Branding, Demographics, and the Disney Broadway Playbook

Abstract This chapter looks at the business practices and strategies employed by Disney Theatrical Productions, a unit of the Walt Disney Company. Since 1994, Disney Theatrical has produced ten Broadway titles that have been seen by more than 200 million people worldwide. This chapter looks at how Disney redefines “family-friendly” musicals through its understanding of demographic data. It also examines how the theater professionals employed by Disney Theatrical have reshaped the company’s intellectual property to create successful musicals not only on Broadway, but also for a variety of potential venues. Finally, it addresses the advantages Disney musicals have with price structure (dynamic pricing), merchandising, marketing, branding, and musical licensing as a way to amortize capitalization costs, even when the Broadway production doesn’t “recoup.”