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Finding Nemo--The Musical
On Friday, November 10, Aronda
sent a team to Disney's Animal Kingdom to check out the dress
rehearsal for the new Nemo musical stage show. They came back
with the full report:
The story is the same as that
of the movie, in which Nemo runs away from his overprotective
father, gets netted and locked into a dentist's office
aquarium, and manages to escape. His father Marlin, meanwhile,
overcomes his own internal demons and summons the courage to
go out into the "big blue world" to find his son,
getting a little help along the way from Dory, the Ellen
Degeneres-voiced absent-minded fish, and Crush, the far-out
turtle.
As if the story isn't good
enough by itself, this stage performance seems to have a knack
for pulling on the audience's heart strings. We found
ourselves being swept up in a veritable tidal wave of
emotions, from the tragic demise of Coral, Marlin's wife,
while Nemo was just an infant as the show opens, until the
end, when Marlin realizes that both his and Nemo's destinies
are linked to their trust in one another--and their trust in
themselves.
One
striking aspect of this show is that the production
qualities are extremely high. Disney managed to produce a
high-quality show without the excessive use of pyrotechnics
and other “wham-bam” effects. The show is
character-driven, with puppets that are almost as emotive as
the puppeteers. While
we're on the subject of those puppeteers, these actors, fully
visible onstage during the performance, use their own superb
acting abilities to provide the emotions to the characters
that the puppets can’t express. Disney’s cast members in
the show are Broadway-caliber actors, in our opinion, and
deserved the standing ovation they received during the dress
rehearsal we watched. The Nemo and Marlin puppeteers
particularly deserve kudos. As we mentioned earlier, they had
fully engaged our emotions from the beginning.
With the caveat that
the show is still in dress rehearsal status, we noticed that
several lines were delivered too quickly for the audience’s
full comprehension. However, we suspect that pacing is still a
component that’s being worked out. Also, the sound was
almost inaudible in a few instances. We were sitting about
eight rows from the front. Perhaps this was a problem specific
to that section of the house, but regardless, sound is
something the producers and director really need to address.
We also found that the
ending is too abrupt. Of course we expect the requisite growth
of Nemo’s and Marlin’s relationship, with Nemo recognizing
his Dad’s role as protector, and Marlin recognizing his
son’s need for adventure, but the abrupt departure of the
characters after the final warm scene took the audience by
surprise. The applause was delayed because the ending wasn’t
quite as fulfilling as it can be.
However, despite the
criticism we've expressed here, we have full confidence in
Disney’s ability to work out the kinks so that Finding Nemo:
The Musical is just as big a dramatic draw as Festival of the
Lion King. Don’t miss it!
Needless to say, this is a
"must see" attraction! Check it out in the enclosed
and refitted Theater in the Wild, where Tarzan Rocks! was
located at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
UPDATE: The team
returned on Friday, November 24 to view another performance.
The Nov. 24 show included numerous improvements--including a
much better ending. We won't go into the details of the
revised ending, but be assured that it's a powerful ending to
an excellent stage show. This is really one to see!
The Theater in the
Wild sign, across from Petrifries
in DinoRama, once again
directs guests to a live stage extravaganza
This is not as boring as it
looks!
This fellow was stationed at the outdoor queue opening
at 10 A.M. (the first scheduled
show was at 3 P.M.), and he was keeping very busy fielding
questions. we snapped this
photo during one of the rare moments when he wasn't talking
with someone.
The front entrance to the
theater. The queues on either side lead to side entrances to
the building.
The curtain on stage prior
to the beginning of the show.
By the time the show
started at 4:30 P.M., the theater was just about full.
Final curtain call. The
performers and their puppets are visible to the
audience.
The performers received a well-deserved standing ovation for
their efforts
(Coverage from October 19,
2006 below)
The new Nemo stage show is set to open in
November 2006, and WDW has released some advance photos. Check
them out!
"Finding Nemo -- The
Musical," the live stage spectacular previewing at
Disney's Animal Kingdom in late
November at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
"Finding Nemo -- The
Musical," The new production features the theatrical
puppetry of Michael Curry, who co-created the
richly designed puppets seen in the Broadway version of
"Disney's The Lion King." Some puppets are larger
than life -- such
as Crush, the cool sea turtle who is nearly the size of a
Volkswagen.
"Finding Nemo -- The
Musical," the live stage spectacular previewing at
Disney's Animal Kingdom in late November at
Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
"Finding Nemo -- The Musical," the live stage
spectacular previewing
at Disney's Animal Kingdom in late November at Walt Disney
World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Five images directly above copyright
Disney
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