I think its amusing to know that DCA will have a "Frozen" musical before Broadway. I still need to make it over to DCA to see Aladdin live since I've only watched it via youtube and that was years ago. I honestly have no problem with "Frozen", unlike everyone else... My only problem is that it is being poorly handled/rushed rather than thought out to deliver something amazing. I look forward to seeing what they do with the new Frozen production & they don't drop the ball with it. I'm going to hope for the best with the new show because nobody knows what they have in store for it. Hopefully they'll renovate the theatre itself too.
To be fair, shortly after Frozen became a huge hit, the first major theme park rumor associated with it was a mockup concept art of a show in the Hyperion. Many people brushed it off because after the Toy Story musical fiasco, everybody assumed Aladdin was there to stay as it had become too much of a Disneyland tradition to ever leave. The rumor surfaced again briefly but was almost immediately doused by the introduction of the sing-along show at DHS, which quickly booted Muppets out and versions were announced for both Tokyo and Shanghai. (although this is what people thought they meant by a show) That's kind of why it came out of left field, because we just assumed that was the Frozen show and the end. Nothing more.
Well now suddenly a lot is making more sense. The Frozen singalong was probably a placeholder while they planned the big one, which will debut in DCA first before opening in Shanghai and Tokyo after. Once DHS' additions start opening, I don't see why they wouldn't retool the, by then, very creaky singalong into the full-blown spectacular musical. So what is a bummer is that they're (seemingly) taking a purely unique DCA show and making it the prototype for a show that will very likely be copied many other places.
And, here comes the unpopular opinion and what some of y'all will probably jump down my throat for: that's literally the only negative I see for this. The Aladdin show has had a terrific run and is still admittedly popular but it's not the be-all, end-all and is certainly not the best thing about that venue. The Hyperion's greatest attribute is that it is a full-scale 2,000 seat Broadway theatre. Many Disney experiences try to capture the idea of something, but the Hyperion was a rarity on DCA's opening day in that it went full mile... after you walked in the door, granted, but still. The best part of the Aladdin experience will still remain. I'm sorry, Genie lovers, but that's my honest-to-god opinion.
The best part? Upgrades. The Hyperion finally, after 13 years, will see wonderful large-scale tech upgrades. Will the Frozen show finally get that indoor lobby made? ...Probably not. But let's be honest, Aladdin wasn't doing that either anyways.
I think what people really forget about the Toy Story musical fiasco was that Aladdin was legitimately a better production by a mile than Toy Story, and we weren't just saying that to say that. It debuted on a Disney cruise ship about a year prior, and the video evidence was glaring. Add in the fact that Aladdin was only seven years into its run (so not too creaky), but nobody wanted this TS piece of crap that your average joe thought was one of the worst stage adaptations that Disney entertainment has ever done. The songs, the book and the staging were all atroicious. The project remains on the Disney Wonder and I feel sorry for those cruise passengers that endure themselves to it. (it's on YouTube if you want to throw an hour of your life away)
The story's a bit different here. Aladdin is far older, long-in-the-tooth and now has a full-blown Broadway hit that will inevitably tour at the Pantages soon enough, and we only have those cheap Frozen sing-along shows to point to (clever Royal Theatre show notwithstanding)... I honestly think that a huge Frozen musical spectacular in the Hyperion has huge potential. We can then eliminate almost all of the rest of Frozen and get back the Muppets theatre to be... well whatever I guess since they pretty much Wonders of Life'd it. The Royal Theatre can go back to other fairy tales, and I think that will relieve a ton of the "spread" that Disney fans are annoyed with about the brand. I really hope that this gives enterainment less pressure to push it, and we can eliminate "Let it Go" from the full version of World of Color and stuff like that. Finally it has one, big spot instead of a million tiny spots.
Of course the obvious thing is that Disney will now get to advertise both coasts for big Frozen attractions for summer 2016: an attraction and a "new" land in Epcot, and a musical spectacular show at DCA.
So yeah, I'm totally okay with this. Feel free to send me hate.