Tarzan: stage vs screen

Disney's animated Tarzan, released in 1999 and directed by Kevin Lima and Chris Buck, has the voices of Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, and Rosie O'Donnell, plus songs by Phil Collins. The Broadway musical opened in 2006 with a book by David Henry Hwang, more Collins songs, and Bob Crowley directing and designing. Here is what changed, including what happened to Terk and Tantor.

Stage

Broadway musical (2006)

Screen

Tarzan (1999), Disney's animated film, directed by Kevin Lima and Chris Buck

1. The characters sing the songs

In the 1999 film, Phil Collins sings most of the songs over the action. Glenn Close's Kala starts "You'll Be in My Heart" before Collins takes over, and Rosie O'Donnell's Terk scats through "Trashin' the Camp" with him, but otherwise the characters speak. On stage the cast sings for itself: Kala sings "You'll Be in My Heart," and Tarzan (Josh Strickland on Broadway) shares "Different" and "For the First Time" with Jane.

2. Terk is a boy on stage

In the film, Terk is a female gorilla voiced by Rosie O'Donnell, described as the niece of Kala and Kerchak, which makes her Tarzan's adoptive cousin. The character was first written as male and was changed after O'Donnell's audition. The Broadway musical makes Terk male again, played by Chester Gregory II, and he befriends young Tarzan and teaches him how to act like a gorilla.

3. Terk sings far more

Terk is a bigger musical presence on stage. He and young Tarzan sing "Who Better Than Me?" and reprise it when Tarzan is grown, he joins "Son of Man," and he leads "Trashin' the Camp," the film's jungle jam session, which is sung in Act Two of the musical.

4. Tantor the elephant is cut

In the film, Tantor is a nervous elephant voiced by Wayne Knight who sticks with Tarzan and Terk through the story and joins Terk in the rescue at Clayton's ship near the end. The stage musical drops him entirely, which leaves Terk as Tarzan's one animal best friend. The comic double act of Terk and Tantor becomes a single role on stage, and Terk takes on more of the songs to fill the gap.

5. Kerchak, Kala, and Jane get new songs

Collins wrote nine new songs for the stage and kept all five from the film: "Two Worlds," "You'll Be in My Heart," "Son of Man," "Strangers Like Me," and "Trashin' the Camp." Kerchak, who does not sing in the film, gets the solo "No Other Way" and the duet "Sure As Sun Turns to Moon" with Kala. Jane gets "Waiting for This Moment" and, with her father, "Like No Man I've Ever Seen."

6. Jane's first meeting is different

In the film, Tarzan rescues Jane from a troop of baboons. On stage she is attacked by a giant spider before Tarzan saves her. In both versions the two fall in love, and Jane arrives as part of an English expedition with her father, Professor Porter, and the hunter Clayton.

7. Clayton does not die on stage

In both versions Clayton shoots Kerchak, who dies of his wound. In the film, Kerchak names Tarzan his successor as he dies, and Clayton then tangles in the vines and accidentally hangs himself. On stage Tarzan fights Clayton and nearly kills him until Professor Porter persuades him to stop, and Clayton is arrested and sent back toward England.

8. Actors replace animation

The film's jungle is hand-drawn animation. On stage, actors play the gorillas, with Bob Crowley directing and designing the sets and costumes and Pichon Baldinu designing the aerial work. The ending matches in outline: in both versions Jane chooses to stay in the jungle with Tarzan, who takes Kerchak's place as leader. The Broadway run closed in July 2007 after 486 performances.

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