The return of Hamilton: The Musical.
How Disney is keeping Broadway fans in their clutches.
It was five years ago that Hamilton first officially hit the musical scene, and it became a Broadway sensation overnight. It brought Broadway back into the spotlight for the first time in years, which many a musical attempted to do for years beforehand. It was the popularity of Hamilton that allowed others like Dear Evan Hanson, Be More Chill, and even the recent Spongebob musical to shine brighter than they would on their own. And with Disney+ recently having released the only legal recording of the Broadway musical on its streaming service, the popularity of Hamilton is slowly reviving. But how did Disney get the musical? Well, let’s find out.
Early Inspiration
It all starts with the creator of Hamilton: Lin-Manuel Miranda. He wrote the entirety of the musical by himself from 2009 to 2015, but it wasn’t his first time on this rodeo. He wrote In the Heights in 2008, which got a small following among theater fans. He always stated that one of his biggest inspirations from when he was a small child was Disney films. It was to the point where he named his son Sebastian after the crab from The Little Mermaid. So, after Hamilton grew popular, Disney themselves heard of how much of a fan Lin was of their works.
And so, they offered him a position to help with making the music of their upcoming film… Moana.
Lin accepted and helped compose some of the biggest songs in the film, such as How Far I’ll Go, We Know the Way, You’re Welcome, etc. It was during the production of the movie that Disney realized the talent they had at their disposal. They very quickly snatched up Lin-Manuel Miranda, and he’s been working with them for the last couple of years. He co-starred in Mary Poppins Returns, worked on composition and music for a new Disney film in the works, and is even supposedly in charge of the musical aspects of the new live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. However, Disney looked back at what made them get their attention to Lin in the first place, Hamilton, and saw an opportunity.
Lin, being the fan he was of the company, couldn’t say no. Plus, it would make for a great revival, and so Hamilton was re-recorded and released on Disney+. And the internet has been buzzing since.
Disney got theater fans to their service, and Lin got a revival of his musical; it was a win-win.
The Future for Musicals
So now we know how we got here, but what about the future? How on earth is Disney keeping theater fans on their toes?
Well, Disney technically owns 17 different Broadway musicals! These include The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and even Newsies! If Disney can release a full cast recording of Hamilton, what about everything else?
If you didn’t know, recording Broadway shows is illegal, and even the ones you can find on YouTube are of poor quality. The full show of Hamilton surpassed any illegal recording you could find! So if they could bring back the full original cast of the show to record it, what about the other musicals they own?
For their older Broadway shows like Aida from 2000, it would be understandable to be unable to get the original cast from 20 years ago. But for more recent musicals such as Aladdin, Frozen, and Newsies, it would be a more reasonable request. If they were to release these musicals on Disney+, and if they were to become popular, there is a chance that they could benefit even more from the release of the musicals. Maybe they would eventually make new shows like America’s Got Talent, but Broadway based. Could you imagine a show about new and upcoming Broadway actors getting their start on the musical scene? I know I would watch it.
With the large plethora of Broadway shows Disney owns, theater fans are now, more than ever, keeping their eyes on the company with hopeful expectations. Whether or not they will live up to those expectations is a mystery as of right now, but if they were to release their shows on their streaming service, it could be a revival of the Broadway scene in its entirety. Disney already has a monopoly on television entertainment, so Broadway shouldn’t be that far behind.
And hey, if you’re looking for any people to talk Broadway stuff with you… I’m always here… waiting… (ဝ့ ྌ ဝ့)
