever about life in the theater.
"I hope people who read the book feel that passion and come away understanding that the theater is a glorious place to work," Schumacher said. "It's an ever-changing business, and it lets me work with some extraordinary people. As soon as we end this interview, I'm going to run across the street to a rehearsal room for a workshop on a new play nobody's ever heard of. And I can't wait to do it! There's a great Steven Schwartz lyric in Pocahontas that says, 'The thing I like about rivers most is you can't step in the same river twice.' That's life in the theater. You'll never see the same show twice. It's always going to be different. It's never finished. It's never set. But it's always exciting."
For more information, click here. ]]> Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/BookReveals BookReveals A quarter-century ago the Broadway musical "My One and Only" featured Tommy Tune and Twiggy splashing around a little in an inch or two of water. More recently David Leveaux flooded the stage for the Grand Canal sequence in the Roundabout Theater Company's revival of "Nine." But in "The Little Mermaid," much of which takes place under the sea, not a foot gets wet. After tryouts in Denver, the show is now in previews at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, where it is scheduled to open on Jan. 10.
Ariel, the mermaid who longs to be human, is just one of the show's sea creatures. The man in charge of making them move is the British choreographer Stephen Mear, 43, formerly a dancer in the West End, then assistant choreographer to Susan Stroman on "Oklahoma!" He made his Broadway debut last season with "Mary Poppins," as co-choreographer with Matthew Bourne. This time he is on his own, dipping into many styles.
As the wicked witch Ursula, an octopus complete with giant tentacles, Sherie Rene Scott moves in what Mr. Mear calls "a kind of Bette Midler waddle." Her slimy comic sidekicks, eels, slip and slide on their heels, arms hunched to the back. Ariel's ineffectual male duenna Sebastian, a crab, tried walking sideways for a while, but that didn't fly. Scuttle, the principal sea gull, wears oversize vaudevillian clown shoes, which are kicky but muffle the sound of his taps, so the shoes for the hard-tapping trio of lesser sea gulls have been cut back.
But most of all Mr. Mear had mermaids to contend with, and the obvious solutions that came to mind were far from satisfactory.
Read the full article.

]]> Sun, 30 Dec 2007 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/TNYTUnderSea TNYTUnderSea "Ariel is such a beloved Disney Princess -- I always loved her, and all the people who come to the show who I meet afterwards, they just love her. It's because she's so independent and has such a big heart," says Sierra Boggess. Sierra is in a position to know Ariel better than anyone these days -- the young actress is playing the role of everyone's favorite Princess on Broadway in "The Little Mermaid," Disney's newest theatrical spectacular.
Even beyond the excitement of making her Broadway debut, becoming "part of Ariel's world" is truly a dream come true for Sierra, who fell in love with the animated classic "The Little Mermaid" from the moment it was first released. "I was seven when the movie came out, so I memorized it!" she says. In fact, "The hardest stuff for me during rehearsal was a few little lines that were just slightly different from the movie -- and in my head, I knew the lines from the movie!" READ THE FULL STORY

]]> Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/DIUnderSea DIUnderSea Staging a musical that takes place underwater is enough to confound anyone, so the Broadway version of Disney's 1989 animated movie, The Little Mermaid, languished for years--until the globe-trotting director Francesca Zambello came up with a concept. "No water, no wires," says Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical Productions. "She had this jewel-box idea for the show, this opalescent, almost Venetian-glass-like setting."
Zambello also had an international reputation for directing major operas and theatrical productions everywhere from the Metropolitan Opera ("She got Placido Domingo to sword-fight in Cyrano!" says Schumacher) to Disneyland, where she staged Aladdin.
Read the full article.

]]> Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/ZambelloVF ZambelloVF The Little Mermaid. The 25-year-old actress beat out some of the top talent in New York for the role of the fairytale mermaid who defies her family by deciding to leave the sea and try living on land. Sierra has been a fan of the classic 1989 Disney animated film since childhood, and now she is making her Broadway debut as the famed Disney princess.
"It's really exciting to be able to play a Disney princess," she says. "My life kind of parallels Ariel's a little bit, with her excitement about her new world -- that's exactly how I feel."
Sierra's journey to playing Ariel started at age seven, when she saw the movie version of The Little Mermaid in a theater in Denver, where she grew up. For Christmas that year she got a Sebastian stuffed animal and her two sisters got Scuttle and Flounder. They carried the animals everywhere. She also memorized the lyrics of the songs, so she could sing along with her cassette tape of the film soundtrack.
Sierra was interested in musical theater from a young age, and her early roles included Sarah Brown in "Guys and Dolls" and Charity in "Sweet Charity." She studied theater at Millikin University in Illinois, the school also attended by Jodi Benson, who sang the voice of Ariel in the film.
"I wanted to go there, seriously, because she went there," Sierra says, "because I was obsessed with her voice."
On one occasion, Benson did a concert in Denver and Sierra met her backstage and told Benson that they went to the same college. "I remember being so excited, because she was so nice to me," Sierra says. "She said, 'That's so great, I hope you have some of the same teachers.' She was down to earth and really supportive."
In October 2006, Sierra was starring as Christine in "Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular," when she got the chance to audition for the stage version of The Little Mermaid. She sang "Part of Your World," plus a new song that wasn't in the movie but was written for the musical, called "Beyond My Wildest Dreams." In January 2007, Disney asked Sierra to fly back to New York for a five-hour second audition, where she sang the songs again and worked with actors trying out for the role of her love interest, Prince Eric.
After Sierra got the life-changing call at the dentist's office a few days later, she worked hard to prepare for the role. While she was still starring in "Phantom" in Las Vegas, Sierra went to the Silverton Casino's Mermaid Restaurant and Lounge, which had a big aquarium with a girl swimming around in a mermaid costume. Sierra stood and watched her for an hour. "She probably thought I was really crazy," says Sierra.
"It was really cool to see a human being portraying a mermaid, and seeing how she has to turn her body," Sierra adds. "Being a cartoon, they can draw whatever they want, but seeing a human do it is different.'"
Sierra also spent time in a pool and paid attention to how her own body moved in water. "When you're standing still in the water, your arms are never by your side," she says. "They kind of float up. So that's something I incorporated."
Sierra was an ice skater for ten years, which prepared her to wear Heely's, the shoes with hidden wheels on them that the performers wear to simulate moving underwater. For the moment in the show when Ariel stands on her feet for the first time, Sierra researched how babies start to walk. And for the funny parts of the show, Sierra was inspired by her idol, Barbra Streisand, in "Funny Girl." Sierra often plays the "Funny Girl" album in her dressing room before the show.
Sierra also brought her own life experience to the role, in part because she shares many of Ariel's traits. "She's kind of spunky and she's very independent and she's funny and she's really outgoing -- so yeah, those are some things" that the two of them share, Sierra says. "She also goes after what she wants. She's very driven."
Plus, Sierra adds, "I understand what her struggles are. I remember being 16 years old and not feeling like I belong."
Sierra relates especially to the strong relationship between Ariel and her father, King Triton. "I've always kind of been a Daddy's girl and my dad has always been a wonderful part of my life," she says. "I definitely bring feelings I have for my dad onto the stage."
After months of preparation and rehearsal, Sierra finally played the role during the show's Broadway tryout, which happened to be in Denver, her hometown. "The first time that I came out onstage, I heard entrance applause, and I was like, 'Wow,'" she says. "I've never, ever had that before. It's like every actor's dream to get entrance applause. People don't know me, Sierra, they're just excited that it's Ariel. I thought, 'Now I have to work hard and do her justice.'" Sierra had fans of all ages standing outside the stage door every night, and she received a warm welcome when she went back to visit her school, George Washington High.
Sierra now lives with her sister in New York City, and the two of them occasionally play music together. Her sister's a cellist and Sierra plays the flute. Sierra also does Bikram yoga and hangs out with friends she's met from different shows. "In Midtown [Manhattan] it's like a college campus," she says. "You stand in one place long enough and everyone you've ever worked with walks by."
Sierra keeps a journal of all the positive things that happen to her during The Little Mermaid process, to record the moments she wants to remember her whole life. "This industry can be very negative, and it can be a lot of nos and a lot of closed doors, and we, as actors, we can doubt ourselves a lot," she says. "I want to be able to look back on that [journal] in the times when I start doubting myself."
So far, however, Sierra's career has been -- to paraphrase a song from the show -- beyond her wildest dreams.
"It's so completely surreal," she says. "It's a dream come true."

]]> Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/SierraBoggess SierraBoggess THE LION KING, which celebrates its 10th triumphant year on Broadway in November, opened to rave reviews last week at the Theatre Mogador in Paris, France. Below is a sample of some of the reviews:
"THE LION KING is a magnificent visual showcase. The cast is fabulous with roles brilliantly held by the French actors, whose versatility is breathtaking. The beauty, the inventiveness and the poetic charm imagined by Julie Taymor is both very moving and an invigorating godsend." -- Le Monde
"Taymor has invented a spectacular and poetic universe." -- Le Figaro
"The show is amazing with spellbinding songs and dazzling performers. Scenes follow each other in a profusion of color and visual strokes of genius. One is filled with wonder by this magnificent fable that is undeniably poetic and inspired." -- Aujourd'hui en France
"THE LION KING is an ebullient and true rendering of African music and dance that transcends the original movie and becomes a joyous, moving experience all over again." -- Fox News
"Director Julie Taymor reigns over a very human fauna that leaves the audience enthralled." -- Agence France Presse
Staying true to French culture, the entire production team of THE LION KING is made up of French speakers, including the cast, crew and actors. Stage Entertainment recently conducted a renovation of Theatre Mogador, which included a complete overhaul of the interior of the theatre.
The relationship between co-producers Disney Theatrical Productions and Stage Entertainment began with their first international production of Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida in 2001. Since then, the companies have together mounted six Disney musical productions that have played to an audience of over 10 million people in Germany and Holland alone. Disney/Stage Entertainment shows have grossed over $400 million in ticket sales. In addition to THE LION KING in France, Stage Entertainment currently has another production of the show celebrating its fifth year in Germany. Four other Disney productions are now being presented by Stage Entertainment, including TARZAN® in Holland, Beauty and the Beast on tour in Germany and Holland and Aida on tour in Germany.

]]> Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/071015RaveReviewsParisFrance 071015RaveReviewsParisFrance By Barak Zimmerman Mary Poppins so very magical.
Meet Henry Hodges, 14. He plays Michael Banks. Meet Nicole Bocchi, 11. She plays Jane Banks, his sister. They're just two of the six kids who alternate in the role of the two Banks children. While adult actors typically do eight shows a week, as do kids in other productions, Mary Poppins employs multiple children because the roles are so demanding.
Each child performs two to four shows a week, but shows up two more times each week to "stand-by," just in case. They hang out backstage almost the whole show. Of course, the show always goes just fine, so stand-by time is great for homework and playing games.
When do they get there? Henry rides his beloved skateboard over (with his mom in tow) at around 7:15, but Nicole arrives an hour early to do her hair. "Luckily," says Henry, "I don't have to curl my hair."
So how'd they break into show biz? Neither one was even trying. When Henry was just four, his mom's doctor, whose own mom was a casting agent, suggested Henry try acting. He got the first part he tried for, and ever since then, this Bethesda, MD, native has worked steadily in commercials, TV, and stage. He played Chip in a touring company of Beauty and the Beast and then won the same part on Broadway. He went on to appear in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang before helping to open Mary Poppins last year. This Christmas, you'll hear his voice in Disney's animated film "Snowbuddies."
Nicole enjoyed accompanying her older sister to auditions, and one day an assistant director suggested she try out too. She won a part (so did her sister!), and she's been acting ever since. She was six then, and gave up her gymnastics career to start studying dancing and singing. She did several regional plays, then won Cindy Lou Who role in How the Grinch Stole Christmas on Broadway, and moved to Mary Poppins from there. She and her parents moved from Queens to the Theater District so she could be near her work -- just as Henry and his family had done.
So what's a typical day like? It starts late -- as late as noon for Henry, who admits, "I am very much a vampire!" (You might be too if you went to bed most nights after midnight!) Henry does stretches before his high-protein breakfast (he'll do them again before the show), and then goes out for an hour or so to play with his beloved remote control cars. He comes back in, studies with mom from 1-4 (science is his favorite subject), and warms up. Then it's time for the show! On days off, he has gymnastics, tap, ballet, and hip-hop dance lessons.
Nicole wakes up a little earlier and spends her playtime riding a skateboard or walking her dogs. Then she comes in, does vocal and leg warm-ups, studies with a tutor, and maybe has a snack and watches a little TV at 3. She's a big fan of Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana." She also takes singing, acting, and dancing lessons (she and Henry have the same dance teacher). Next year, she'll start middle school at the Professional Performing Arts School, where the teachers are used to working around show schedules.
Both are avid theatergoers. "I see a lot of shows," says Henry. "I try to see everything on Broadway -- and off-Broadway. It's all important." His favorite show right now is The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and his favorite actor is Raul Esparza, who played his dad in "Chitty." Nicole's favorite actress is Kristin Chenoweth, and her favorite current show is "Wicked."
Nicole says her favorite thing about being in Mary Poppins is "all the people. Everybody's so nice to me, it's just a great experience to have great people around you." Henry adds, " Being in a show like this a truly amazing experience that anyone would remember for the rest of their life. It's an amazing opportunity to be on Broadway and to be in this show, which is a really great show."

]]> Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/meetbankschildren meetbankschildren Disney Casting Director's Tips on Starting a Child's Theater Career
"Think you may have a budding actor in the family? How do you help your little darling take the first steps to a career in showbiz? Get an idea of what lies ahead. Former child actress Jennifer Rudin has been there and now, as casting director for Disney Theatrical Productions, she helps others get there.
Jen has a few words of advice -- on what she's looking for, finding auditions and an agent, dressing for success, being a good showbiz parent, and more.
"The kids who do best in the business are the ones who really want to be actors and who have great parents. The best parents are the ones who are firm, and keep their kids humble and real. They're the ones who'll say, 'Even though you're in a Broadway show, you still have to go to seventh grade tomorrow, so finish your homework.'"
Jennifer Rudin, a former child actor who heads Disney Theatrical casting in New York, knows as well as anyone what it takes to be a successful, happy child actor -- or the parent of one.
Ideally, she casts kids between the ages of nine and 13, which is a tricky age. Puberty can end a career or put it on hold. "Our shows all have specific height requirements, so we seek to cast short boys and girls who will stay that way for a while," she says.
A child's acting career can place stress on the whole family. Acting, dancing, and voice lessons all cost money and time, as do headshots, resumes, and attending open calls and auditions. And the schedules are unpredictable: "You have no control over when your auditions will be -- you're at the beck and call of the casting director," she says.
What about lessons? "Discipline enforces concentration and focus, whether you're concentrating on gymnastics, martial arts, music lessons, ballet ..." Rare is the child who succeeds on Broadway without having studied singing, dancing, and acting. "Some kids are natural and raw and get cast in The Lion King without a voice lesson, but nine times out of 10, you're better off if you've been to see a voice teacher," she says. "A good voice teacher helps you figure out your vocal range, and a teacher can help you get the sheet music for your audition song. You can't just come in and sing a cappella; we want you to come in with your sheet music."
Polish those skills, but not that persona; "We love kids who are unique and spontaneous and very real," says Rudin. "And so does [The Lion King director] Julie Taymor, and all our directors. We want kids who have great instincts and lots of charisma."
So dress appropriately for interviews and auditions. "Be a kid. Dress your age." And stay in school with other kids, even if you do get a role. She warns against getting "sucked into your career" and missing out on normal childhood activities.
She also cautions against agents or managers who try to charge you up front. "If they say 'Give me $250 and I'll send out your pictures and resumes,' they're scamming you," says Rudin . "Ultimately, you pay an agent a commission, but only after they get you a job. Do as much research on the agents as you would for any type of job interview." You can find legitimate talent agencies all over the country, and they're listed in publications and websites like the Ross Report, Back Stage, and Playbill.
The path may be long. Of 800 kids who showed up at a recent open call for The Lion King, just two will eventually be cast, and they won't know for months. For a realistic look at the casting process, Rudin recommends the recent film "The TV Set."
Are there any shortcuts? "The only real shortcut is talent," says a woman who's seen thousands of aspiring kids. "You can teach a child how to dance but you can't fake talent."

Three Ways to Find Disney' Auditions:
- ONLINE: www.disneyonbroadway.com
- PHONE: Disney's national casting hotline is at 212-827-5450
- EMAIL: Ask about specific shows at casting@disneyonbroadway.com.

]]> Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/childtheatercareer childtheatercareer The Coast of Utopia. Crowley has been nominated for the Tony® Award 10 times and has now won 5. His other Tony Awards have been for The History Boys(2006), Aida (200) and Carousel (1994). He also won the 2007 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design of a Musical for MARY POPPINS.
Crowley designed both sets and costumes for MARY POPPINS. His set design features a 3-story Edwardian house at 17 Cherry Tree Lane. The entire house weighs an estimated 22,000 pounds and every night slides back 40 feet to reveal the nursery, which floats to stage level.
Bob Crowley is an associate of the National Theatre. He has designed more than 50 productions in London for the National, Almeida, Donmar, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Ballet and Royal Opera House including MARY POPPINS (London Evening Standard Award). In New York for the Lincoln Center Theater: Carousel (Tony® Award), Hapgood, The Invention of Love (Tony® nomination and Drama Desk Award), Twelfth Night (Tony® nomination).The Public Theater: The Seagull. On Broadway: Paul Simon's The Capeman (Tony® nomination), The Iceman Cometh (Tony® nomination), Sweet Smell of Success, Disney's Aida (Tony® Award), The History Boys (Tony® Award), The Year of Magical Thinking and A Moon for the Misbegotten. He recently directed and designed Tarzan on Broadway.
MARY POPPINS received seven 2007 Tony® Award nominations, including Best Musical. The musical has also won two Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Gavin Lee) and Outstanding Set Design of a Musical (Bob Crowley), as well as a Theatre World Award (for Gavin Lee). MARY POPPINS has become the biggest hit to open during the 2006-2007 season and is the must-see new musical for theatergoers of all ages.
MARY POPPINS, a co-production by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on November 16, 2006, and quickly proved to be a hit with audience members and critics alike.
The London production continues its record-setting run as it enters its third year at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End.
Based on P.L. Travers's cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, MARY POPPINS features the Academy Award®-winning music and lyrics of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. The stage production has been created, in collaboration with Cameron Mackintosh, by Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who has written the book, and the Olivier Award-winning team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who have composed new songs and additional music and lyrics.
Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre leads the award-winning creative team assembled for MARY POPPINS with co-direction and choreography by Tony® and Olivier Award winner Matthew Bourne. MARY POPPINS features set and costume design by Tony® Award winner Bob Crowley, co-choreography by Olivier Award winner Stephen Mear, lighting design by Howard Harrison, sound design by Steve Canyon Kennedy, orchestrations by William David Brohn, music supervision by David Caddick, and music direction by Brad Haak.

]]> Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/crowley crowley By Michael Lassell Two generations of songwriters collaborate on the stage musical of MARY POPPINS
Walt Disney loved music, as anyone who has ever seen "Fantasia" knows. Music was instrumental to his "Steamboat Willie" (1928), the world's first sound-synchronized cartoon, and it was the essential justification for "75 Silly Symphonies" produced between the late 1920s and '30s. The songs in his first animated feature, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), became part of the cultural sound track.
So it is hardly surprising that when Disney first read "Mary Poppins," he could hear the melodies coming off the pages, even though the author, P. L. Travers, had not included songs of any kind. It took Disney some 20 years to secure the film rights for the "Poppins" books, and as soon as he did, he turned to a pair of musicians.
Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman had worked for the studio before. In 1958, for example, Dick and Bob, as they are called, had a top-ten hit with "Tall Paul," which Disney had bought for Mouseketeer Annette Funicello, who was being groomed for adult stardom. (Shortly thereafter, their "Let's Get Together," sung by Hayley Mills in the film "The Parent Trap" went to number one as a single.)
"One day, in 1960," remembers Dick Sherman, "Walt handed us a copy of the one-volume edition of the first two 'Mary Poppins' books. He told us to read the book and let him know what we thought. We knew he was throwing down a gauntlet and we had to pick it up."
The Shermans chose six episodes from the books and started writing songs, each of them contributing to both melody and lyrics. Two weeks later, they returned to Disney with "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," as well as early versions of "The Perfect Nanny" and "Jolly Holiday," the latter of which became the extended animated sequence for Mary, Bert, and the children. They had also written "Feed the Birds," which became Walt Disney's personal favorite until the day he died.
Over the next three years, the Sherman brothers turned out 32 songs for "Mary Poppins," of which 14 wound up in the final film. Others appeared elsewhere. A song called "Bobbing Along on the Bottom of the Beautiful Briny Sea," which was to have been part of an around-the-world adventure in which Mary and the children sail away in Admiral Boom's ship-shaped house, was subsequently featured in "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," and a song called "Land of Sand," with new lyrics, appeared in "The Jungle Book" as "Trust in Me."
The "Mary Poppins" music is so necessary to the film, in fact, that it's difficult to remember that the original stories were conceived without it. Many of the songs from the 1964 film score are now classics. "Chim-chim-cher-ee" was nominated for, and won, the Academy Award for Best Song. And the word "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" wound up in the dictionary. At the same time, in England (homeland of the film's star, Julie Andrews), a young man named Cameron Mackintosh fell in love with the Disney film. Mackintosh would go on to become one of theatre history's most legendary producers (having, among many others, the three longest-running Broadway hits of all time to his credit: Phantom of the Opera, Cats and Les Misérables).
"I'd just left school," Mackintosh recalls. "Mary's character was so extraordinary I could never forget her or the wonderful Sherman brothers' songs. Intrigued enough to read the original book, I was surprised to find that there were several of them, with many more stories, characters, and adventures than those in the film."
By the 1970s, Mackintosh had launched his personal quest for the stage rights to the "Poppins" books — an idea others had pursued and continued to pursue for decades. Mackintosh made no real headway until 1993, when he was able to meet the nonagenarian Travers and convince her to approve a stage musical "created by combining her stories with the key ingredients and songs from the film."
Thomas Schumacher, now president and producer of Disney Theatrical Productions, notes that the idea of "Mary Poppins" as a stage musical was first raised in 1965 by Dick Van Dyke during a radio interview. About 20 years later, Michael Eisner, who became Disney's CEO in 1984, toyed with the idea of a "Poppins" sequel (and even commissioned Travers herself to write a script). But after the theatrical version of "Beauty and the Beast" opened in 1994, a stage production of the original "Poppins" went to the top of the development list for Disney's new theatrical division.
With The Walt Disney Company holding some rights and Mackintosh holding others, some thought a stage musical of "Mary Poppins" might never be made. Schumacher and Mackintosh, however, both knew that their passion for the property would drive the project forward.
Mackintosh wanted to expand on the same stories from the "Poppins" books that had interested Schumacher and his creative team at Disney. And so, without backstage drama, the two parties became partners in a co-production of Mary Poppins.
"Because the film had been created in America," says Schumacher, "the estate of P. L. Travers wanted the musical to be made in England, as the books were." Happily, Mackintosh knew his fair share of musical theatre musicians and two of them, George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, had meanwhile heard that a stage version of "Poppins" might be in the offing.
In much the same way that the Sherman brothers sat down and wrote "Feed the Birds," Stiles and Drewe took the books and wrote some songs of their own completely on spec, including one called "Practically Perfect." Unknown to them, the Sherman brothers had written a song with the same title for the film, but with changed lyrics it had become Mrs. Banks' "Sister Suffragette."
As it happened, Stiles and Drewe were both lifelong fans of the Sherman brothers. The first tune that Stiles picked out on the piano at age six was their title song for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." Drewe's first experience with their music was "The Jungle Book." "Years later," Drewe says, "when I met Dick Sherman I told him that I knew the film so well that I knew all the sounds that Phil Harris makes when Baloo the bear is scat-singing with Louis Prima's orangutan in 'I Wanna Be Like You.' I started doing it and, in what was for me an amazing moment, Dick joined in and sang it with me!"
The vocabulary of the Sherman brothers' music for "Mary Poppins" had been drawn from the vaudeville-like tradition of the English music hall (a popular form of entertainment that was the first performance arena of a young girl named Julie Andrews). "In a sense," says Stiles, "having a pair of Brits working on this score was like bringing the music home."
With the Sherman brothers on hand, Stiles and Drewe went to work on the books, first without a script (as the Shermans had done) and later working with book writer Julian Fellowes. They wrote several songs for the new material from the books and the revised plot, among them "Being Mrs. Banks," "Brimstone and Treacle," and "Anything Can Happen." Furthermore, some of the Shermans' songs needed expanding and resetting for new dramatic contexts.
"Walt Disney did not make movie musicals for the most part," says Schumacher, "as much as he made movies with music. The 'Mary Poppins' film straddles both approaches. It begins, for example, with 'Sister Suffragette,' which has nothing to do with the plot."
For the stage musical, Schumacher and Mackintosh agreed, they would follow the dictates of modern musical theatre, wherein songs exist to carry the narrative, to reveal character, and to set mood, not just for entertainment, however entertaining they may be (like the "laughing gas" tea party in the film).
Some of the Sherman brothers' songs also needed to be expanded for other conventions of the Broadway musical. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" for example, runs less than two minutes in the film. On stage it's a major production number. Songs were changed for aesthetic reasons, too. When "Practically Perfect" replaced "Spoonful of Sugar" as the first song Mary sings to Jane and Michael in the nursery, a new place for "Spoonful" was found and the character of that entire number was changed, if not its melody. "Supercalifragilistic," meanwhile, became a lesson for the children in the power of words. "The whole notion of spelling out the word," remembers Schumacher, "was George and Anthony's."
Ultimately, "the boys," as Cameron Mackintosh refers to Stiles and Drewe, were the perfect collaborators to work with the Shermans. "By the end of the process," Dick Sherman says with a chuckle, "it was sometimes hard to remember who wrote what and when." And Bob Sherman has said that "Temper, Temper" is now his favorite song in the score, including the songs he himself wrote.
At the time Mary Poppins opened on stage, more than 50 percent of the music was new, and a substantially greater proportion of the lyrics. "One of the great joys of this process," says Stiles, "has been our relationship with the Shermans. They are a life lesson in generosity of spirit to let two new writers come in and muck about with their greatest work."
Mackintosh has kind words for all four songwriters. "George and Anthony have treated the Shermans with total respect and have genuinely given themselves the task of raising their own writing to match the level achieved by their heroes. As for Robert and Richard, they recognized that straightaway and were the first to acknowledge it." And thus, a songwriting collaboration between two generations resulted in a brand new Broadway musical.


]]> Thu, 24 May 2007 12:00:00 -0700 http://disney.go.com/theatre/#/news/playbillmp playbillmp