On April 1--no fooling--Disney biggies from Eisner and Ovitz on down will descend on New York to see the first formal presentation of a new musical the company hopes to use to inaugurate its New Amsterdam Theatre next year. The musical is Aida, not the Verdi opera--but essentially the same story of the Ethiopian princess enslaved in Egypt, only Disneyized with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice (the Lion King team who last year landed an Oscar for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and an Oscar nomination for "Circle of Life").
Linda Woolverton, who did the screen and stage adaptations of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, is writing the musical's book, basing it on the children's-book version of the opera which was written by Leontyne Price.
Director Robert Jess Roth, who was Tony-nominated for Beauty and the Beast, will helm the new musical, and his choreographer again will be Matt West.
