The nightmare before Christmas musical

[cameron iacobucci]

Posted: 8/20/18 at 12:30pm

So I’m making a musical on the nightmare before Christmas.

 I’m trying my hardest to get  permission from Tim Burton himself.

would you want to see this show?  Do you think this is a good idea? 

 Why or why not? And would you want to help me make it?

if so, here’s the link to the Facebook group I’m making it on:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/557446751341767/

 

 

Updated On: 8/20/18 at 12:30 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/20/18 at 12:35pm

You'd need permission from Disney and Danny Elfman, not Tim Burton.

[cameron iacobucci]

Posted: 8/20/18 at 12:41pm

 I just asked Danny Elfman, and I didn’t get a reply yet 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/20/18 at 12:46pm

Since you only just proposed this in the past several days (based on your message in a BroadwayCon group), I assume this is a new idea and I'd give it a little while for him to get back to you...

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/20/18 at 1:13pm

At the risk of sounding morbid, try again when Elfman dies. All reports have indicated that neither he nor his agency are particularly amenable to Broadway or to stage musicals in general (they yanked the plug pretty fast on a semi-approved NYMF Oingo Boingo jukebox musical several years back).

I contacted his agency about using some of his songs a year ago, and never heard back. Some people just have no interest in playing ball that way.

[cameron iacobucci]

Posted: 8/20/18 at 1:19pm

 Well, I’m not charging any money for this musical 

Updated On: 8/20/18 at 01:19 PM

[ggersten]

Posted: 8/20/18 at 1:48pm

cameron iacobucci said: "Well, I’m not charging any money for this musical"

That doesn't matter.  If you are inviting the public, you will need permission.  From whom is the question - do you need Disney AND Elfman?  

Here is a failed campaign:  IndieGoGo Version

Here is an article about two different YouTube versions:  Other (non Disney Parks) live versions  and there are others....

A 2011 discussion on these message boards:  2011 BWW discussion

A 2007 discussion on these message boards.  2007 BWW Discussion

 

 

Posted: 8/20/18 at 7:08pm

Do a parody, you are protected under the the law that way. Unless you are a major producer just asking theater fans if they would see this, you have absolutely no chance of getting these rights.  

That being said, its a good idea....a holiday show that could run from mid september all the way through december. Not a bad idea.

 

 

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 8/20/18 at 7:48pm

Cameron,


I know you are young and the first thing I want to say is that I do not want to discourage you from creating pieces of theatre especially if you want to make those works available at little-to-no cost (as, in my opinion, the biggest problem in theatre is systemic accessibility issues).   That's a worthy cause and it's an important cause and I'm happy that you as a young man feel the universe pushing you in that direction because we really need theatre to move in direction of accessibility. 

Having said that, I would encourage you to work on original stories that come from your head.  Dive as deep down as you can and give us a story that only you can give us.  Sadly, you will be met with nothing but legal pushback (and possibly lawsuits) if you continue down a road of writing musicals where you a) don't own the property basing you writing on and/or b) will not be able to get permission from the right holders to create such a project.

Channel your love and enthusiasm into new works and I have no doubt that your passion will bring you very sweet tasting fruit.  The story of Nightmare Before Christmas and Shrek Two have already been told the way their creators/owners feel they need to be told.  What story can only YOU tell us?

:) 

Updated On: 8/20/18 at 07:48 PM

[Speed]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 1:13am

Cameron- you can't do this. It will happen when Disney decides to do it.

[cameron iacobucci]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 7:28pm

 I appreciate what everyone is saying. Thank you all so much for taking the time to give me some advice and encouragement. I will rethink everything and take things one step at a time. Thanks again 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 8/22/18 at 6:10pm

I don’t see why this couldn’t be adapted for the stage. They adapted Edward Scissorhands and that had several productions/tours throughout the world.

This could easily be an annual “holiday show”, similar to what they did with Elf (which I believe had a few stints in New York and toured for a couple years).

Maybe after Beetlejuice comes to Broadway they’ll think about it.

[TellZ]

Posted: 8/22/18 at 6:51pm

cameron iacobucci said: "So I’m making a musical on the nightmare before Christmas.

ÂI’m trying my hardest to get Âpermission from Tim Burton himself.

would you want to see this show? ÂDo you think this is a good idea?Â

ÂWhy or why not? And would you want to help me make it?

if so, here’s the link to the Facebook group I’m making it on:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/557446751341767/

Â

Â"

 

The issue is not whether Elfman would be interested, but rather the rightsholder to the property itself, which is Disney. If Nightmare is going to become a stage musical, it will be developed internally by Disney. They will not allow the rights for Nightmare to be given to a third party for a stage show.

 

[Fan123]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 4:53am

If this ever does happen, I hope that whoever does it improves the plot. The movie looked great, but the plot went seriously askew. It's been ages since I've seen the film, but from what I recall (spoilers), after all of the foreshadowing of doom, and Sally's premonition, all that we saw happen during Jack's 'disastrous' Christmas was a few kids getting creepy presents, which was played purely for laughs with no consequences. I thought for a moment that the real-world authorities were then going to catch Jack and blow the lid on Halloweentown etc, but instead Jack just mooched around a bit and resolved his identity crisis in about 30 seconds. Lame. And I didn't buy that Jack and the citizens of Halloweentown, established as being amoral and/or low-key evil, would hate Oogie-Boogie or care about what he tried to do at the end, rather than just shrugging and saying "Oogie's being Oogie". Rant over.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 9:17am

Well, this one I can sort out. As far as the premonition of doom, Jack gets hit by a cruise missile and knocked from the sky, surviving only by sheer dumb luck. And the difference between the monsters and Oogie Boogie is primarily that no one in Halloween Town means any harm or damage with their scares (it's implied by the prologue that what they do is a public service, making Halloween as scary of a holiday as the real world desires), while Oogie Boogie is greedy, malevolent and violent. A murderer, not a prankster.

[cameron iacobucci]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 9:22am

Updated On: 8/23/18 at 09:22 AM

[cameron iacobucci]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 9:35am

 

 

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 4:03pm

its already happening, and Disneys doing it.

 

September 2021/2022.

 

no, I cant post my source.  

[cameron iacobucci]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 4:05pm

Well can you tell me where you found it?

[Fan123]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 4:20pm

Thanks for your response, darquegk. It's good to get another perspective. I guess I was waiting for the authorities to follow through and apprehend Jack after shooting his sleigh down, with worlds-collide complications ensuing. And it seemed that the fall bruised Jack's ego, but that was about its only effect. If anything, I think I'd rather that he was incapacitated for a while and Santa had to muddle through running the next Halloween, lol. (Okay, timeline-wise that would be a stretch, unless there was some kind of magic about the holiday towns which meant the next holiday was always imminent, or if Jack's healing/resurrection needed to wait until the next All Hallows Eve for...Magic Reasons?)
Regarding the morality of the Halloweentown characters, it could well be that I've forgotten some establishing moments there. I do recall Jack warning those three urchins to stay away from Oogie Boogie early on, but it's done in a finger-wagging tone rather than one of serious horror or fear, as if that darned Oogie's shenanigans are just slightly more mischievous than Jack finds acceptable. That's the moment that stuck in my mind and caused me to go "wait, wha...?" at the end, but sure, it's quite possible there were other relevant moments that I overlooked. It's been a while.

[JennH]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 4:20pm

lightguy06222 said: "its already happening, and Disneys doing it.



September 2021/2022.



no, I cant post my source."

Just my short musings and with as much respect as I can muster in cyberspace, if this IS happening that far down the line, how are you able to confirm this already? If you are, it's obviously you're in the know, but a whole lot of NDA legalities enter my mind, as I imagine the only people who know about this would be "at the top" as it were and certainly not allowed to disclose this info this far ahead. 

Also aside from that, it may be a Disney property now, but it's still Burton's creation (that Disney didn't even want to be a part of in the first place, ironically enough) and he's extremely protective of it from what I gather. Granted, I've been wanting this to happen for a LONG time, but until I hear an official announcement, I'm not holding my breath. 

I've said it many times, but I don't see this one as "Great White Way" material per se. The movie is genius in every way, but still falls into a "novelty" kind of category. It relies too much on it's "holiday theming" that Broadway wouldn't work, but I've said for literally eons now that it should be a seasonal show at DisneyWorld or Disneyland YESTERDAY. More like YESTERYEAR.