Musicals for The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, and more now in the works by Disney

### Disney allegedly working on a number of new musicals The president of Disney Theatrical Productions, **Thomas Schumacher**, recently spoke with the New York Times about a number of upcoming stage products the company is developing. The announcement comes after Disney's Frozen musical on Broadway was forced to close early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Schumacher, the closure of Frozen was also due to the fact that "three Disney productions will be one too many titles to run successfully in Broadway's new landscape." ### What Disney musicals are coming to the stage soon? It has been revealed by Schumacher that an all-new stage musical of *The Jungle Book* to be directed by **Christopher Gattelli** is in the works. The musical, based on **Richard Sherman**'s film of the same name that was loosely adapted from **Rudyard Kipling**'s novel, will also feature the same original songs by Sherman as well as a book by **Rajiv Joseph**. A release date for *The Jungle Book* musical has yet to be announced. Also in the pipeline are stage adaptations for *Hercules* (which is being worked on by **Robert Horn**, **Alan Menken**, and **David Zippel** and premiered at the Delacorte Theater in summer 2019) and *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* — directed by **Candice Edmunds** and **Jamie Harrison** with songs by **Neil Bartram** and a book by **Brian Hill**. Disney fans can also look forward to revised versions of *Beauty and the Beast *— which reunites the original creative team and opens sometime next year, location TBC — and *The Princess Bride *written by **Bob Martin** and **Rick Elice** and featuring songs by **David Yazbek**. ### What Disney musicals are playing in the West End in 2020? [***Frozen***](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/3868/frozen-the-musical-tickets.aspx) is still scheduled to open at the newly refurbished [**Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London**](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/11/theatre-royal-drury-lane.aspx) this October and will run alongside both Disney's practically perfect [***Mary Poppins* musical**](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/198/mary-poppins-tickets.aspx) (which replaced [***Aladdin***](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/4432/aladdin-2020-tickets.aspx) at the [**Prince Edward Theatre**](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/10/prince-edward-theatre.aspx) last year) and Disney's most successful musical of all time, [***The Lion King***](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/9/the-lion-king-tickets.aspx), which celebrates 21 years at the [**Lyceum Theatre**](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/9/lyceum-theatre.aspx) later this year. The Lyceum recently [**made headlines earlier this week**](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/news/the-lion-kings-london-home-the-lyceum-theatre-has-been-flooded) when its orchestra pit took on 4 metres of water. Performances of *The Lion King* are expected to resume once the ban on mass gatherings is lifted and the coronavirus is no longer a threat.

🎟️ [**Book officially verified Lyceum Theatre tickets for *The Lion King*, now extended until 3 October 2021**](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/9/the-lion-king-tickets.aspx)!

__________ You might also enjoy reading: "[**#WestEndWishList: 5 Animated Disney Films that Should Be Made Into Musicals**](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/news/westendwishlist-5-animated-disney-films-that-should-be-made-into-musicals)"