On The Record (musical) - Production Development History

Production Development History

Following the successful stage productions of Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Aida, Walt Disney Theatrical began to brainstorm a way to showcase Disney's wide catalogue of songs without the use of a movie screen to present them. The result was When You Wish, a new revue that, though intended to ultimately to play on Broadway, failed to make it past the workshop stage, despite having Tony Award-winning actress Faith Prince attached to the project.

Instead, Walt Disney Theatrical president Thomas Schumacher, along with director and choreographer Robert Longbottom, conceived a new show meant specifically for the road: On the Record, which would tell a very simple story of four recording artists in a studio. Though the developers of the production originally planned to create more complex characters and greater tension between them in the studio, they instead eventually "watered down" the plot for more general revue entertainment, because, says Longbottom, the "songs were from so many different character points of views, couldn't begin to create a book musical that would allow them to coexist."

After the basic concept of the show had been developed, musical arranger and supervisor David Chase joined the project. Collaborating with Longbottom, Chase delved through Disney's music canon to extract songs that would showcase the personality of the characters and would be able to tell the story without spoken words. Designers Robert Brill, Gregg Barnes, and Natasha Katz took on the task of creating a classy show with modest design elements, so the production would be able to travel easily.

After technical elements of the show began to come together, casting auditions were held in June 2004 around the country, including New York City and Cleveland. Broadway veterans Emily Skinner and Brian Sutherland were cast as the older, more experienced couple of recording artists, while newcomers Ashley Brown and Andrew Samonsky were cast in the roles of the newer musicians. Richard Easton received the role of the Sound Engineer, a part that was ultimately cut from the show. Kaitlin Hopkins, as the only actor to regularly replace one of the original four leads, took over Skinner's role as Diane on January 15, 2005. In its 36-week tour, On the Record was performed for over 350,000 people, opening on November 19, 2004 at Cleveland, Ohio's Palace Theater and closing July 31, 2005 at Denver, Colorado's Denver Center for the Performing Arts. While the production was originally planned to run through September 4, after playing to disappointing, small audiences, the production ultimately decided on an earlier closing date after only two months on the road. There are currently no plans for either Equity or non-Equity licensing of the production.

In April 2009, the show saw new life in the form of Children's Musical Theatre of San Jose's production of When You Wish, a separate revue based on On the Record. Adapted by the theater's artistic director, Kevin Hauge, When You Wish, much unlike its basis, tells the story of three children who stumble upon a fantasy world in which they meet many beloved Disney characters. While When You Wish abandons the recording studio setting, it incorporates On the Record's same catalog of 71 years of Disney music.