Zounds! Disney’s Doing a Musical Based on a Shakespeare Play

Disney has reportedly hired Tony-nominated director Alex Timbers to direct a movie musical version of one of William Shakespeare’s plays. Which one, we don’t know. Titus Andronicus? No, probably not. Chopped off body parts aren’t very Disney-ish. And Hamlet‘s been done already (see title image)…

Timbers already has experience with musical-izing the Bard: He’s currently working on a musical version of Love’s Labour’s Lost for Shakespeare in the Park. Says the director of his Disney undertaking:

“The script stretches the boundaries of the movie musical and demands the sort of surprising visuals and raucous spectacle I love to create in my own stage musicals.”

For the theater kids reading this, the stage musicals Timbers has directed include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway, plus Disney’s Peter And The Starcatcher.

The yet-unnamed Shakespeare musical is being co-produced by Adam Shankman, who directed the movie versions of Hairspray and Rock of Ages. The writer is relative newcomer Amy Talkington. There’s nothing else we know about the musical yet, not even what movie it will be based on (though Susana predicts A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which sounds about right to me.) So, in absence of any more concrete information, here’s a set-list for the imaginary production of Shakespeare: The Musical that I just came up with in my head.

To Dance or Not to Dance

I Won’t Be Tamed

A Fool’s Waltz

Bottom’s Up

Vengeance in Vienna

And finally, Anne Hathaway sings a song called “Anne Hathaway,” because if you think I’m ever going to write a Shakespeare-related post in which I don’t make a stupid joke about how the actress and Shakespeare’s wife share the same name you are sorely mistaken.

I need help, readers. Comment with more (and better) song titles. I’m blanking.

(via: Deadline)

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