Unconfirmed: Disney Theatrical working to bring Muppets to Broadway/Nat'l Tour?

[jacobsnchz14]

http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disney-muppets-broadway-21581/

It will be the quintessential example of life imitating art, but we have learned that Disney Theatrical may have intentions of bringing the Muppets to the theater with possible Broadway and national tour.

It was the third Muppet film, Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), in which Kermit the Frog wrote a musical titled ‘Manhattan Melodies’ and gained aspirations to bringing it to the Great White Way. Hilarity ensued and so did the Muppet Babies.

The speculative news comes once more via secretive domain name registrations. Amongst several new registrations are THEMUPPETSONBROADWAY.COM and THEMUPPETSONTOUR.COM. Although there is nothing in the actual registrations to tie them directly to Disney, we have reasons strong enough to report them as likely being legitimate.

The real question is just how Disney Theatrical plans on bringing The Muppets to stage, particularly Broadway, without cheapening (in a non-Muppety way) the experience. While puppets commanding the stage isn’t unprecedented (take ‘Avenue Q’ for example), it’d be difficult to replace any of the core puppeteers who are identified with each character with others. Unlike ‘Avenue Q,’ the Muppets also tend to keep the puppeteers hidden when performing, so while track is possible, it will ultimately cheapen the experience and takes out the potential bonus of improv. What could happen is a limited run with performances by the actual talent, coupled with a small national tour, but it would be hard to expect much more than that.

Other possible titles being worked on for the stage by Disney Theatrical include 101 Dalmatians (101dalmatiansonbroadway.com and 101dalmatiansontour.com), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (bedknobsandbroomsticksonbroadway.com, bedknobsandbroomsticksontour.com, bedknobsandbroomsticksthemusical.com) and Pinocchio (pinocchioonbroadway.com and pinocchioontour.com). Similar registrations were also made for ‘Bell, Book and Candle,’ which has been staged before and does not appear to belong to Disney Theatrical, but is now apparently being worked into a musical version which could simply be a licensed project not yet announced (bellbookandcandleonbroadway.com, bellbookandcandleontour.com, bellbookandcandlethemusical.com).

This is a follow-up to our initial report we provided two years ago which listed lots of potential projects for Disney Theatrical based on its films, many of which were either known to be in development or later announced as such.

[Overkill]

This could really be something special, if it's something similar to THE MUPPET SHOW LIVE, which they did for one night only, back in '01. Or even if it's a musical, like Avenue Q, with the puppeteers visible and all. It would work very well, kids would love it, they never even look at the puppeteers when they bring the puppets to life. But they can't do it without the actual Muppeteers... Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Bill Barretta, Dave Goelz... they can maybe replace a few with Rick Lyon, Peter Linz and John Tartaglia, and that would be okay. But I don't want to see a bad imitation of the Muppets on a Broadway stage.

If you want to watch The Muppet Show Live! you see the whole thing, here's part ONE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aANoQ4k6wyE

There's also this:
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Muppet_Show_Live

Also, I'd hate to see some blatant bastardized version of the Muppets. I don't need to see Eddie Korbich as Kermit the Frog tap dancing, while dressed like this:



I just hope Disney is working on bringing The Muppets to Broadway, not the Muppet brand name... because it's a GREAT idea, one I've had for YEARS, I just always thought it was a pipe dream. I can't wait to see what direction they take this in! Either way, it'll be interesting!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Now that The Muppets have fried Chik-Fila, I would welcome them to Broadway with open arms! (get it?)

[SNAFU]

Jim Henson had always wanted the Muppets to do a Broadway Show, it was one of his dreams he never saw realized. It could be done much like the Muppet Show Live was, with walls of light, puppeteers dressed in black and creative set design. I have no idea if the voices for Muppet Show Live were a prerecorded track or not but that could work very well if the puppeteers were talented enough to pull it off.

[finebydesign]

Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys and producing partner-manager Jeff Robinson have signed a multiyear first-look film production deal at Disney.

Their first project is a remake of the 1958 film Bell Book and Candle, with Keys to play the witch role originated by Kim Novak. She'll produce with Robinson.

Keys and Robinson said they will develop live-action and animated projects at their company, Big Pita, Little Pita, with Keys participating as producer and thesp and the banner spearheading soundtrack and music supervision. The duo's TV production company is called Big Pita.

[HotSauce]

YES! Finally! Something that has the potential to wow Broadway again! I'm all for this as long as it doesn't have John Tartaglia in it, isn't cheesy or inappropriate, and doesn't involve the puppeteers being visible. Let's stay true to what Jim Henson created!

[NotAnotherSN]

This makes me happy in ways I can't explain in words.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Well, for starters, they could do worse than The Muppet Christmas Carol live, with the additional lyrical and musical material from the soundtrack reinstated, as a limited run at the appropriate seasonal juncture to try things out.

[missthemountains]

Bedknobs and Broomsticks, please!

[finebydesign]

Bedknobs and Broomsticks could be really neat.


I frankly don't think the Muppets have that much appeal or relevance anymore. That recent movie was pretty crappy.

[TalkinLoud]

You're nuts! The last Muppet movie was great.

[JoeKv99]

Wow- movie or no movie the Muppets are hugely recognizable world-wide. Muppet toys are still produced annually and (probably because they are among the first characters encountered by American Children) they consistently turn up as "favorites" in surveys of brands and images. Everyone knows a Muppet and everyone likes them.

They have done an excellent job not saturating the market with a ton of ads and low-grade properties. The brand is probably second only to Disney in popularity.

[Jon]

have you heard about the Henson Productions comedy show that is touring? It's sort of Avenue Q meets Who's Line Is it Anyway? - a group of Muppetteers and improv sketch comedians doing an adult-oriented show that's different every night.

I think the title is something like "Stuffed and Unstrung".

[adamgreer]

Is there any way they could do this with live voices?

I feel like half of the fun of the Muppets is the potential for improvisation, since it adds to the general looniness that is their trademark.

[darquegk]

The live muppet show above was live- a few scenes in, the Muppet Lab skit contains improv off of audience reaction to jokes referencing then-new DVD technology.