Hercules: Disney musical is a 'blast' for kids – but lacks imagination

Back in 1997, Disney "literally made the most successful musical of all time", said Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out. For the stage version of "The Lion King", virtuoso director Julie Taymor satisfied the Mouse megacorp by including "all the dumb stuff" from the film – "farting warthogs, basically" – but veered radically away in other respects to create an "audacious" production that is still pulling in audiences today.

Yet Disney failed to learn from this success, and its subsequent efforts, including "Aladdin" and "Frozen", simply plonked the film on stage – and have enjoyed far shorter runs.

'Perfectly adequate'

"Hercules" is the latest in this "line of perfectly adequate, not very imaginative adaptations" of the studio's "bountiful 1990s animated roster". It has charm, because it has been serviceably adapted from a charming film, but it's "definitely not going to go down in legend".

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The animation had a "gloriously leftfield" take on Ancient Greece, said Alice Saville in The Independent. The muses appeared as a gospel choir; characters were drawn "with the spiky clarity of amphora paintings", and the rise of Hercules became a "pacy satire of celebrity culture". Unfortunately, this "stodgy" stage version lacks that "imaginative energy" and "lovable zaniness".

It is not without merit: the gospel muses remain, thank goodness; star Luke Brady radiates "twinkly brightness" as a "camp and joyful" Hercules; and the film's standout song, "Go the Distance", is full of "pep and yearning".

'An ungodly mess'

But, overall, the piece is "an ungodly mess", said Dominic Maxwell in The Sunday Times. It "staggers through its storytelling", ranging from the spectacular to the silly to the drearily po-faced, and both the comedy and the action feel "effortful".

Fans of the film are liable to be appalled by the many tweaks to plot and character – including the transformation of Pain and Panic, "shapeshifters from team Hades", into two "deadbeat blokes", said Claire Allfree in The Daily Telegraph. But this stage version, with its "larky" panto feel and Alan Menken's "still radiant gospel-driven score", is aimed squarely at families with younger children; and for them, it should prove a "blast".

Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London WC2. Until 28 March 2026