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You've Got A Friend At Sea

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By MIKE KELLY, Special to the Tribune

Published: February 3, 2008

TORONTO - The legendary Hercules may be one powerful character, but he's about to get blown out of the water - ever so gently, mind you - by a good-natured cowpoke and a high-tech space ranger.
Disney Cruise Line has featured a Broadway-style stage show called "Hercules: The Muse-ical" as part of the live entertainment lineup on its ships since they were launched in the late 1990s. On the Disney Magic, "Hercules" was replaced in 2005 by the show "Twice Charmed," which provides a new spin on the traditional "Cinderella" story.

Now it's almost time for the mythical hero to walk the plank on the line's other ship, Disney Wonder. Taking his place will be the elaborate new production "Toy Story: The Musical," based on Disney's popular "Toy Story" movies.

A troupe of about 20 actors, singers and dancers has been rehearsing in Toronto since shortly after Thanksgiving, and the show is tentatively scheduled to open aboard the Disney Wonder in late March.

In mid-December, a number of Disney executives and creative team members from Los Angeles and Orlando converged on the rehearsal facilities in downtown Toronto to watch a partial run-through and to talk about the challenges of adapting an animated movie into a musical production within the confines of a cruise ship.

"There's no doubt that 'Hercules' will be missed," conceded Jim Urry, vice president of entertainment for Disney Cruise Line. "Passengers tell us they love it. But sometimes you have to take a chance and change things. If the project you're working on has no risk, then it won't provide much reward, either."

The cruise line's president, Tom McAlpin, agreed: "It's a dilemma. We have more repeat travelers, and some don't necessarily want to see the same shows on every cruise."

Both Disney cruise ships sail to the Caribbean from Port Canaveral, with Disney Magic taking seven-day cruises and Disney Wonder alternating three- and four-day trips.

With only two ships, Disney is among the smallest cruise lines in the business, but because it's owned by an entertainment colossus, it places more emphasis on top-notch shipboard productions than do many traditional lines. Also, passengers may simply expect more from the Disney Co.

"The greatest strength for Disney is its brand," said Anne Hamburger, executive vice president of Disney Creative Entertainment, "but the greatest challenge for Disney is also its brand."

Adapting For Ships

Hamburger, an award-winning independent Broadway producer, was hired by Disney seven years ago to oversee the development of major stage shows, parades and other events at its theme parks and aboard its cruise ships. She said she relishes the opportunity to introduce live theater to audiences that have never seen it - adults and children - and she has adapted to the trade-offs required when working for a big corporation.

"When I was on my own, I had total artistic freedom, but it was very wearing always working to raise money," she said. "At Disney, when they believe in what you're doing, they fund it properly."

Among the many new productions Hamburger has engineered for Disney was "Finding Nemo: The Musical," which premiered at Disney World's Animal Kingdom in 2006. It was that show that helped pave the way for "Toy Story: The Musical."

"It was the first time we tried making a nonmusical story into a musical, and we had such success with it," Hamburger said. "That's what led us to this."

Integrating Actors, Puppets

The stage version of "Toy Story" has much the same plot as the original film and includes most of the same characters: Woody, the cowboy; Buzz Lightyear, the space ranger; Woody's girlfriend, Bo Peep; Mr. Potato Head; Slinky the dachshund; Rex the dinosaur; and Hamm the pig.

Several characters are portrayed by actors inside oversized, inflatable puppets, and their lines are prerecorded. But Woody, Buzz and Bo Peep's faces are visible, and their words and songs are performed live.

Integrating the live and recorded elements of the production is no easy task, said director Stefan Novinski, because it requires precise timing. But, he added, as the actors become more proficient in operating their puppets, distinct personalities - the puppets' personalities, that is - have begun to emerge.

"We're discovering the range of the puppets, and it keeps improving as we go," Novinski said. "It's like rehearsing a show while the actors are taking acting lessons."

Many of the costumes are still being prepared, and the most complex is Buzz's, costume designer Ann Closs-Farley said. It includes flashing lights; a movable, transparent dome; and retractable wings. The outfit is surprisingly versatile, she added, suitable for 6-foot-5 actor Noel Douglas Orput, who plays Buzz, and his understudy, who is 5-foot-3.

"We just have to take a tuck here, a fold there, and it works for either of them," Closs-Farley said.

During a run-through of one scene for the benefit of visitors, Buzz and Woody nailed their lines and the bulky puppets managed to move smoothly in and out of the scene without bumping into each other. ("That's harder than it looks," Novinski said.) But the highlight came when Mr. Potato Head was called upon to react to some bit of news - his eyes rolled back comically in his head, and both ears popped out and went bouncing across the stage.

The crew members and the Disney execs cracked up.

New Score For Stage Show

When Novinski finally called a halt to the action, there was a big round of applause, along with prolonged cheers from the back of the room. Much of the cheering came from Brendan Milburn, half of the husband-and-wife team that wrote the production's musical score.

"This is insanely great," Milburn said later. "The expressions on the puppets are making our lyrics even funnier."

With his wife, Valerie Vigoda, Milburn has performed original music for years in a New York City folk-rock group called GrooveLily, but the two had never written music for anyone else before Disney hired them for this show.

Vigoda smiled as she recalled that on one of the couple's first dates, Milburn had taken her to see a movie: "Toy Story."

"It was very romantic," she chuckled.

With the exception of Randy Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me," all of the music for the stage show is new, including the theme song, an uplifting number called "That's Why We're Here."

John Lasseter, who directed both "Toy Story" movies, has been following the development of the musical closely, Hamburger said. Lasseter is head of animation for Disney and Pixar, the studio that developed "Toy Story" and is now owned by Disney.

"It's his baby," Hamburger said, and he's been consulting often with the stage show's producers on issues big and small, right down to the shape of the buttons on Woody's shirt.

Among the more formidable challenges for Hamburger's creative team was putting together a lavish, Broadway-style production within the severely limited space on a cruise ship. Not only are the backstage areas and wings smaller than those of a standard theater, but the props and set pieces also must share storage space with those from two other onboard productions, "Disney Dreams" and "The Golden Mickeys."

Those problems were minimized by creating props that could be folded up or deflated. Also, like other live Disney productions, "Toy Story: The Musical" relies heavily on lighting and video animated projections.

Where Are The 'Pirates'?

In developing a stage show for the cruise line, there's one Disney title that would seem to have been a natural for a seagoing venue: the popular "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. So why did Disney go with "Toy Story" and not "Pirates"?

"The truth is we've got a number of 'blue sky projects' that we're kicking around for the future, and yes, one of them is a 'Pirates' adaptation," said Matt Almos, creative director for "Toy Story: The Musical."

"But 'Pirates' has a lot of action scenes, and those are very tough to stage. We haven't cracked it just yet. But I wouldn't be surprised if someday we do."

That may happen by the time the cruise line has taken delivery of the two new ships it has had on order for the past year. The vessels, both about a third larger than Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, are due to be added to the fleet in 2011 and 2012.

For information on Disney cruises, call 1-800-951-3532 or go to disneycruise.com. Mike Kelly, a freelance writer based in Ohio, can be reached at kelly.writer@yahoo.com.

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