Frozen Musical and MATMM gone for good?

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

Guess they finally decided to LET IT GO eh?

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Site with no name has pictures of the Fantasyland Theater sign covered under a scrim. Probably just giving it a new coat of paint and not a sign of anything major, but we'll just have to wait and see.

The Nixon Library presidential museum reopened several months ago a few miles east in Yorba Linda. If they got the Nixon Library to designate Disneyland as a satellite campus to their museum,

It's what Walt would've wanted.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Site with no name has pictures of the Fantasyland Theater sign covered under a scrim. Probably just giving it a new coat of paint and not a sign of anything major, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Interesting.

Disneyland Park can get along just fine without the Fantasyland theater- it has enough other stuff to still provide a full day.

DCA, on the other hand, relies far more on the Hyperion to give guests something to do. I'm curious what the plans are for that theater.

 

[Dear Prudence]

They said that both of these shows were "permanently closed" because of a tantrum Josh D'Amaro had with AEA. Which is a shame, honestly. Like, we can joke about it on here, but the circumstances for both of those closing is actually pretty scary and has set a really, really bad precedent.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Also, there were a LOT of issues with the backstage stuff for Frozen at the Hyperion once there was a change of hands. None of this stuff is that uncommon, unfortunately, and AEA isn't always that great at protecting its performers. D'Amaro had a similar tantrum with the Florida parks, but AEA got involved--this was all pre-vaccination era. Because Disney didn't know when the CA parks would open, they just hissy-fit closed Frozen and Magic Map instead of making necessary safety accomodations.

 

[TP2000]

They said that both of these shows were "permanently closed" because of a tantrum Josh D'Amaro had with AEA. Which is a shame, honestly. Like, we can joke about it on here, but the circumstances for both of those closing is actually pretty scary and has set a really, really bad precedent.

What's the AEA? An actor's union?

Those are both two large facilities. The Hyperion is a facility unique to Anaheim, and a type that doesn't exist in WDW. To let it sit there unused for the next few years seems incredibly dumb.

At the very least they could take this time to pull it out of its Pressler ugliness by giving it a full remodel and plussing up and enclosing the lobby. And adding lobby restrooms.

Something along the lines of Tokyo DisneySea's theater lobby would be nice, but who am I kidding? We could never get Tokyo level quality and craftsmanship here in the USA.

 

[Dear Prudence]

What's the AEA? An actor's union?

Those are both two large facilities. The Hyperion is a facility unique to Anaheim, and a type that doesn't exist in WDW. To let it sit there unused for the next few years seems very dumb.

Yup! AEA is Actors' Equity Association. AGVA (American Guild of Variety Artists) is another union that Disney hires from (although most of the Frozen actors were just AEA and not AGVA or both). Both of those shows were immensely popular, and take up a lot of space. It's just a shame that they are not being used--both of them being in use means hundreds of actors, but also means more costumers, dressers, lighting technicians, stage managers, etc. Both the Aladdin and the Frozen shows at the Hyperion were better than their Broadway counterparts (I SAID WHAT I SAID!).

EDIT: AEA isn't an angel in this, either. They had cut off their own members health insurance and had their hand out demanding dues, knowing full well no one in their union could work! (Some people could get other jobs, but in some parts of the country, theatre IS the only industry. A lot of their requirements have more to do with not being sued instead of actually keeping their members safe. They recently had to "adjust" their standards to basically let anyone who qualified in, so it's much less exclusive than it was, but this largely had to do with all the money they lost, I am sure.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

How about some facts here. Performers at Disneyland are organized under AGVA. At WDW it’s Equity. But either way their contracts don’t allow Disney to unilaterally furlough their workers. Disney had to negotiate with EVERY union and sign a Memorandum of Understanding to cover the details of a furlough that were not in the existing contract. And now they are doing the same for the vaccine mandate.
Posting a closing notice for these shows was inevitable. There is no way Disney would pay to remount a problematic five-year-old show like Frozen or a seven-year-old show running four days a week like Magical Map.
I don’t actually know on what basis Equity performers appeared in Frozen, but I assume it is under an agreement between the two unions.
The live acts that have returned, such as DL Band, Five and Dime, Dappers, and Pearlies require a minimum of prep and rehearsal compared to the theater shows. Minimal tech, dressers, or hair and makeup.
We might see some version of Castle Fantasy Faire first and certainly Electrical Parade and maybe World of Color. Magical Map could theoretically come back—I hear the costumes are in storage. Although I think it’s more hedging their bets. But Frozen is dead.
I don’t see how any of this was about d’Amaro having a fight with Equity or AGVA. To furlough the performers they had to post a closing notice.

 

[Dear Prudence]

How about some facts here. Performers at Disneyland are organized under AGVA. At WDW it’s Equity. But either way their contracts don’t allow Disney to unilaterally furlough their workers. Disney had to negotiate with EVERY union and sign a Memorandum of Understanding to cover the details of a furlough that were not in the existing contract. And now they are doing the same for the vaccine mandate.
Posting a closing notice for these shows was inevitable. There is no way Disney would pay to remount a problematic five-year-old show like Frozen or a seven-year-old show running four days a week like Magical Map.
I don’t actually know on what basis Equity performers appeared in Frozen, but I assume it is under an agreement between the two unions.
The live acts that have returned, such as DL Band, Five and Dime, Dappers, and Pearlies require a minimum of prep and rehearsal compared to the theater shows. Minimal tech, dressers, or hair and makeup.
We might see some version of Castle Fantasy Faire first and certainly Electrical Parade and maybe World of Color. Magical Map could theoretically come back—I hear the costumes are in storage. Although I think it’s more hedging their bets. But Frozen is dead.
I don’t see how any of this was about d’Amaro having a fight with Equity or AGVA. To furlough the performers they had to post a closing notice.

People in Frozen and Magic Map were AEA, they specifically sought out Equity actors. Many of them were Broadway, off Broadway and National tour actors with sizeable credits.a couple of the actors had been in WICKED in some form or another and have considerable fan bases.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

People in Frozen and Magic Map were AEA, they specifically sought out Equity actors. Many of them were Broadway, off Broadway and National tour actors with sizeable credits.a couple of the actors had been in WICKED in some form or another and have considerable fan bases.

You are wrong. Yes, there are performers in those shows who had Equuity membership. But performers at Disneyland are organized under AGVA.

 

[RescueTheDay]

People in Frozen and Magic Map were AEA, they specifically sought out Equity actors. Many of them were Broadway, off Broadway and National tour actors with sizeable credits.a couple of the actors had been in WICKED in some form or another and have considerable fan bases.

Google old audition notices, you’ll see these performers were covered by AGVA.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Google old audition notices, you’ll see these performers were covered by AGVA.

They had made such a big deal about hiring New York and Broadway actors, but now I think that video on their YouTube is gone because so many of the BIPOC performers complained about their treatment.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Also, joining AGVA as a member of AEA is relatively easy. You basically can just be offered an AGVA contract, and/or if you are a member you can join one of the sister unions--AEA (Broadway), AGMA (opera), or SAG-AFTRA (film and TV) in good standing for one year, and vice versa. (This was particularly useful when AEA was near impossible to get into.) AGVA has the cheapest of the initiation fees at about $750 (?). I assumed the issues had been with AEA and not AGVA because a few of the actors that I knew of didn't list AGVA, but had AEA.

And looks like they didn't delete the casting video after all.

 

[cmwade77]

Hmm, well it sounds like they need to go the Knott's route and start hiring non-union performers, which is what Knott's has always done (there are many amazing and talented non-union performers out there). Either that or they need to make up, but even if the do the problem is the various actor unions want everyone in the audience to show proof of vaccination (sometime negative covid test will do, but not always) and to wear a mask during the entire show. You can imagine what a pain that would be for Disney just for the performances, so non-union seems like the smart move here. But if I am not mistaken you can't take a show that was union and make it non-union, so the previous shows would have to be changed to something new if they went that way.

 

[DrAlice]

They were both good shows, but it's time to move on. Neither one of them had the repeatability factor for a theme park. I imagine that is a difficult quality to achieve in a 30-45 minute show. Aladdin did it, but I'm hard pressed to think of any others (at any park) that have achieved that repeatability thing. Maybe it's just me....

I'm with @TP2000 - use this time to turn that warehouse into an actual theater!

 

[Dear Prudence]

Hmm, well it sounds like they need to go the Knott's route and start hiring non-union performers, which is what Knott's has always done (there are many amazing and talented non-union performers out there). Either that or they need to make up, but even if the do the problem is the various actor unions want everyone in the audience to show proof of vaccination (sometime negative covid test will do, but not always) and to wear a mask during the entire show. You can imagine what a pain that would be for Disney just for the performances, so non-union seems like the smart move here. But if I am not mistaken you can't take a show that was union and make it non-union, so the previous shows would have to be changed to something new if they went that way.

They should just comply with the union requirements (which aren't even that picky) and protect performers. The performance unions are there for a reason.

 

[TP2000]

They were both good shows, but it's time to move on. Neither one of them had the repeatability factor for a theme park. I imagine that is a difficult quality to achieve in a 30-45 minute show. Aladdin did it, but I'm hard pressed to think of any others (at any park) that have achieved that repeatability thing. Maybe it's just me....

It's not just you. Until about 15 years ago, they used to swap out and change the shows performed in the Fantasyland Theater (and then also Hyperion Theater) every two to three years. Nothing stayed around for very long, they were constantly being replaced by the latest big movie or fad or something.

But then, they stopped doing that. Shows stayed around for 5 to 10 years in the Fantasyland Theater, and even longer in the Hyperion Theater. It's not that the shows weren't good, some of them were fantastic. But very few people want to see the same stage show more than twice in their life.

It would be great if they took the time to fix the cheap and ugly Hyperion Theater and brought it up to the quality and amenities of Tokyo DisneySea's big theater. But, because TDA can never seem to make plans more than 12 months into the future (and even past 90 days requires extra meetings), they probably won't take this golden opportunity to revamp and upgrade the Hyperion.

It needs a lobby, it needs enclosed stairs, it needs themeing, it needs bathrooms, it needs A LOT.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo DisneySea, here's the lobby for their much smaller indoor theater that does theme park character shows, and also opened in 2001 just like the Hyperion. They even have bathrooms!

 

[cmwade77]

They were both good shows, but it's time to move on. Neither one of them had the repeatability factor for a theme park. I imagine that is a difficult quality to achieve in a 30-45 minute show. Aladdin did it, but I'm hard pressed to think of any others (at any park) that have achieved that repeatability thing. Maybe it's just me....

I'm with @TP2000 - use this time to turn that warehouse into an actual theater!

Actually, Blast!, Animazement and Snow White all pulled off repeatability. There may have been others too, just ones that I can think of.

 

[cmwade77]

They should just comply with the union requirements (which aren't even that picky) and protect performers. The performance unions are there for a reason.

They can't just comply, it would be too complicated, some of Disneyland unions are ousting back against vaccine mandates for cast members. And can you imagine the complications of checking everyone that wanted to go to the show for proof of vaccination? Mask requirements are tricky to deal with too, but more doable.

 

[cmwade77]

It's not just you. Until about 15 years ago, they used to swap out and change the shows performed in the Fantasyland Theater (and then also Hyperion Theater) every two to three years. Nothing stayed around for very long, they were constantly being replaced by the latest big movie or fad or something.

But then, they stopped doing that. Shows stayed around for 5 to 10 years in the Fantasyland Theater, and even longer in the Hyperion Theater. It's not that the shows weren't good, some of them were fantastic. But very few people want to see the same stage show more than twice in their life.

It would be great if they took the time to fix the cheap and ugly Hyperion Theater and brought it up to the quality and amenities of Tokyo DisneySea's big theater. But, because TDA can never seem to make plans more than 12 months into the future (and even past 90 days requires extra meetings), they probably won't take this golden opportunity to revamp and upgrade the Hyperion.

It needs a lobby, it needs enclosed stairs, it needs themeing, it needs bathrooms, it needs A LOT.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo DisneySea, here's the lobby for their much smaller indoor theater that does theme park character shows, and also opened in 2001 just like the Hyperion. They even have bathrooms!

There are actually bathrooms behind a false wall that have been there since day one. Originally they wanted the theater to have free shows during the day time and at night there would be a separate entrance from what was then the Timon lot for separately ticketed full length Broadway style shows. Turned out when they tried, no production wanted to be in a partially finished theater, even if that was theming.