auditions for principle roles for hunchback are this august and will go for quite some time. as far as online verification, unless you have an agent who can get you the audition or know someone for Disney Theater Company--good luck finding any information. like all other disney musicals the auditons dates and locations are changed/given at the last moment. For the Lion King principle auditions, information was released 4 days in advance. the show is set to open in early 2011 or 2012 at the latest.
The reason why the little mermaid is closing is because at any one time Disney can only afford to have three shows running at any given time, not to mention they only own three theaters: the new amsterdam theater, the minskoff theater, and the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre for any show. as well, Ariel and Mary Poppins are two icons, if they opened a fourth production of another disney icon it would divide audiencees as to which show to see, therefore making one production fall flat with capacity.
although the little mermaid does fill their theater to 80-90% capacity most weeks, the show was plauged with lukewarm to disasterous reviews. as well popularity has only come full circle within the last year. during its first few months mermaid was lucky to attract 50-70% capacity. now keep in mind the lunt fontanne has only 2 balconies and barely holds 1400 people. mary poppins faithfully has 90-100% capacity on most weeks, has 3 balconies and holds nearly 2000, and was nominated for 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical where as Mermaid only was nom. for 2--score and lighting. disney thought it was more economical to close mermaid instead of poppins
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