AladdinAlan Menkin (Music); Howard Ashman, Tim Rice & Chad Beguelin (Lyrics); Chad Beguelin (Book)SHNThe Cast of AladdinWith exotic, kaleidoscopic colors of every hue imaginable, Disney’s Aladdin bursts onto the SHN Orpheum stage in a touring version that has more elaborate scene changes, more dazzling costumes, and more jumping tumbling, and even flying cast members than … [Read more...] about “Aladdin”
Disney
“Disney’s The Little Mermaid”
Disney’s The Little MermaidAlan Menken (Music); Howard Ashman & Glenn Slater (Lyrics); Doug Wright (Book)Broadway San JoseThe Cast of The Little MermaidA stage-filling, blue screen full of bubbles that boringly bobbled up and down a few inches in each direction as the packed audience filled the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts should have been all the evidence we … [Read more...] about “Disney’s The Little Mermaid”
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
The Hunchback of Notre DameAlan Menken (Music); Stephen Schwartz (Lyrics); Peter Parnell (Book)Hillbarn Theatre Randy O'Hara (Quasimodo) & the Gargoyles Based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame as a stage musical retains the songs of the 1996 Disney film while keeping more of the darker, more serious elements of the novel than does the … [Read more...] about “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”
Disney’s Beauty and the BeastAlan Menken (Music); Howard Ashman & Tim Rice (Lyrics);Linda Woolverton (Book)Oregon Shakespeare FestivalThe first time I saw Disney’s Beauty and the Beast on the big screen as an animated film, I immediately pictured the opening number “Belle” as made for the big stage. As the song’s angelic-looking namesake roams aimlessly nose in a book … [Read more...] about “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”
