Hercules (Hamburg, Germany)

Agree it looks great.

Is it the same production as the USA one (that everyone slagged off) though or a new production?

I have always been very impressed with the production values of things I have seen in Hamburg :-)

It is and it’s not. They got a new director Casey Nicholaw (Aladdin), new costume designer Greg Barnes (Aladdin), but same set designer as Paper Mill, although much improved and expanded on. I don’t know how much they changed in terms of story and book. But with this new team it should be much better than it was at Paper Mill. Greg Barnes alone is known for beautiful gorgeous costumes. Which was a huge weak spot in the last productionz

In another video the director also talks about him making sure it to look sophisticated and one of the producers talking about it being on a scale Disney shows are know for. Which the Paper Mill production certainly was not.

I also saw a lot of puppets in the rehearsal room and I’m getting more and more excited as details are released.

Casey Nicholaw is a solid choice for Hercules, it's more of a musical comedy tonally and he's very experienced in that regard.

In a way, the change of director is similar to what happened to The Devil Wears Prada where the directors ended up being replaced.

It's a kids movie and has some adult orientated fun. But it's not an adult film. Disney is family aimed from the youngest to oldeste

THIS LOOKS AMAZING!! I'M SO EXCITED! I WISH I SPOKE GERMAN

okay?

Have to say, the puppetry looks great, not sure on Herc and Phil's costumes though.

Since there was interest in this show... the local paper published an article today wondering if Hercules was flopping due to bad ticket sales one month after opening:

www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/kultur/article242154616/Disneys-Hercules-Wird-das-Musical-zum-Flop.html

The article is behind a paywall, but I ran it through Google Translate:

Hamburg. The piece had its premiere four weeks ago at the Stage Theater in the Neue Flora, but there are still plenty of tickets available.

“From zero to hero”: Four weeks ago, Hercules , the son of the gods , set out to fight for a place in Olympus – and in the hearts of musical fans. It was the first premiere of a Disney musical in Hamburg , so expectations were high for the stage adaptation of the animated film from 1997. “The stage production of the Disney sandal opera has a great ensemble and lots of show value, but struggles with weaknesses in the original film “, said the Abendblatt in its premiere review.

And now advance ticket sales are also weakening. Although “Disney's Hercules” has only been running at the Stage Theater in the Neue Flora for a good month, there are still plenty of tickets available for all performances, both on the cheaper weekdays and for the weekend performances. And almost always in all price categories. If you take a look at the seating plans in the advance booking portal, “Hercules” is currently selling worse than the 23-year-old top dog “The Lion King”, but better than the newly released oldie “Dance of the Vampires” in the operetta house - and that's about equal the level of “Frozen” , which has been residing in the Stage Theater an der Elbe since November 2021. Anna and Elsa are currently celebrating their 1000th performance and will move to Stuttgart after the final curtain on September 29, 2024 to make way for “MJ – The Michael Jackson Musical”.

Stage Theater Hamburg: Comparing “Hercules” musical with “Frozen” is difficult

Stage Entertainment does not want to confirm that “Hercules”, like “Hamilton” before it, seems to fail due to its commercial demands: “'Hercules' has had a super start. We are absolutely satisfied with the demand," says Stage Entertainment spokesman Stephan Jaekel in response to an inquiry from Abendblatt, "in fact, booking behavior is almost at the level of 'Frozen' at the time of comparison, and this had a premiere in the run-up to Christmas , which usually provides additional incentive to buy.”

However, it must be noted that “Frozen” premiered in the middle of the pandemic, that stricter access rules (only for vaccinated and convalescent people) came into force at the time of the opening performances in November 2021, and that tourism, going out and gastronomy were more reminiscent of the realm of the dead of Hercules -Enemy Hades remembered. So a comparison is difficult.