The sleeper hit film has been transformed into a Disney stage show. But does it let exploitative huckster PT Barnum off the hook? We go behind the scenes of its launch run in Bristol<\/p>\n\n
\u2018Ladies and gents, this is the moment you\u2019ve waited for!\u201d Nine years after Hugh Jackman first purred those opening words, silhouetted against a foot-stomping crowd, the inevitable has happened: The Greatest Showman is now a Disney stage musical. Despite derisive reviews, the 2017 film was a sleeper hit, powered by an anthem-packed soundtrack that included the Oscar-nominated paean to self-realisation and resilience This Is Me. It seemed written in the stars that those bangers would be rolled out in a live circus-theatre spectacular, and the production adds new songs by the original composers, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, whose musical Dear Evan Hansen made the opposite (but ill-fated) journey, from stage<\/a> to screen<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rather than launching in London or on Broadway as might be expected, The Greatest Showman is premiering in Bristol with an eight-week, sold-out run treated as a tryout. Its future is unconfirmed but it is worth noting that Theatre Royal Drury Lane, former London home to the mighty Frozen<\/a>, will soon be vacant because Disney\u2019s Hercules<\/a> is closing in September.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/6737667a098504176c7ea8afdd964f8d16b9614a\/433_0_4070_3255\/master\/4070.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=175b0b6f93478e04c5ef9dd5b2263dd9\" "\\"Oh")
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