Stage version of Disney’s Hercules may use puppets for the monsters, hints star

The actor who will take on playing Greek hero Hercules in a musical adaptation of the Disney film has hinted that puppets will be used to create the monstrous Titan villains.

Luke Brady, who received a Grammy nomination for The Prince Of Egypt musical theatre album, will star in Disney’s Hercules at Theatre Royal Drury Lane next year.

Based on the 1997 animated film, starring Tate Donovan, Danny DeVito and Susan Egan, it features music from the original composer Alan Menken and lyricist David Zippel along with a story from Robert Horn and Kwame Kwei-Armah.

Brady told the PA news agency that he is “so excited” to delve into the music from the original film, which was nominated for an Oscar for Menken and Zippel’s Go The Distance, as he grew up on the “soul, Motown gospel, and big sounds” that will continue in the stage production.

He also said that he cannot wait to see how Disney create the “full on spectacle”, including the elemental monsters of wind, ice, fire and mountain, called Titans, that try to attack Mount Olympus, where the gods from the movie live.

“What I do know is that they use a lot of puppetry to create all these monsters and Titans,” the 35-year-old actor, who played Moses in the musical version of DreamWorks Animation film, The Prince Of Egypt, in the West End, added.

“I just know … they are going to create Olympus, the underworld and earth, and they’re just going to lean right into it so it’s all to be seen. But I think I’m really intrigued to see how the scale of the monsters come alive.”

Titans are the old gods from Greek mythology, who are said to have been replaced by thunder god Zeus, and kept imprisoned.

Brady, a fan of the 1998 Hercules that sees the title hero kidnapped and turned mortal before he discovers he is the son of Zeus, the king of the gods, says he hopes he “humanises” the mythical figure, based on Greek myth.

“There’s a lot of trials and tribulations that go into him finally getting to where he gets at the end, but I’ve always had this thought that you can’t have the light without the dark,” he said.

“I think it’s something that every person will experience at some point in time.

“And I think Disney is very careful and very, very good at being able to sort of make it digestible with younger audiences in mind as well, they strike that balance and find it.”

Brady believes he is ready for the challenge as “the eight show a week thing is a real deal”, when you are singing a demanding part.

Brady adds the film is a “good reference point”, that also helps with the “load of new numbers that are to make an appearance in this production”.

“Fortunately, (I) have time … to kind of, build that stamina and that muscularity, to be on track for when it opens,” he also said.

To succeed in the audition, which saw the production search globally for Hercules, he says he was able to “tap into that inner child”, along with choosing Go The Distance as one of his songs for getting the part.

He added: “It’s so easy to understand a character like Hercules, because I think we’re all on a similar journey anyway, like, ‘who are we? Where do we belong? What’s our place within this world?’

“And you kind of have to be a bit open and vulnerable daily, and we all are, and I felt no different.

“So it actually felt quite calm in that room to just kind of surrender to the experience and be like, ‘Okay, I love this music. I love this story. If you respond to it, then hopefully we’re good’.”

The production opens on June 24 2025, and has bookings until January 10 2026.

Full casting will be announced shortly.