Disney Says “Bah Humbug” To Apple, Plans Their Own ‘Christmas Carol’ Musical
By Chris Evangelista/Oct. 28, 2019 3:00 pm EST
How many more musical versions of A Christmas Carol do we as a society need? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know we’re getting at least two more. One is from Apple, and features Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell. And now, THR says Disney is developing a Christmas Carol musical of their own. Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon will helm the movie, titled Marley. Stephen Schwartz, the composer-songwriter who co-wrote songs for Disney’s Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as well as the Broadway hit Wicked, will write the music.
In case you’ve somehow never heard the story of A Christmas Carol, Jacob Marley is the dead business partner of main character Ebenezer Scrooge. At the start of the story, Marley’s ghost visits Scrooge and warns him that he’s doomed to walk the Earth in chains for being such a greedy jerk, and Scrooge will face a similar fate if he doesn’t change his ways. Scrooge is then visited by three ghosts who show him his past, present, and future. It all ends happily with Scrooge forcing a street urchin to go buy a giant goose.
This musical will retell the story through Marley’s dead eyes, which is interesting, since Marley vanishes from the bulk of the story after his introduction. It’s safe to assume this version of the story changes that and keeps the ghost around for the rest of the action.
