Has Disney lost its Broadway magic?

Even though I wasn't interested in seeing Disney's The Little Mermaid I'm still sad that the musical is ending its run at Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Aug. 30.

Now, I know the House of Mouse (always wanted to write that!) still has The Lion King and Mary Poppins on Broadway. Although my fellow blogger Chris Caggiano, at Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals, wonders how long Ms. Poppins will be around.

The Little Mermaid is launching a national tour in the fall of 2010 and I'm sure it'll do just fine, just like every other Disney musical and ice show. But I'm starting to wonder whether Disney Theatrical Productions has lost some of its Broadway magic - and that's not a good thing.

Its first musical, Beauty and the Beast, ran for 13 years, closing in 2007 after 5,461 performances. The Lion King seems to be going strong, at 4,821 performances since October 1997. Aida closed in 2004, after about 4 1/2 years and 1,852 performances.

Since then, the results have been less than stellar. Tarzan closed in July 2007, after less than 18 months and 486 performances. The Little Mermaid will do better. It opened in November 2007 and by the end of August, will have played 735 performances.

In the PBS documentary Broadway: The American Musical, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner recounts telling then-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani that if Disney were to come to Broadway, the area had to be made safe for families. And it was. Not just for families - for everyone.

I love walking around Manhattan during the day, then going to the theatre at night knowing I can head back to my hotel at midnight and feel perfectly safe in Times Square. That's a big reason I've been spending my tourist dollars in New York City over the past few years.

So this quote in an Associated Press story from Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical Productions, has me a little concerned: "I don't have a new musical planned for New York right a way."

I'm not panicking. There is other family oriented fare, like Shrek. Plus, Schumacher went on to add that the next Disney show could be Peter and the Starcatchers, a prequel to Peter Pan, in the 2010-2011 Broadway season.

And I'm not saying if Disney were to leave, the peepshows and XXXX movie theatres would return to 42nd Street. Obviously New York City has a gigantic economic stake in keeping the area safe and G-rated.

And it's not just about putting butts in seats. I'm sure Disney could fill a theatre with High School Musical. Like a lot of people of my ahem, generation, the first movie I remember seeing was a Disney movie. I've enjoyed The Lion King and Mary Poppins on Broadway. It's about the wonder and the magic in the storytelling.

I think a strong Disney commitment helps ensure that Broadway appeals to as wide a range of theatergoers as possible. And that's good for everyone who loves going to Broadway.

Gifts for theatre lovers

Okay, Jan at Broadway & Me is my inspiration for this. She wrote about 12 terrific gifts - one for each day of Christmas - that you can get for the theatre lover on your shopping list. So I tried to come up with my own list of 8 presents, one for each night of Chanukah, which begins Dec. 21. But really, the items on both of our lists would be great to give and receive for any holiday. I took most of the prices from Amazon, just to give you some idea of the cost involved.

1.) Broadway: The American Musical. If I could pick just one gift, it would be this 6-hour documentary tracing the history of musical theatre that aired on PBS in 2004. I watched it before making my first trip to Broadway, and it got me even more excited. I even bought the companion 5-cd box set. Plus, there are hours of extra interviews on the dvds that didn't make it into the documentary. Since it's been out for a few years, I'm assuming most people reading this already have a copy. But there are new musical theatre fans being born every minute and they'll be needing one of their very own. Cost: dvd, 59.99; cd box set, $53.99.

2.) A Raisin in the Sun. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry's play about the struggles and aspirations of an African-American family. A copy of the play would make a nice gift, along with a dvd of the recent Broadway revival starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad and Audra MacDonald that was filmed for television. Several theatre companies (and probably more) are putting on A Raisin in the Sun during its anniversary year. So if you live near one of them, consider buying a pair of tickets for that special someone. Cost: book, $6.95; dvd, $15.49.

3.) Carols for a Cure, Vol. 10. Whenever I'm at a show and there's an appeal for donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, I always drop some money in the fundraising bucket. While I've never bought anything at their online store, this year is different. I have my eye on the 10th anniversary Carols for a Cure CD. Every year, the casts of Broadway and off-Broadway shows record holiday songs, and this year's two-disc set includes classic tracks from past volumes. I can't wait to hear the cast of Hairspray sing "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel!" Cost: $20.

4.) Broadway Nights and The Q Guide to Broadway. These books by Seth Rudetsky are quick, very fun reads. I bought Broadway Nights, his novel, in the spring. It's about the life and loves of a pit musician who gets his big break when he's hired to be the musical director for a new show. So you get a bird's-eye view of how a Broadway musical comes together. I picked up the Q Guide during my trip to New York last month. It's filled with useful information, like the Top 10 Broadway CDs you must have, and the difference between an understudy, a standby and a swing. There's also some (discreet) backstage gossip. Cost: Broadway Nights, $10.85; The Q Guide to Broadway, $11.86.

5.) Long Day's Journey Into Night What makes the short-lived 1986 Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's classic play different from all others? It's got Kevin Spacey as the ne'e-do-well, alcoholic Jamie Tyrone, of course! And Jack Lemmon, Bethel Leslie and Peter Gallagher, too. I love watching Spacey and Lemmon engage in some brutal verbal sparring as father and son. As a bonus, there are two audio interviews - one with Spacey and a second with director Jonathan Miller. Spacey's interview is great - he talks about getting started in the business, how Jack Lemmon became a mentor and the slightly devious method he used to get an audition for Long Day's Journey. Aspiring actors, take note! Cost: $22.99.

6. Home: A memoir of my early years. Julie Andrews' memoir is an an exquisitely written, wonderfully detailed look at her youth in wartime England and her career on stage in London and New York in the late 1950s and early 1960s. My favorite parts are about her experiences on Broadway, where she starred in three shows in quick succession - The Boy Friend, My Fair Lady and Camelot. The book concludes with Andrews heading to Hollywood for the filming of Mary Poppins. I hope she's working on a sequel. Cost: $17.79.

7. 13. Tickets to a Broadway musical about a Jewish teenager who moves from New York City to Indiana and wonders whether the cool kids will come to his bar mitzvah - the perfect Chanukah (or Christmas) gift. I really enjoyed this sweet, funny, exuberant show about not simply going along with the crowd just because its the popular thing to do. It's got a catchy rock 'n' roll score by Jason Robert Brown, and a very energetic and appealing all-teenage cast. While 13 is closing Jan. 4, there's still time to see it over the holidays. You can also get the cast recording and the book based on the musical (which I haven't read yet.) Cost: book, $11.67; cd, $13.99

8. Broadway magnet. I have all my ticket stubs and Playbills, I love the Broadway posters and the souvenir programs and the coffee table books. And there's nothing better than eating your cereal and milk in the morning while gazing up at a refrigerator covered with magnets from your favorite Broadway shows. (Don't ask how many I have. Too many.) The Playbill store has a great selection of magnets and other merchandise for the theatre lover on your holiday shopping list. Cost (magnets): $4 and up

Fun and games

One good thing about the Internet is that old Web sites never die, or even fade away. They're just one click a way from being rediscovered.

This is a little dated, but there's a trivia game at the Web site for the PBS documentary series Broadway: The American Musical. Unfortunately, it appears that the questions are pretty much the same no matter which musical you select, so you'd probably only want to play it once.

In addition to the game you can vote for your favorite musical. You're limited to the list on the site, but Cats is in the lead with 19 percent. It's followed by West Side Story, 14 percent, The Lion King, 12 percent, and A Chorus Line, 10 percent.

You can also find profiles of anyone who's had anything to do with American musical theater, a history of Broadway over the last century, and a section where people have written about their memories of seeing a Broadway show.

Whether you've seen the series and loved it, as I have, or even if you've never seen it, there's a lot to check out.