Disney’s The Greatest Showman - Bristol(?) / TRDL

I imagine this will be hugely successful but if I never heard the songs again it would be too soon. Maybe it’s because I’ve heard them performed mostly dreadfully at too many school events over the years!!

Yeah not one for me either.

I could see them getting Aaron Tveit for this, rather than Jeremy Jordan.

I for one, am very excited, haha! I love the songs, I love the choreography ^^

I wouldn't know who would fit certain rolls best, I'm only familiar with a very small handfull of performers.

But here's a unpopular opinion: I saw Hugh Jackman's show in 2019 (?) and his live singing just grinds my ears for a few of the songs he did (some were great though, it wasn't all bad) ... just how he "sang" most phrases.

I didn't rate him in Les Mis personally, I didn't think he was that much better than Russell Crowe, especially in the acting department. I think a lot of Hughs success is his charm and charisma more than talent

I may be totally wrong here, but were Disney not involved in some way with the refurb? It is certainly one of London's largest and best equipped stages now, which is probably an attraction.

Really looking forward to this. I liked the movie and love most of the songs.


I share your unpopular opinion. Not a fan of his voice.

I didn't mean money-wise (at least in terms of the building work), but I seem to recall there were discussions about what they wanted staging-wise for "Frozen" - and perhaps beyond - with Haworth Tompkins. It makes sense for Disney to use a theatre they know (and one with prestige), and they have often taken a newly (ish) refurbished venue for extended times eg New Amsterdam / Lyceum / TRDL.

To be honest I don't see how much of a lasting impact that film has had. It was sure popular at the time but like a lot of media nowadays it seems to go down the memory hole

I think it’s the soundtrack that has had the lasting impact. The film was popular in lockdown, and rushed onto streaming & dvd at the time. But the songs have lived on & on, got a re-imagined recording too by ‘hipper’ artists than Jugh Hackman and have been performed on talent shows the world over. Plus they sing just as well with local choirs as with Hollywood stars.

Though a few months ago I was saying how sick I was of The Greatest Showman, I don't have as negative as an attitude now it's going to the Lane. As long as Disney properly brings the scale and does the venue justice, and it's not an LED screen and a few swings.

But Andy giving two years of advance planning for all this... they may as well call it Disney's Theatre Royal Drury Lane!

This puts the entire Hercules situation into perspective at least; how on/off it was as it literally just seems to be a stopgap to gather resources for Showman. And I suppose it was part of Casey Nicholaw's bargain!

It won't happen, of course, given the Bristol try-out, Disney's intention to roll it out internationally, and just the desire to maximise capacity, but I did initially wonder if they maybe were thinking of utilising the TRDLs new in-the-round potential to stage the show within a circus ring. The Old Vic Theatre loses around 20% of seats in this format, which would still (if on a par) give a 'musicals' sized capacity at TRDL. If the stalls were taken out, the Dress extended and two tiers of seats placed on the very large stage, I estimate it could still be in the 1,300 to 1,500 seats range.