John Candy: A Teddy Bear of a Comedian

He made us laugh like crazy in all kinds of comedies throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, Stripes (1981), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), and Home Alone (1990) to name a few, playing clumsy, but likable guys in pretty much every one of them. Originating from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, he performed on Canadian television and was the co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League for three years. He even made two films for the Walt Disney Studios. He is none other than John Candy!

John Franklin Candy was born on October 31st (Halloween Night), 1950 in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. He was raised in a working-class Roman Catholic family, and after graduating from Neil McNeill Catholic High School, he enrolled in Centennial Community College to study journalism. It was there, however, that he discovered that the also had an interest in performing, deciding to to pursue that instead and at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

In his early 20s, he guest starred on Canadian-produced television shows called Cucumber (1970) and Police Surgeon (1971-1975). His big break, however, came at the age of 27, when he officially became a member of the Toronto branch of the comedy troupe, The Second City. Many of the other members of the troupe would became lifelong friends of his, i.e.: Catherine O’Hara, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, and Harold Ramis. Candy and his Toronto Second City colleagues collaborated with Andrew Alexander to create the show SCTV (1976-1981). 

John Candy made his film debut in an uncredited appearance in a comedy called Class of ’44 (1973). His first credited film appearance, however, was alongside pal Dan Aykroyd in Steven Spielberg’s 1941 (1979). He landed another role the following year in The Blues Brothers (1980), reuniting him with Aykroyd; and then he starred as Ox alongside Bill Murray and Harold Ramis in Stripes (1981). He later reunited with his Second City alumni for the show SCTV Network (1981-1983), before he landed the role of Tom Hank’s womanizing brother, Freddie Bauer, in Ron Howard’s Splash (1984), the first film ever produced by Disney’s spin-off label, Touchstone Films. Many have argued that this is the role that made John Candy a superstar. He had originally wanted to play the role of the villainous Dr. Walter Kornbluth in the film, though Ron Howard convinced him to play Freddie instead. As a result, Candy suggested Eugene Levy for Walter. Around the time of “Splash,” Columbia offered him the role of Louis Tully in Ghostbusters (1984). He considered it, but ultimately declined, believing that his buddy Rick Moranis would be a much better fit for the role.      

John Candy’s first role as a leading man was in Summer Rental (1985), directed by Carl Reiner. Two years after that, he made his very first collaboration with comedy writing/producing/directing legend John Hughes in Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), which would also be his first official pairing with Steve Martin. Martin and Candy previously appeared in Warner Bros. film adaptation of the off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors (1986), which also featured Bill Murray and Rick Moranis, though their scenes were not together. Since making “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” both Martin and Candy have stated that the film is the favorite of both of their careers. ’87 continued as a busy year for Candy, because with the role of Barf in Mel Brooks’s Spaceballs. In ’88, John Candy reunited with Hughes and Aykroyd in The Great Outdoors as Chet Ripley (written and produced by Hughes, and directed by Howard Deutch). Candy also made a cameo as Chet in She’s Having a Baby (1988), which was also written, produced, and directed by John Hughes.

Candy made his fourth collaboration with John Hughes in Uncle Buck in 1989, which also starred Macaulay Culkin. Prior to that, he was offered the role of Wayne Szalinski by Disney, once again declining in favor of Moranis. He ultimately accepted Disney’s offer to voice the cartoon character of Wilbur the Albatross of Albatross Airlines in The Rescuers Down Under (1990), the sequel to The Rescuers (1977). That same year, he played the role of Gus Polinski, Polka King of the Midwest, in Home Alone (1990), his fifth collaboration with John Hughes. It also reunited him with Catherine O’Hara and Macaulay Culkin. Ironically, both “Rescuers Down Under,” and “Home Alone,” were released on November 16th.  

During “Home Alone,” Candy became close with director Chris Columbus and it wasn’t long before they were working together again on Only the Lonely (1991) which was written and directed by Columbus and also featured Macaulay Culkin and his younger brother, Kieran, along with Ally Sheedy, Jim Belushi, and Silver Screen Legends, Anthony Quinn and Maureen O’Hara. While filming on location in Chicago, Candy noticed that he was staying in a much bigger trailer than Maureen O’Hara. Bothered by that, he asked the production team why that was the case, and they explained that there wasn’t enough money in the film’s budget for him and O’Hara both to have big trailers, so purely out of generosity, he traded trailers with O’Hara. 

The same year as “Only the Lonely,” Candy starred in the film JFK, which received a Best Picture Oscar Nomination. ’91 was also the year that he, along with Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall, became co-owners of the Toronto Argonauts. Candy, Gretzky, and McNall worked together on signing some of the team’s most valuable players, including wide receiver Raghib Ramadian “Rocket” Ismail, and they were over the moon when the Argonauts took home the 1991 Grey Cup. Candy didn’t completely shy away from making movies though, starring in Disney’s Cool Runnings in 1993 and making his directorial debut in 1994 in Hostage For a Day which starred George Wendt.

John Candy tragically died of a heart attack at the age of 43 on March 4th, 1994. At the time, he was in Durango, Mexico shooting the movie, Wagons East (1994). Prior to going there, he spoke to good friend Catherine O’Hara that he was afraid about going to Mexico because he had a gut feeling that “something bad is going to happen there,” and that was the last time they spoke. “Hostage For a Day” and “Wagons East,” were both released after his death, along with another film called Canadian Bacon (1995), which was a reunion for him with Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi. All of his best friends were in attendance at his funeral and eulogies were delivered by both Aykroyd and Catherine O’Hara. At the time of his death, Disney had also recorded a great deal of his voice for the character of Redfeather the Turkey in Pocahontas (1995), but the character was deleted from the film after his unfortunate death. 

25 Facts You Might or Might Not Know About The Lion King

On June 24th, 1994, Walt Disney Animation Studios released their original version of The Lion King. The film received universal acclaim and became the highest-grossing motion picture of 1994 worldwide. On July 19th, 2019, Disney will release a readaptation of The Lion King in the medium of motion-capture animation, 25 years after the original classic. In honor of that, I thought we could explore some interesting facts about this classic Disney blockbuster. Please feel free to comment on anything you find interesting.

• The Lion King (1994) was nominated for four Oscars and won two: Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer) and Best Original Song “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” (m. Sir Elton John, l. Sir Time Rice.) John and Rice were also nominated for the songs “Circle of Life” and “Hakuna Matata.”
• Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, who provided the respective voices of Adult Simba and Timon in the film, later befriended one another at the film’s premiere and have since starred in three Broadway Shows Together: Mel Brook’s The Producers (2001), The Odd Couple (2005), and It’s Only A Play (2014).
• “Lion King,” was readapted for Broadway on November 13th, 1997. The show won six Tony’s, including Best Musical. The show featured Samuel E. Wright in the role of Mufasa, who ironically voiced Sebastian in The Little Mermaid (1989). The show is still going strong, having played a total of 9,009 performances as of June 30th, 2019.
• James Earl Jones, the voice of Mufasa in the original film, will reprise the role in the remake
• “The Lion King,” lead to the creation of two direct-to-video sequels, The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998), and The Lion King 1 1/2 (2004). Disney also produced two spin-off television series, Timon & Pumbaa (1995-1999), which aired on the Disney Channel and The Lion Guard (2016-present) which currently airs on the Disney Junior Network. Ernie Sabella has voiced the character of Pumbaa the Warthog in every one of these shows, except the new film. Seth Rogen will be the new voice of Pumbaa. 
• James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair, the voices of King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi, Simba’s parents, previously worked together in a comedy called Coming to America (1988) where they played the King and Queen mother of Prince Akeem (played by Eddie Murphy). Ironically, there were scenes in the film where they wore costumes made of lion fur!
• In addition to James Earl Jones returning, the voice cast of Disney’s new “Lion King,” will also feature Beyonce Knowles-Carter, Billy Eichner, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, John Kani, Keegan-Michael Key, John Oliver, Seth Rogen, and Alfre Woodard. The film will be directed by Jon Favreau, who previously directed The Jungle Book (2016), which also featured the motion-capture technique, and won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The same team of visual effects artists who worked on “Jungle Book,” will also be applying their talents to “Lion King.”
• The original film was co-directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, both of whom directed Disney-produced shorts, i.e.: The Little Matchgirl (2006) (Allers), Tummy Trouble (1989) and Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990) (Minkoff)—the latter two of which starred Roger Rabbit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Minkoff also directed The Haunted Mansion (2003) with Eddie Murphy.
• Jeremy Irons, the original voice of Scar, originally was able to do his own singing in the “Be Prepared,” sequence. However, his vocal chords became strained when singing the line “You won’t get a sniff without me,” and hence, Jim Cummings, who also voiced Ed the Hyena in the film, finished the song in place of Irons.
• Nathan Lane improvised Timon’s comedic line “What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?”
• In addition to the character of Scar having two separate voices, one for the speaking and the other for singing, several other roles in the film where shared by two different actors. The role of Adult Simba was spoken by Matthew Broderick, though it was sung by Joseph Williams
• “Lion King,” was in production at Disney around the same time as Pocahontas (1995). Everyone who worked at Disney at the time had more faith in “Pocahontas,” then they did in “Lion King,” and even thought that “Pocahontas,” would go on to receive a Best Picture Oscar Nomination (as Beauty and the Beast (1991) had previously done). Ironically, “Lion King,” proved to be the big hit, while “Pocahontas,” was met with mixed-to-negative reviews and didn’t make a great deal of money.
• When “Lion King,” won the Best Original Score and Best Original Song Oscars, it followed in the footsteps of all the Disney Oscar-winning films released prior to it: The Little Mermaid (1989), Song “Under the Sea,” Beauty and the Beast (1991), Song “Beauty and the Beast,” and Aladdin (1992), Song “A Whole New World.” Although “Pocahontas,” was a critical and financial flop, it managed to win Oscars in the same categories too. The “Pocahontas,” song was, “Colors of the Wind.”
• Andreas Deja, the supervising animator for the character of Scar in the film is known at Disney for being the supervising animator for many of the modern villains at the studio. He also animated The Horned King in The Black Cauldron (1985), Gaston in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Jafar in Aladdin (1992).
• Jeff Nathanson wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can (2002) and the screenplay for the new “Lion King.” 
• Shenzi and Banzai the Hyenas were voiced by Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin, both of whom have had Pixar voice-over roles. Goldberg voiced Stretch the Octopus in Toy Story 3 (2010) and Marin voiced Ramone in the Cars franchise (2006-2017).
• Hanz Zimmer is also returning to score the new film, and Sir Elton John and Sir Tim Rice have also re-teamed to make revisions to the songs they wrote for the original, in addition to all-new song called “Never Too Late,” which will play at the end of the new film’s credits. The film will also feature the song “He Lives In You,” which was written for the Broadway version of “Lion King,” by Lebo M.
• “Lion King,” was the all-time favorite animated film of Oscar-winning Silver Screen legend, Gregory Peck. He ranked the film in his top five all-time favorite movies!  
• Jonathan Taylor Thomas began recording “Lion King,” while starring as Randy Taylor in the Disney/ABC Series Home Improvement (1991-1999). Coincidentally, his on-screen, father, Tim Allen also began recording the voice of Buzz Lightyear, in Toy Story (1995), while starring on the show.
• Disney didn’t record actual lions roaring for the film. Frank Welker, who is known at Disney for voicing many non-speaking characters, including Max the Dog in The Little Mermaid (1989), Abu in Aladdin (1992), and numerous others, provided all the lion roars heard in the film.
• During the “Be Prepared,” sequence, the scene where the hyenas are marching past Scar can be connected to WW2 Symbolism.
• There originally was a song for Mufasa to sing called “To Be King,” but it was scrapped when it didn’t fit James Earl Jones’s singing voice.
• The plot of “Lion King,” can be compared to both William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and also the bible stories of Moses and Joseph.
• Liam Neeson was considered to voice of Mufasa, but he turned it down. Neeson later went on to voice Aslan the Lion in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) and its sequels, Prince Caspian (2008), and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010). “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” and “Prince Caspian,” were both produced by Disney.
• “Lion King,” remained the highest-grossing animated film of all time, until it was surpassed by Toy Story 3 in 2010 and after that, Frozen in 2013. However, it is still the highest-grossing 2D Animated Film of all-time. 

Rod Taylor: Underrated as an Actor

Giant (1956), The Time Machine (1960), and The Birds (1963) are just a few titles of films that Rod Taylor made throughout his career. Starring in more than 50 films, from romantic comedies to suspense thrillers to action-adventures, (in addition to some television and theatre appearances), he was a very busy actor. But even though his career lasted many years, he never quite got all of the attention he deserved. 

Rodney Sturt Taylor was born in Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia on January 11th, 1930, the only child of William and Mona Taylor. His dad was a steel construction contractor and a commercial artist while his mom was a writer of more than a hundred short stories and children’s books. After attending Parramatta High School and later the East Sydney Technical and Fine Arts School, he began his career, following in his father William’s footsteps, as a commercial artist. But he was inspired to become an actor when he saw Laurence Olivier in an Old Vic Touring Production of Shakespeare’s Richard III. 

Taylor began his career performing live on an Australian-produced radio show called Blue Hills. In 1951, he starred in a reenactment of Charles Sturt’s (his great-great grand uncle’s) voyage down the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers, playing Sturt’s assistant, George Macleay. Taylor also appeared in several theater productions for Australia’s Mercury Theatre, including Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and Sidney Howard’s They Knew What They Wanted. He made his film debut in the Australian-produced King of the Coral Sea (1954) and the next film he made was a Hollywood produced film shot Sydney called Long John Silver (1954)—an unofficial sequel to Disney’s Treasure Island (1950). (Both films featured Robert Newton as Silver).   

Around this time, Taylor also found work on American television shows, including Studio 57 (1954-1958) and Cheyenne (1955-1962). In 1956, he tested for the role of Rocky Graziano in MGM’s Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), a role that had originally been cast with James Dean shortly before his tragic death. In his audition, he dropped his “Aussie” accent and performed with a Brooklyn accent instead, and although the role ultimately went to Paul Newman, Taylor’s clever use of the Brooklyn accent impressed the studio to give him a long-term contract, and he played supporting roles in the films, The Catered Affair (1956), Raintree County (1957), and Ask Any Girl (1959).

Taylor made his debut as a leading man in MGM’s The Time Machine (1960) playing the role of H. George Wells. The very next year, he was hired by Walt Disney to provide the voice of the Dalmatian family patriarch, Pongo, in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). In 1963, he was hired by Alfred Hitchcock to star in “The Birds,” opposite Tippi Hedren, Suzanne Pleshette, Karl Swenson, and Jessica Tandy. This film was Taylor’s second pairing with Suzanne Pleshette, having acted with her in ’61 in the film Hong Kong: Lesson in Fear and later in Fate Is The Hunter (1964). There is a moment in the film in the Tides Restaurant scene where someone says to Rod Taylor “What happened, Mitch?” That is amusing because Rod Taylor’s character is named Mitch Brenner, though the person who says that line in real life is named Mitch Zanich, who owned the restaurant in real life and gave permission to Alfred Hitchcock shoot in his restaurant on the condition that the leading man would be named after him.

Rod Taylor later starred opposite Doris Day in the romantic comedies, Do Not Disturb (1965) and The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). “Glass Bottom Boat,” also reunited him with Edward Andrews, with whom he guest-starred on “Cheyenne.” Next, he was loaned out from MGM to Paramount to make Chuka in 1967, starring opposite Ernest Borgnine and John Mills. Taylor was also a producer on the film. He made The Train Robbers, for Warner Bros., with John Wayne and Ann-Margret, in 1973. 

Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, Rod Taylor continued to act primarily on television. He appeared in short-lived series called Masquerade (1983) and Outlaws (1986) as well as several episodes of Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996) and Walker, Texas Ranger (1993-2001). In 1993, he hosted the documentary Time Machine: The Journey Back. The documentary ended with a mini-sequel in which he recreated his role as H.G. Wells, along with former co-star Alan Young who re-created his role as David Filby. He made an Australian-produced comedy called Welcome to Woop Woop in 1997. 

After “Woop Woop,” Taylor went into semi-retirement, but was later called back out of it when Quentin Tarantino personally asked him to portray Winston Churchill. Taylor had been a fan of Tarantino’s, but was reluctant to make another movie, and thought it was a joke when he heard from his business manager that Tarantino wanted him in the movie. When he received Tarantino’s phone number he called thinking that it was one of his drinking buddies, but found out that it was Tarantino himself, and that he had him in mind for the role of Churchill. Stunned, Taylor said, “Well why don’t you use Albert Finney. He lives in England and he’s done Churchill six times.” Tarantino replied “If Rod Taylor turns me down, I’ll call Albert Finney.” Taylor then agreed to do the part. 

Rod Taylor passed away of a heart attack on January 7th, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. He will forever be remembered for his roles in “Time Machine,” and “The Birds,” though his voice-over performance as Pongo helped make “101 Dalmatians,” a classic also. He is a true Hollywood icon whose versatility continues to be overlooked today.  

Jim Dale: The Man of 146 Voices

Long before Hugh Jackman played the role of Phineas Taylor “P.T.” Barnum in the hit movie-musical The Greatest Showman (2017), and before Daniel Radcliffe landed the role of Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), and before Karl Urban played the greedy Gavin Magary in Disney’s remake of Pete’s Dragon (2016), there was Jim Dale. Dale played the role of P.T. Barnum in the Broadway musical Barnum (produced in 1980), provided the voice of Harry Potter—as well as all the other “Potter” characters for each of the USA audiobook versions of J.K. Rowling’s novels,—and played Elliot the Dragon’s other arch nemesis, the devious Dr. Terminus, in Disney’s original version of Pete’s Dragon (released in 1977). Jim Dale is the originator behind many popular acting roles, but in addition to that, he is a talented musician, stage actor, and television actor, and voice talent. You actually might find his work surprising. 

Jim Dale was born James Smith on August 15th, 1935, in Rothwell, Northamptonshire England. He developed an interest in show business while in school, and by age 10 was training in ballet, tap dancing, and tumbling. He made his debut as a stage comic at the age of 16 in 1951, performing in camp shows. While serving in the Royal Air Force, his comic skills improved, and when he was discharged after two years of service, he took his comedy on tour, becoming one of the youngest British stand-up comedians ever. Ultimately, he got a job as a warm-up comic for a UK musical variety show called “Six-Five Special.” His performing skills on the show were so well-received that the producers promoted him to be a singer on the show. Soon, Dale teamed with George Martin to write the song “Be My Girl,” which reached No. 2 on the UK charts. Dale and Martin also wrote the songs “Just Born (To Be Your Baby),” “Crazy Dream,” and “Sugartime.” He made his film debut in a spin-off of “Six-Five Special” show the following year.

Jim Dale next appeared in the UK-produced film Roommates in 1961 starring opposite James Robertson Justice and Leslie Philips. He then took another bit role in another UK-produced film called Carry On Cabby (1963), which was one in a series of films of the same name which were produced in the UK from 1958-1992. His role in “Cabby” was well-received and he was made an official member of the cast of the film series (which also included Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, and Charles Hawtrey). During the “Carry On,” films he was hired to write the lyrics for the song “Georgy Girl,” for the film of the same name, released in 1966. He collaborated with Tom Springfield, who wrote the music, and the effort earned the song an Oscar Nomination for Best Original Song. 

While doing his own stunts for “Carry On,” he injured an arm, and as a result had to leave the group until 1992. In 1970, at the invitation of Sir Laurence Olivier, he was invited to join the National Theatre Company in London, and it was here that he played the roles of Scapino in Scapino and Petruchio in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. After creating some other roles in the theatre and in more UK-produced films, Dale finally made his first appearance in an American-produced film in Disney’s original “Pete’s Dragon.” He was hired by the Disney studios again the following year to star in Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978) opposite Don Knotts and Darren McGavin. In this film, Dale portrays three different roles: Jasper Bloodshy and his identical twin sons Eli and Wild Billy. He made a third film for Disney the very next year: Unidentified Flying Oddball, starring opposite Ron Moody and Dennis Dugan.

In 1980, Jim Dale made his Broadway debut in Barnum, and won the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. In the show, he starred opposite Glenn Close, who played Barnum’s wife, Charity. 26 years after the original show, Dale reunited with Close in the one-night only concert version of a musical called Busker Alley, based on a British film called St. Martin’s Lane (1938) which featured the music and lyrics of legendary Disney film songwriters, Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. In 2007, he received his third Guinness World Record for creating 146 different voices for the audiobook J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. His first two records were for occupying the first six places in the Top Ten Audiobooks in America and Canada and for creating 134 different voices in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Most recently, he narrated SPIN: The Rumpelstiltskin Musical which was written by Harvel Edelman and Neil Fishman.

Jim Dale is a man of many talents, but the most remarkable of all his talents would undoubtedly be his voice. His vocal range can extend to sounding evil and nasty, as it can to sounding good and tender-hearted and not many other actors can achieve that with their voice.

Marc and Dee Dee: The Choreographers You Never Knew

When Walt Disney began production on Mary Poppins (1964) in the early 1960s, he intended from the very beginning it would be a musical. Disney gave extra attention to each detail of the film, including hiring Julie Andrews to play the title role, Robert Stevenson to direct, Bill Walsh to co-produce, and Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman to write the music. Finding choreographers to stage the musical numbers, however, was a challenge for Walt, although he hired Tom Mahoney to choreograph Babes in Toyland (1961) as well as various episodes of The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1956) and The Magical World of Disney (1954-1991), Mahoney, at this point, wasn’t available as he was committed to choreographing Bikini Beach (1964), which starred fellow Mouseketeers Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. 

Disney relied on “Poppins,” actor Dick Van Dyke to see if he knew any choreographers, and Van Dyke recommended a husband and wife team, Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood, with whom he had worked with on The Andy Williams Show (1962-1963). Prior to television, they had also choreographed the original production of the Broadway musical Do-Re-Mi, which has nothing to do with the song from The Sound of Music (1965). Although both husband and wife had made dancing credits on television and on Broadway, neither had ever choreographed a motion picture but it didn’t stop at Disney. 

In addition to choreographing all the dance numbers in the film, (from “Jolly Holliday,” to “Step in Time,”) both Breaux and Wood made other unique contributions to the film. Wood suggested that during the Jolly Holiday sequence, Mary Poppins’ umbrella and Bert’s cane, do an animatronic dance of their own. She originally thought that that would be impossible, though she was later told by someone “Never say that anything at Disney is impossible!” Breaux also provided the singing voice of the cow in the Jolly Holiday sequence. When they heard the Sherman brothers’ score, they both knew they were a part of something special, as did everyone else who was involved with the movie. 

Helping “Poppins,” become the blockbuster that it became, Breaux and Wood, were then hired to choreograph “The Sound of Music,” which reunited them with Julie Andrews and “Poppins,” conductor Irwin Kostal. In 1967, they were re-hired by Walt Disney to stage the musical numbers for The Happiest Millionaire, which ignited the film career of Lesley Ann Warren, and would also be the last live-action movie that Walt Disney would supervise. (He passed away during the film’s production.) Their next film after that was MGM’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), which also featured Irwin Kostal’s conducting, another score written by the Shermans, and was also a reunion for the two of them with Dick Van Dyke. 

Although their marriage would unfortunately end in divorce, they remained close and also choreographed movies such as United Artists’ Huckleberry Finn (1974), and Universal’s The Slipper and the Rose (1976), both of which also featured songs by the Shermans. In the later 1970s, Marc Breaux had some health issues and went to work as a film editor for Sunset Gower Studios until his retirement in the mid-1990s. Wood choreographed for a while longer and is also known for having choreographed the Touchstone Pictures film, Beaches (1988), which starred Bette Midler, as well as another episode of “Magical World of Disney.” She retired to Mesa, Arizona where she currently lives—and while her former husband remained in Los Angeles, he later rejoined her, where he sadly passed away on November 19th, 2013. Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood’s legacy of dance will live on: for most of us it will be in beloved favorites primarily in “Poppins,” “Sound of Music,” and “Chitty Chitty.”     

Disney on Broadway Part II!

This blog continues our tribute to Disney shows launched on Broadway. Starting with (“Beauty and the Beast,” and “The Lion King,”) Disney has become a “force of nature,” drawing huge crowds with their Broadway shows, largely re-working their film masterpieces for the stage. Please feel free to comment on anything you find interesting  

• “Mary Poppins,” opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on November 16th, 2006. It received seven Tony Nominations, including Best Musical, and won the award for Best Scenic Design, playing a total of 2,619 performances. Gavin Lee originated the role of Bert the Chimney Sweep in “Mary Poppins,” on Broadway, in the first National Tour, and also in London’s Original West End Production which premiered two years prior at the Bristol Hippodrome. In addition to featuring the original film’s Academy-Award-Winning Score by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, the show also featured new music written by George Stiles and Anthony Drew.
• In 2007, Disney produced an original stage adaptation tour of the hit movie-musical, High School Musical. It was Disney’s first stage adaptation of a made-for-television movie. The tour started in Chicago, Illinois on August 1st, 2007 and ended in Salt Lake City, Utah on August 3rd, 2008. After closing in Utah, the tour went on to Canada and then the UK, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, and various other countries. In addition to all the classic songs from the original 2006 film being included in the show, the show also featured new music from a various list of composers.
• Disney’s Broadway Adaptation of The Little Mermaid, opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on January 10th, 2008. Starring Sierra Boggess as Ariel, Norm Lewis as King Triton, Eddie Korbich as Scuttle, Titus Burgess as Sebastian, and Brian D’Addario as Flounder, it was a smash success. (Incidentally, I am thrilled to have personally met each of them after seeing a performance in New York.) The show closed on August 30th, 2009 after a total of 685 performances and received Tony Nominations for Best Lighting Design of a Musical and Best Original Score Written for the Theatre for Alan Menken who also won the Best Original Score Oscar for the film version.
• In 2011, Disney collaborated with Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment to produce Sister Act: The Musical based on the 1992 Touchstone Pictures film of the same name (which starred Goldberg). The show opened at the Broadway Theatre on April 20th, 2010 and closed on August 26th, 2012 after a total of 561 performances. It was nominated for five Tonys, including Best Musical and featured the music of Alan Menken and the direction of Jerry Zaks, who had previously collaborated together in the 2003 Original Broadway Production of Little Shop of Horrors. “Sister Act,” also starred Fred Applegate as the Monsignor—he had previously played Lumiere in the first National Tour of “Beauty and the Beast.” 
• In 2012, Disney produced the play Peter and the Starcatcher, a prequel to the story of Peter Pan. The plot serves as a backstory for the characters of Peter Pan, Mrs. Darling, Tinker Bell, and Captain Hook. Written by Rick Elice, the play was nominated for nine Tonys. It won five, one of which was for Christian Borle who won in the category of Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play, for his performance as Black Stache, who is the character who goes on to become Captain Hook. (Prior to this play, Borle replaced Gavin Lee in the role of Bert in “Mary Poppins.)
• The same year as “Peter and the Starcatcher,” Disney also produced Newsies on Broadway. Opening at the Nederlander Theatre on March 29th, 2012 and closing on August 24th, 2014 after 1,004 performances, the show was nominated for eight Tonys, including Best Musical, and won two: Best Original Score and Best Choreography. Harvey Fierstein was the librettist for the show, and he received a Tony Nomination for his efforts. In addition to being a talented actor and librettist, Fierstein is also known at Disney for being the voice of Yao in Mulan (1998). Jeremy Jordan was also nominated for a Tony for his performance of Jack “Cowboy” Kelly, a role originated by Christian Bale in the 1992 film of the same name.
• In 2014, Disney produced Aladdin on Broadway. The show opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on March 20th of that year and is still currently playing today. The show starred Adam Jacobs as Aladdin, Courtney Reed as Jasmine, and James Monroe Igelhart as the Genie. Jonathan Freeman, who ironically voiced Jafar in the original 1992 film, reprised his role as Jafar for the Broadway version (and still does). The show was nominated for five Tonys, including Best Musical, and won one for James Monroe Igelhart, which makes him the first actor ever to win a Tony for a performance in a Disney show on Broadway. I also had the blessing of getting to meet Mr. Igelhart and receive his autograph. He even agreed to pose for a selfie with me, along with Adam Jacobs and several other members of the cast. Currently, Adam Jacobs’s sister, Arielle Jacobs is playing the role of Jasmine on Broadway. (Arielle originated the role of Gabriella Montez in the Disney’s tour of “High School Musical.”)
• Most recently, on March 22nd, 2018, Disney produced Frozen on Broadway. The show opened at the St. James Theatre and continues its run, receiving three Tony Nominations, including Best Musical. The live show features a slightly different plot from the film (i.e. the song “Let it Go,” takes place after the songs “Reindeers Are Better Than People,” and “In Summer,” and The Duke of Weselton is credited as just “Weselton” in the show, and he is younger than he appears in the film). The show features music by Robert and Kristin Anderson-Lopez and the librettist is Jennifer Lee who co-directed the original 2013 film with Chris Buck. While the stage version didn’t win, Lee, Buck, and the Lopezes all won Oscars for their contributions to the film (the Lopezes for Best Original Song “Let it Go,” and Lee and Buck for Animated Feature Film, along with Peter Del Vecho as Producer). Each of the above have reunited for Disney’s upcoming sequel to Frozen, Frozen II which will be released on November 22nd, 2019.   

Disney has had a great track record on Broadway for a quarter of a century, and with the development of shows such as Father of the Bride, Alice in Wonderland, and Bambi, more great shows should be on their way soon.  

Disney on Broadway Part 1!

On February 8th 1993, Ron Logan, a former executive vice president of Walt Disney Entertainment, founded the Walt Disney Theatrical Group (now better known as Disney Theatrical Group). In the 26 years since its founding, the group has produced a total of 12 shows on Broadway and numerous national tours, along with some non-Broadway original shows. I thought we could explore interesting facts about what the Great White Way’s adaptations of classic Disney stories. Please feel free to comment on anything you find interesting. 

• The very first Disney film adapted for Broadway was Beauty and the Beast. The show premiered at the Palace Theatre on April 18th, 1994. It played a total of 5,461 performances, from 1994-2007, and won a Tony Award for Best Costume Design. Terrence Mann, Susan Egan, and Gary Beach, who originated the respective roles of the Beast, Belle, and Lumiere, all received Tony Nominations for their performances in the show. (Egan, would later be hired by the Walt Disney Studios again to provide the voice of Megara or “Meg” in Hercules (1997)). 
• Two months after “Beauty and the Beast” premiered on Broadway, Disney released their original film adaptation of The Lion King on June 24th. “Lion King,” would get its Broadway treatment three years later on November 13th, 1997 at the New Amsterdam Theatre and is currently playing today at the Minskoff Theatre. The original company won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It also starred Samuel E. Wright in the role of Mufasa, and he received a Tony Nomination for his performance. Ironically, Wright had previously voiced Sebastian in The Little Mermaid (1989) nearly a decade earlier.
• The same year that “Lion King,” premiered on Broadway, Sir Tim Rice, who collaborated with Alan Menken on the film version of Aladdin (1992) as well as the Broadway version of “Beauty and the Beast,” collaborated with Alan Menken on King David, which is a concert—not a fully staged musical—based on the Bible Story of David. The show opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre and played for a total of only nine performances. The cast featured Roger Bart as David’s friend Jonathan, and Judy Kuhn as Michal, David’s first wife. Bart is known at Disney for having been the singing voice of Hercules in Hercules (1997) and Kuhn is known at Disney for being the singing voice of Pocahontas in Pocahontas (1995). 
• The first Disney Theatrical Group show to open outside the U.S. was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It opened at the Musical Theater Berlin in Berlin, Germany, on June 5th, 1999 and closed in June 2002. A readapted version played at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California and ran from October 28th-December 7, 2014. Directed by Scott Schwartz, son of Stephen Schwartz, in collaboration with Alan Menken and was later transferred to the Paper Mill Playhouse where it ran from March 4th to April 5th, 2015. In 2017, the Berlin version reopened, transferring to Stuttgart in 2018.
• After Sir Elton John and Sir Tim Rice won well-deserved Oscars and Tonys for the Film and Broadway adaptations of “Lion King,” Disney was eager to rehire the pair for another project and they originally considered producing the opera of Aida as an animated movie-musical. It was Sir John, however, who convinced them to produce it directly as a stage musical, and Rice agreed. “Aida” premiered at the Palace Theatre on March 23rd, 2000 and played a total of 1,852 performances. It won four Tonys including Best Original Musical Score for John and Best Actress in a Musical for Heather Hedley who portrayed the title role in the show, and who had previously originated the role of Nala in “Lion King,” on Broadway.  
• Disney’s Tarzan opened at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on May 10th, 2006. Although the show managed to run over a year, it was critically a flop, failed to sell enough tickets, and only played 486 performances. Despite these failures on Broadway, the show later moved to the Netherlands where it ran for two years, and then Sweden where it played for one year, and then Germany where it played for ten years from 2008-2018. The show was also revived for the Tuachan Center for the Arts in Ivins, Utah where it ran from June-October 2010 and The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri where it ran from June-July 2014.
• In 2004, Disney Theatrical produced On the Record, a musical revue which featured an extraordinary range of music from Disney films, Disney shows on Broadway, and even Disneyland Attractions. The show toured for nine months, premiering in Cleveland, Ohio in 2004 and closing in Denver, Colorado in mid-2005. This wasn’t based on any specific plot, but it did feature two male leads and two female leads, one of whom was Ashley Brown. Brown would later become one of many actresses to succeed Susan Egan in the role of Belle in “Beauty and the Beast,” and after that she originated the title role in Disney’s next theatrical adaptation, Mary Poppins.

This brings us to the intermission of Disney on Broadway! More to come in next week’s blog.