Six?
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DHS New Villains Show Coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Summer 2025
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
A musical about the wives of Henry VIII, where they are trying to decide who had it worse.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
Oh wow! If they are inspired by Six for this, it’s going to be the place to be for Millennials and Gen Z.
It shouldn't sound the same as most other Disney theme park shows. I am trying in vain not to write a chapter's worth of critiques based on just those few lines of music. But it... Isn't good. If I was pitching this project, I would have recommended something far closer to the Bat Out of Hell trilogy than, I suppose, whatever mess this is probably turning out to be. Musically, it's a much better tone for the show. It's darker without being scary (and has that amount of "camp" that people seem to be looking for in this show), more musically interesting, and far more impressive when sung live. Frankly, it also fits this show WAY more than whatever this stuff (replace stuff with a more apprpriate word if you choose) is. Part of the issue is talent - as Steve mentioned, DLE tends to rely on the same people for production, writing, and orchestration, of their music for their shows across the world. Which means shows sound the same in part, but also because DLE wants them to. Either because of familarity or because they have a lack of ambition. Of couse Jim Steinman is also dead, but I'm sure someone at DLE can do a passable job of trying to write like him or knows somebody who does.
Also, since they haven't said either way, I'm going to bet that we're going to have prerecorded music. Which sucks. Prerecorded music is fine for parades, castle shows, and other shows involving a ton of fur characters. Orchestras are expensive. But I draw the line at live Broadway-style shows like this, Frozen Ever After, and the DCA shows. Along with this one. No reason why they can't hire a few musicians even, and augment it with tracks if necessary, except for cost. (Yes musicians aren't cheap, but local union agreements are quite a bit more open in their terms than the AEA ever will be, making them a bit more flexible in how they can be deployed.) Not arguing the show needs a 30 piece orchestra (though for a show of this length they ought to consider at least a 16 piece or so), but Disney needs to get over their love of pre-recorded tracks and just eat the cost at some point. Entertainment is, except in rare cases, not supposed to turn a profit anyway, and this is the kind of show that needs live music as a differentiator.
Now if we have pre-recorded vocals for the three leads? I may be leading a one man protest. And I really could go on...
And it has the same song quality, which is to say maddeningly little.
etc98
Well-Known Member
I think the lines definitely follow. “(Since I’m a mirror) I can’t judge, I just reflect. So what you see (in that reflection) is what you get.”
Basically he’s saying that as a mirror he just presents/reflects the reality that he sees back to you, and it’s up to you to come to your own conclusions. Leaning into the “audience voting on who had it worse” aspect of the show.
Whoever wrote that seriously needs to reconsider being a songwriter. It's just not Disney quality writing in all honesty. Hell it's not even Broadway quality in large part. Except maybe Redwood. Or Floyd Collins...
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
Or something from a cruise ship show...Still just sayin it has that vibe to me..
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Ghost93
Well-Known Member
Well, I think the whole premise of the show is kinda silly. Captain Hook CLEARLY had it the worse of the three main villains being featured. Peter Pan cut off his hand! And in the Disney version of Peter Pan, the "heroes" aren't much better than the villains. Peter is a jerk throughout and never learns any lessons and Tinker Bell tries to get Wendy killed multiple times.
Cruella — if we are going by the animated version and not the Emma Stone version — is pretty unsympathetic, stealing and trying to skin puppies for a fur coat. I don't think a jury would be swayed by any testimony she could give.
Cruella — if we are going by the animated version and not the Emma Stone version — is pretty unsympathetic, stealing and trying to skin puppies for a fur coat. I don't think a jury would be swayed by any testimony she could give.
Agent H
Well-Known Member
I think it sounds fun. It’s not broadway show quality but it sounds fun enough.
Marc Davis Fan
Well-Known Member
It’s interesting that they seem to be hyping this more than The Little Mermaid show. I can’t tell if it’s because they expect this concept to be the bigger draw (seems like it would be) or because they expect it to actually be the better show.
I also wonder how the shows will differ in terms of “production value” / sets / effects. The promotion for The Little Mermaid seems to emphasize those features more, while the promotion for this one emphasizes the premise/story (with the exception of talking/showing a bit about the mirrors around the stage). Production value / sets / effects are often pretty central to the success of theme park shows, so I imagine they may have something up their sleeve for this one…
I also wonder how the shows will differ in terms of “production value” / sets / effects. The promotion for The Little Mermaid seems to emphasize those features more, while the promotion for this one emphasizes the premise/story (with the exception of talking/showing a bit about the mirrors around the stage). Production value / sets / effects are often pretty central to the success of theme park shows, so I imagine they may have something up their sleeve for this one…
I think it’s more that we know what to expect with Little Mermaid, it’s the show that was there, but plussed up. It’s also an established IP at the parks being at two of the four parks. Villains has there land coming and they probably need to “sell” people on Villains stuff that isn’t just for Halloween.
WondersOfLife
Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
My favorite thing about modern day Disney is trying to capitalize on the popularity of the obviously huge market for villains and "dark Disney" IPs and they're still having to revert back to basically as latest as the 90s and earliest as the 60s for most of that content...
....Because we haven't had any decent Disney villains since Dr. Facilier. lol
....Because we haven't had any decent Disney villains since Dr. Facilier. lol
Agent H
Well-Known Member
No. Because most of the villains they’ve created since then haven’t been associated with dark magic or don’t fit the vibe of the show. Besides aren’t a good amount of those villains in the mirrors all over the room in the concept art ?
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James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
Magnifico technically works, but … Wish.
Agent H
Well-Known Member
Thanks for reminding me. I will edit my post to include him.
They have the bloody hamster from Lilo & Stitch in it!
Agent H
Well-Known Member
And that’s amazing as a lilo and stitch fan but the poster in question was talking about villains post 2009 and dr. Hämsterviel was introduced in the 2003 film stitch! The movie. Again I will note most of the villains post 2009 are in the additional mirrors around the room which helps dispel the claim that they’re not in it because “we haven’t had any decent Disney villains since dr. Faciler”
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WondersOfLife
Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
What part of Cruella and Captain Hook scream dark magic? lol
I don't know what you're referring to here. They obviously are trying to put every single villain they've ever had as a cameo in there... Even the ones that are hardly "villains." They're just merely small antagonists.