Disney musicals rule
NEW YORK - There's a seemingly insatiable appetite for musicals from Walt Disney Co.
Cristina Soler and her daughter jostle with other adults and families in sub-zero temperatures in a crush outside a theater on 42nd street, but they show no signs of frustration.
Lining up for the recently opened Broadway musical "Mary Poppins," Soler recalls seeing the 1964 Disney movie as a child and predicts she might cry during the show. Her daughter Lara, 11, adds "It was my No. 1 choice."
The mother-and-daughter duo are among the growing global audience -- drawn by the popularity of Walt Disney Co. films -- now watching the media giant's adapted theatrical musicals.
The number of Disney musicals on New York's Broadway has doubled to four in the past year, and the number of productions opening in other cities has also increased.
"It's unprecedented," said Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical Productions, which this year will open "The Lion King" in Johannesburg and Paris, and "Tarzan" in Holland.
Disney has headed the comeback of Times Square and 42nd Street and scored a stream of hits for a decade. When one show closes, another opens. "Beauty and the Beast" closes in July and will be replaced by "The Little Mermaid" by year end.
"Tarzan" and "Mary Poppins" both opened on Broadway last year, resulting in an increase of Disney's Broadway revenues by 42 per cent, or $39 million, to a total of $131 million, according to Disney.
The current worldwide take for "The Lion King," its most successful musical, is more than $2 billion dollars, while "Beauty and the Beast," which will continue to play in other cities after its Broadway close, has earned $1.4 billion.
(Reuters)
