ABSTRACT
In the 1980s, Walt Disney Productions was struggling after a series of animated flops. Disney’s next big hit was Beauty and the Beast becoming the first full-length animated film to be nominated for the academy Award for best picture. Beauty gained so much popularity that New York times theatre critic Frank Rich declared the film’s score “the best Broadway musical score of 1991”. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast took Broadway by storm, grossing over $35 million in its first year of production. Part of Beauty’s commercial success can be attributed to Disney’s marketing strategies. The new Amsterdam Theatre lobby was turned into a Beauty and the Beast bazar, multiple merchandise booths were available on every floor of the theatre, and both cast recordings and souvenir programs were ready for previews. Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit and Broadway temporarily closed its doors in March 2020, three of the Broadway shows deemed family-friendly were Disney productions: The Lion King, Aladdin, and Frozen.
