Disney Looks Again to the Avant-Garde to Fill Key Job

In 1995, the Walt Disney Co.’s hiring of cutting-edge director Julie Taymor to direct the stage version of “The Lion King” gave a big boost to the company’s reputation among theater professionals. Now, Disney has turned to the same milieu that produced Taymor to hire Anne Hamburger to run the entertainment at its theme parks.

Hamburger has been named executive vice president of creative entertainment for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, based in Burbank. She replaces Ron Logan, who has held the job since 1992 and will retire in January.

Best known in the Southland for her current, one-season stint as artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse, Hamburger made her name in the avant-garde New York theater world. She founded an off-Broadway company, En Garde Arts, that specialized in site-specific work and led it until she moved to La Jolla in 1999. Her company received seven Obie Awards.

For her new job--producing the shows, parades and other spectacles at the Disney theme parks--Hamburger hopes to import some of the playwrights, directors, composers and designers she knew from her previous work.

“It’s a wonderful challenge to bring those artists to that arena,” she said. “They can combine site-specific work with work that’s in a theater.”

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Most of the artists of whom she speaks are not known for family-oriented productions, but “they are capable of it,” Hamburger said. “They’re great image-makers and composers.” She cited the precedent of “The Lion King,” calling it “a perfect combination of cutting-edge art and commercial theater,” suitable for all ages.

A spokeswoman for Disney Parks and Resorts said the company is “completely dedicated to family entertainment” at its parks, but she predicted Hamburger would fit right in. “We think she has great Disney taste.”

In a statement, Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Paul Pressler hailed Hamburger’s “ambitious and innovative theatrical work” and her track record with theatrical talent. “She will bring the same passion and creative innovation to Disney.”

Hamburger acknowledged that the new job will be “financially beneficial” to her family, which includes young twins. “It’s true that the theater cannot afford to pay what Hollywood can,” she said. “But I’m not a person who would ever do anything just for the money. Life’s too short.”

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She praised La Jolla as “a terrific place.” Among her accomplishments there, she cited this Sunday’s premiere of “Sheridan” by writer David Grimm, who has never been produced on this scale, as well as the ability of two Spanish-language performances of “Blood Wedding” and the improvisational “Lifegame” to attract playhouse newcomers.

Hamburger had a three-year contract at La Jolla, but she could leave before the three years were up, said Ted Cranston, president of the theater’s board. Cranston said he was sorry to see her go, but applauded Hamburger’s appointment as a “validation” of her talent and of the theater’s recognition of her talent.

Hamburger has begun planning the theater’s 2001 season and will continue those efforts until she departs in the fall. The theater will search for an interim artistic director to complete the planning for 2001, as well as for a permanent artistic director. “We want to continue our tradition of being an artistic-led, cutting-edge theater,” Cranston said.

The theater’s managing director, Terrence Dwyer, noted that Hamburger’s two shows so far had not only “fulfilled their artistic mission,” but also had exceeded box-office goals.