Much ado about Disney?

Abstract

The Disney Musical on Stage and Screen is not the first book on Disney’s musicals; nevertheless, it is probably the first collection of critical approaches to Disney’s musicals in such a wide range. Moreover, it is the very first publication on Disney musicals which is taken into consideration in the field of Czech theatre studies. The Disney Musical on Stage and Screen: Critical Approaches from ‘Snow White’ to ‘Frozen’ consists of thirteen chapters which are split into three sections: Disney Musicals: On Film, Disney Adaptations: On Stage and Beyond, and Disney Musicals: Gender and Race. However, this distribution is only formal because regardless of the way of adaptation (for stage or screen) the main topics highlighted by the editor George Rodosthenous emerge in all these chapters. In a short introduction, Rodosthe nous establishes three main frameworks or perspectives for considering the Disney musical presentation. They ‘revisit musicals not only as popular entertainment or as a globalized commercial product, but firstly as a political tool for enhancing our understanding of race, sexuality, and gender, secondly as an educational tool for younger children and thirdly as a place for artistic innovation’ (2). This volume presents the Disney brand as a pioneering and innovative, philanthropic and educational tool as well as non-original, limited, Much Ado About Disney?