Look out ‘cause here it comes. Disney Theatrical Group announced that a new stage musical of “The Greatest Showman” is in development at their D23 fan convention in Anaheim, Calif., on Friday night.
That’s a bit of an understatement — the show already has venues booked. Disney provided few specific details about the live version of the hit 2017 film that starred Hugh Jackman, Zendaya and Zac Efron. So, let me help them out! “Showman,” insiders said, will be directed by Casey Nicholaw (Broadway’s “ Aladdin ” and “ The Book of Mormon ”), and play the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London after the House of Mouse’s “Hercules” packs up its Ionic pillars.
Before heading to the West End, the production will try out in Bristol in early 2026, confirmed multiple sources. “Hercules,” the “Zero to Hero” Greek myth musical, also directed by no-sleep Nicholaw, starts next summer at the famed British theater that’s owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber. “Casey said he’d only do ‘Hercules’ if he got ‘Showman’ too,” a source said.
Reports have popped up occasionally the last couple of years about a stage future for “Showman,” with a score by composer Justin Paul and lyricist Benj Pasek, who I ran into in London back in June while he was in town for work. Aha! Telling a spiffed-up story of the unusual performers hired by circus impresario P.T.
Barnum, there’s no sleazy “Come Look At The Freaks,” like there was in the Broadway circus flop “.