Ravinia 2022, Issue 5

Theatre in 2011 to acclaim. The show moved to Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theatre on March 20, 2014. Producers suspended perfor- mances for 15 months due to COVID-19; the production resumed on September 28, 2021, and continues to this day. Meanwhile, Walt Disney Pictures released a live-action fantasy remake of the original movie starring Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, and Will Smith in May 2019. The street urchin Aladdin wanders the fictitious city of Agrabah with his monkey Abu, stealing food from street vendors and evading the arm of the law. In the palace, the Sultan despairs over his daughter, Princess Jasmine, who has refused every suitor even though she must marry before her next birth- day in order to succeed her father. The grand vizier Jafar desires the throne for himself and schemes to overthrow the Sultan, which will require the power of the Genie trapped inside a magic lamp hidden in the Cave of Wonders. Jafar determines that Aladdin is the only “di- amond in the rough” capable of retrieving the lamp. Despite Jafar’s betrayal and a cave col- lapse, Aladdin releases the Genie, who trans- forms him into “Prince Ali of Ababwa” so he can charm Princess Jasmine. Jafar uncovers Aladdin’s true identity and gains control of the lamp and, more importantly, the Genie. Wielding immense power, Jafar captures Jas- mine and Aladdin. When Aladdin reminds him that the Genie possesses more power, Ja- far expends his last wish on becoming an om- nipotent being. Unknowingly, Jafar has sealed his own fate: he is imprisoned in the lamp and exiled to the Cave of Wonders. Aladdin uses his last wish to free the Genie. The Sultan gives his blessing to Princess Jasmine’s mar- riage to Aladdin. The celebrated partnership between compos- er Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ash- man produced memorable music for a trio of award-winning Disney films— The Little Mer- maid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Aladdin (1992)—before Ashman’s untimely death from complications of AIDS at age 40. The work that attracted Disney’s attention was their musical Little Shop of Horrors (1982), an adaptation of the 1960 horror-comedy film of the same name directed by Roger Corman, itself derived from any number of films and stories about aberrant plants with a penchant for human flesh. Little Shop of Horrors first played Off-Off- Broadway for seven weeks at the Workshop of the Players Art Foundation Theatre be- fore moving to the Off-Broadway Orpheum Theatre on July 27, 1982. The following year, it opened on London’s West End at Comedy Theatre on October 12, 1983, in a production by Cameron Mackintosh. Two more decades passed before Little Shop of Horrors hit Broad- way, opening at the Virginia Theatre on Oc- tober 2, 2003, a production that received one Tony Award nomination, one Drama Desk Award nomination, and two Outer Critics Circle Award nominations in 2004. Ancient Greek mythology provided source material for Walt Disney Pictures’ 35th ani- mated film, Hercules . The movie remained in development for five years as the directors, writers, and animators pursued the proper narrative and atmosphere for this comic ad- aptation of the sometimes-unheroic tale of Hercules, the son of Zeus. Disney released the film on June 13, 1997, to uneven reviews in the press and lower-than-anticipated box office revenues. Menken collaborated with lyricist David Zippel on the soundtrack. Their song “Go the Distance” earned four Best Original Song nominations—for an Academy Award, Blockbuster Entertainment Award, Golden Globe Award, and Online Film & Television Association Award. Amusical theater adapta- tion of Hercules played briefly at the Delacorte Theater as part of the 2019 Shakespeare in the Park. A revised version is scheduled for pro- duction next year at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, NJ. As with Aladdin , Disney has announced a live-action movie remake; a re- lease date has not yet been established. The birth of Hercules, the son of Zeus and Hera, is celebrated by all the inhabitants of ancient Greece with the exception of Hades, the brother of Zeus, who seeks to rule Olympus himself. The Fates inform Hades that his moment to strike will come with a planetary alignment 18 years in the future. Only Hercules can thwart his plan. Hades or- ders his underlings, Pain and Panic, to abduct the baby boy and feed him with a magic po- tion that will remove his divine powers. Star- tled, Pain and Panic fail to complete their task, leaving Hercules a mortal, though one possessing superhuman strength. Surviving his awkward teenage years, Hercules falls in love with Megara (a.k.a., Meg), whom he has rescued from the centaur Nessus. Hades cap- tures Meg on the night before his attack on Olympus, agreeing to keep her unharmed only if Hercules will relinquish his powers for one day. The Titans conquer Olympus, and the Cyclops seeks to murder Hercules. Meg suffers a serious injury in the fray, and Hercu- les is released from his vow, using his powers to overcome the Titans and liberate the gods on Olympus. He returns to find that Meg has died and gone to the Underworld. Following the River Styx, Hercules rescues her soul and defeats Hades. The Hunchback of Notre Dame , its story de- rived from the Romantic novel of the same name by Victor Hugo, confronts difficult subjects such as discrimination against those with disabilities, racial prejudice, anti-im- migrant sentiment, and impure desire. The songwriting team of Alan Menken and Ste- phen Schwartz again partnered on the film score. Disney released The Hunchback of No- tre Dame in June 1996 with a voice cast in- cluding Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Tony Jay, Kevin Kline, and David Ogden Stiers. The filmwon the 1997 BMI FilmMusic Award and received nominations for the 1996 Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score, 1996 Annie Award for Best Achieve- ment in Music, 1997 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, and 1997 Online Film & Television Association Awards for Best Score and Best Original Song (“Someday”). Writer and director James Lapine produced a mu- sical theater adaptation, Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (The Bellringer of Notre Dame), in Berlin, Germany, between 1999 and 2002. Playwright David Henry Hwang has been Original soundtrack to Hercules selected to script a new live-action movie, Hunchback , based on the original film. Its re- lease date has not been announced. Judge Claude Frollo, the Minister of Jus- tice in Paris, orders troops to capture a group of Romani (the Roma people, sometimes pe- joratively referred to as “gypsies”) trying to enter the city. A mother rushes toward the ca- thedral with her baby. Frollo mercilessly mur- ders the woman, but her child survives. Frollo reluctantly agrees to raise the deformed in- fant, whom he names Quasimodo, as penance for his crime. (Frollo discovered the baby on Quasimodo Sunday—the week after Easter— whose Introit begins “Quasi modo géniti infantes, alleluia, rationabiles, sine dolo lac concupiscite, Alleluia,” meaning “As newborn babies, alleluia, desire pure spiritual milk without guile.” In isolation, the words “qua- si modo” could suggest the misshapen child was “almost like” a newborn baby.) Years later, having grown up in the cathedral’s bell tower with stone gargoyles as his only com- panions, Quasimodo is naïve to the worst of human nature. He ventures out to attend the annual Feast of the Fools but is humiliated by Frollo. The young Romani woman Esmeralda comes to his rescue and gives him a necklace containing a map of Romani hiding places. Driven by lust, Frollo obsessively pursues Es- meralda and tricks Quasimodo into revealing her location. His attempt to burn Esmeralda at the stake fails when Quasimodo carries her away to the cathedral. Captain Phoebus, who has fallen in love with Esmeralda, defies his superior by releasing the unjustly imprisoned Romani. Frollo and Quasimodo engage in hand-to-hand combat in the bell tower. Frol- lo falls to his death; Quasimodo is saved by Phoebus. Released from his lifelong captivity, Quasimodo departs the cathedral forever as the Parisians hail him a hero. Disney Studios released its 30th full-length animated film with Beauty and the Beast (1991). Set in an 18th-century French village, this legend of a monstrous beast and the im- prisonment of a beautiful young woman was transformed into a touching, compassionate love story in the hands of Disney anima- tors, writers, and actors. Belle—the book- ish daughter of the loony inventor (“Crazy Ole”) Maurice—has captured the chauvinis- tic affections of village muscle man Gaston. However, she finds nothing attractive in his conceited swagger. Traveling to the fair with his most recent invention, Belle’s father stum- bles into the Beast’s haunted castle, where an enchanted candelabra and other bewitched housewares make him feel at home. The grotesque Beast casts Maurice into a prison cell. Belle comes searching for her father and offers herself to the Beast in his place. Over time, Belle polishes her captor’s rough edges, and the two develop unexpected feelings for one-another (“There may be something there that wasn’t there before”). Gaston attacks the castle, intent on killing the Beast, and inflicts a mortal knife wound in his adversary. Belle sheds a loving tear over the Beast’s limp body Original cast of Little Shop of Horrors RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 15 – AUGUST 28, 2022 30