Stage production division of Walt Disney Studios
Buena Vista Theatrical Group Ltd.
,
doing business as
the
Disney Theatrical Group
,
[3]
[4]
is the live show,
stageplay
and
musical
production arm of
The Walt Disney Company
. The company is led by
Thomas Schumacher
, Anne Quart, and Andrew Flatt, and is a division of
Walt Disney Studios
, forming a part of
Disney Entertainment
, one of the three major business segments of The Walt Disney Company.
Background
[
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]
Starting in 1949,
Ice Capades
started adding Disney's segment to their performances. Costumes from those shows were used at the opening of
Disneyland
in 1955, with some performers hired away for Disney. With the characters a hit at the
1964 New York World's Fair
,
Walt Disney
wanted another outlet for "live" characters.
[5]
Disneyland
put on
Disney on Parade,
a self-produced live arena show, starting in 1969.
[5]
[6]
After several years,
Card Walker
shut down the show as it was not making enough profit.
[5]
Soon after
Mattel
/
Feld Productions
' 1979 purchased the
Ice Follies
And Holiday on Ice, Inc., Feld approached Disney with a proposal to create a Disney show on ice.
[7]
[8]
Thus
Walt Disney's World on Ice
premiered in 1981.
[9]
Disney Studio
co-produced "Largely New York" with
Kenneth Feld
, owner of
Feld Entertainment
, that premiered on
May 1, 1989
at
St. James Theatre
.
[10]
On February 8, 1993, Disney incorporated Walt
Disney Theatrical Productions
, Limited
[3]
with
Ron Logan
as president to produce
Beauty and the Beast: A New Musical
,
[11]
which opened at the
Palace Theater
on April 18, 1994.
[12]
In 1997, DTP reopened New Amsterdam with
King David
.
[13]
Peter Schneider was promoted to
Disney Studios
president in January 1999, while Thomas Schumacher was promoted to president of
Walt Disney Feature Animation
and Walt Disney Theatrical Productions while both are made co-presidents of Disney Theatrical.
[14]
Walt Disney Imagineering
created Disney Fair, a $30-million U.S. traveling attraction that took up 5 acres. The fair started its 15 city 15-month tour at Puyallup, Washington in
September 1996
. With poor attendance, the fair was pulled after a few stops. Disney Entertainment Projects (Asia Pacific) Inc., a new Disney Asian Pacific subsidiary, selected a renamed fair called DisneyFest as its first project. The 1,000-ton show was transported by ship to Singapore. The festival opened on
October 30, 1997
there during the year-end holiday season for a three-month period.
[15]
History
[
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]
Buena Vista Theatrical Group
[
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]
Buena Vista Theatrical Group Ltd. was the name of Disney Theatrical Productions as of November 23, 1999
[3]
with Disney Theatrical Productions becoming its first division. In January 2000, the formation of the group along with Hyperion Theatricals, Disney's second production division, to oversee Hyperion and
Disney Theatrical Productions
(DTP) was announced. Hyperion's first production was
Aida
and all other non-Disney animation based productions were placed under Hyperion.
[16]
In September 2000, all three US DTG shows, both Hyperion and DTP, were placed under the "Disney on Broadway" banner, then under "Disney on Broadway on Tour" when the shows went on national tour.
[17]
Schneider's promotion to studio chair left Schumacher as the only president of DTG in January 2000.
[18]
Schneider left Disney Studio in June 2001 to form his own theater production company partly funded by Disney.
[19]
In 2003, Music Theatre International became licensing agent for Disney musicals and plays for the school performances.
[20]
Disney Theatrical Group
[
edit
]
After May 2007,
Buena Vista
Theatrical Group changed its
trade name
to Disney Theatrical Group.
[4]
[21]
DTG's Disney Live Family Entertainment signed a 10-year agreement with
Feld Entertainment
for Disney on Ice, Disney Live and other Disney productions in August 2008.
[22]
In 2010, Disney Theatrical Group launched its free Disney Musicals in Schools outreach program in New York City. Disney Musicals in Schools allows participating schools to get free performance rights, professional teaching artists and ShowKit materials to one of seven 30-minute Disney musical specifically written for elementary schools. By the end of 2017, the program was available in 18 cities having added 5 more cities, including the first international city London, that year.
[23]
On October 31, 2010, the group closed its
Glendale, California
office and cut staff in a DTG reorganization.
[1]
In April 2013, Disney Studios initiated a 5% layoffs across all unit including DTG as the Disney conglomerate moves towards a reorganization later in the year.
[24]
On April 28, 2014, the Group was an honoree at the Actors Fund Annual Gala.
[25]
Disney India launched its Live Entertainment operations in 2015 with the production of
Beauty and the Beast
musical to be shown from October to December in Mumbai and Delhi
.
[26]
No word before or after Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox about Fox Stage Productions' status post acquisition.
[27]
However, the unit's head, executive vice president Cohen, who was also executive vice president of legal affairs, was laid off immediately after the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox in March 2019.
[28]
On July 3, 2019, Fox Stage Productions was moved into Disney Theatrical Group as Buena Vista Theatrical division with all top executives leaving at that time.
[29]
In March 2020,
The New York Times
stated that 'A trade association representing producers and theater owners, said the 41 Broadway houses would remain shuttered at least through June 7'.
[30]
Which puts the Disney Theatrical Group's
Frozen
performances on hold until possibly June 2020.
On September 28, 2023,
The New York Times
published an article noting significant leadership changes in the subsidiary, where
Thomas Schumacher
now holds the title of Chief Creative Officer, while Anne Quart has become the
EVP
and
Executive Producer
, and Andrew Flatt has become the
EVP
and
Managing Director
.
[31]
Units
[
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]
- Disney Theatrical Productions
is the primary production arm of Disney Theatrical Group. This subsidiary has been responsible for the production of many different musicals on Broadway. Acclaimed shows include:
Beauty and the Beast
,
The Lion King
,
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
,
Mary Poppins
,
Tarzan
,
The Little Mermaid
,
Newsies
,
Aladdin
,
Frozen
,
Hercules
,
Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation
,
The Jungle Book
,
Coco
,
Alice in Wonderland
,
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
,
Cinderella
,
Mulan
, and
Bambi
. The Group also produces touring productions of their shows.
- Disney Theatrical Licensing
is DTG's show licensing arm which licenses its shows for performance by local school and community theatres via its agent, Musical Theatre International (MTI). Shows like
Beauty and the Beast
,
Aida
, and
High School Musical
are licensed. Disney also licenses special versions of shows for performance by younger children. Some of these shows include titles like
Aladdin Jr.
,
The Lion King Jr.
Mulan Jr, or Mary Poppins Junior.
In October 2016,
Freaky Friday
premiered as a licensed theatrical production in Washington, DC.
[2]
- Disney Live Family Entertainment, which incorporates
Disney on Ice
ice shows and Disney Live, produced by
Feld Entertainment
.
[32]
- Walt Disney Special Events Group
is responsible for live character promotional shows and events.
[33]
- New Amsterdam Development Corp.
- New Amsterdam Theatrical Productions, Inc.
- Walt Disney Theatrical Worldwide, Inc.
- Buena Vista Theatrical Ventures, Inc.
- Buena Vista Theatrical Merchandise, LLC
Buena Vista Theatrical
[
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]
This is the former
20th Century Fox
theatrical arm, not be confused with Fox Theatricals, an independent theatrical production company, which produced The Humans, Fun Home and If/Then.
Buena Vista Theatrical
, formerly
Fox Stage Productions
, is a theatrical production company of Disney Theatrical Group.
Previously,
20th Century Fox
licensed their property for theatrical adaptations including
9 to 5
,
[34]
Young Frankenstein
[32]
and
Big
.
[27]
In 1970,
All About Eve
was adapted as
Applause
musical on Broadway with Margo played by
Lauren Bacall
.
[35]
Fox had become vexed by many of these fizzling adaptation attempts.
[13]
Fox Stage Productions was formed in June 2013 which included the retaining of Isaac Robert Hurwitz as a consultant.
[36]
In August 2013, 20CF started a theatrical joint venture with a trio of producer-executives, both film and theater, Broadway producer
Kevin McCollum
, film producer
John Davis
and Tom McGrath. McCollum would handle day-to-day operations of the joint venture while
[32]
The joint venture was Fox contributing 50% and the trio 50%. The trio of individual would do productions outside the venture. The development slate based on Fox films would consist of nine to 12 musicals.
[34]
Hurwitz was hired in July 2015 as senior vice president of Fox Stage Productions reporting to the division head Bob Cohen.
[36]
Fox Stage licensed out
Anastasia
, both the
1956 feature
and the
1997 animated version
, to
Stage Entertainment
, 50 Church Productions,
The Shubert Organization
, Judith Ann Abrams Productions, Broadway Asia/Umeda Arts Theater, Seoul Broadcasting System, LD Entertainment, Blumegreenspan, Silva Theatrical Group, in association with Hartford Stage for a musical that debut on April 24, 2017, at
Broadhurst Theatre
on Broadway.
[37]
A
Working Girl
musical adaptation with
Cyndi Lauper
writing the music was announced by Fox in 2017.
[29]
No word before or after Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox about Fox Stage Productions' status post acquisition.
[27]
However, the unit's head, executive vice president Cohen, who was also executive vice president of legal affairs, was given a laid off notice after the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox in March 2019.
[28]
On July 3, 2019, Fox Stage Productions was moved into Disney Theatrical Group as Buena Vista Theatrical division with all executives, including Cohen, Connor Brockmeier and
SVP
Hurwitz, leaving at that time.
[29]
[38]
[39]
Instead of a production company on
Working Girl
, the musical adaptation was switched to a license production by Aged in Wood Productions since Disney took over ownership.
[29]
Productions
[
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]
Hyperion Theatricals
[
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]
Hyperion Theatricals
was Buena Vista Theatrical Group secondary production division assign all non-Disney animation based productions.
[16]
Hyperion shared its name with a Disney publishing label, which was named after the Silver Lake street that was Disney's first local address. The new production unit would focus on more traditional Broadway fare.
[44]
Hyperion Theatricals was formed in January 2000 along with Buena Vista Theatrical Group Ltd., Disney's theatrical oversight company. Producers and heads of Disney Theatricals Peter Schneider and
Thomas Schumacher
were assigned to run Hyperion. Hyperion's first production was
Aida
with the in development
Hoopz
and all other non-Disney animation based productions were placed under Hyperion.
[16]
Hoopz
, a
Harlem Globetrotters
based musical by Savion Glover, Reg E. Gaines, and Kenny Leon, was in work shop phase in second quarter 2000.
[45]
In September 2000,
Aida
was placed with Disney Theatrical Productions shows under the "Disney on Broadway" banner, then under "Disney on Broadway on Tour" when the show went on national tour starting April 6, 2001.
Hoopz
was then hedged as to whether or not it would be released as a Hyperion or Disney Theatrical production.
[17]
Aida
[
edit
]
Based on the
opera
by
Giuseppe Verdi
, it tells the story of a
Nubian
slave who falls in love with an
Egyptian
captain. It was written by
Elton John
and
Tim Rice
. It began previews on February 25, 2000, and officially opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on March 23, 2000. Aida closed on September 5, 2004, and ran for a total of 30 previews and 1852 performances. The Broadway production won four Tony Awards, including Best Actress (Heather Headley), Best Scenic Design, Best Lighting Design and Best Music. Since its run on Broadway, it has had a U.S. national tour and productions around the world.
[46]
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[
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]
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External links
[
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]