I've been super busy all day, and I just got home, so I just created this on the fly.
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The Mickey Mouse Revue has delighted Disney park guests ever since it opened with the Magic Kingdom on October 1st, 1971. In 1980, the show played its final Floridian performance and went off to perform at Tokyo Disneyland, where it enjoyed a healthy run of nearly 25 years, closing in 2009 to make way for Mickey's PhilharMagic. Well now, the show has returned in a whole new way, featuring more modern characters and modern songs...plus voices that actually SOUND like the characters they're singing for.
Not much has changed at the Town Square Theater. The only changes are the banners out front (which will, of course, advertise the show), and the "Town Square Theater" sign, which will be replaced with a "Mickey Mouse Revue" sign. Inside the theater's grand lobby, we find ourselves in a beautiful golden room, surrounded by statues of Mickey in some of his most famous roles, such as the Sorcerer's Apprentice and Steamboat Willie. When it's show time, a pair of golden doors open and we find ourselves in a massive theater. The cavernous room contains thirteen rows of seats facing a 100-foot long stage. The proscenium is draped with a huge red curtain, flanked by two decorations that look like large box seats. In the center of the curtain are the traditional theater icons, the comedy and tragedy masks - traditional aside from the similarities to Mickey, as both masks have mouse ears.
Once everyone is seated, a host or hostess reminds everyone not to eat, drink, smoke or use flash bulbs during the show. The room grows dark and the sound of an unseen orchestra tuning their instruments fills the room while the curtains separated and were pulled back toward the wings. In the center of the stage, the shadow of Mickey appears against a secondary curtain. Then Mickey himself comes into view on a bright red pedestal as it rose from the pit. The orchestra soon rises around him. The orchestra plays an overture to this show, consisting of "Heigh-Ho", "Whistle While You Work", "When You Wish Upon a Star", "Jolly Holiday" and "Circle of Life".
Now, one of the biggest changes to the show will be that the show will celebrate Disney music through the years. So, essentially, we're going to be taken through chronological time, seeing some of the greatest moments in Disney music. And where better to begin than with the Silly Symphonies? At the conclusion of this brief overture, Dumbo's tuba intones the first few notes of "Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?", as the wolf's shadow sneaks across the rear curtain toward center stage. Further right, a section of the curtain rises to reveal the Three Little Pigs in a cross-section of Practical Pig's brick house. The pigs play and sing a few seconds of their signature song before the curtain closes over them and another section lifts to the left.
The next vignette features Snow White and some forest animals sitting on a wooded hillside. She sings "I'm Wishing" while the animals listen in. As Snow White finishes, an adjacent area of the hillside comes into view from behind another section of rising curtain. Here, the Seven Dwarfs stand in their cottage, playing "The Silly Song." The dwarfs sing part of the song with Snow White's help before the curtain lowered on their setting.
Then, in the left box seat, Pinocchio appears to sing "I've Got No Strings". He is joined by a Dutch puppet and a French puppet as he joyfully proclaims about his newfound freedom. From the 40s, we move on to the 50s, where we meet the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella, in her scullery maid outfit, standing at the far left side of the stage. The Fairy Godmother sings "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" and waved her wand around. Soon, in a shower of twinkling lights, Cinderella is transformed into a princess. Next up--the 60s, represented by none other than
The Jungle Book. In old King Louie's temple, Mowgli, Baloo, Louie and all those other crazy monkeys get down to the beats of "I Wanna Be Like You".
Representing the 70s, the woods shared by Snow White and the Three Little Pigs will be filled in-between with Winnie the Pooh's 100-Acre Wood. In a brief scene, Pooh, Tigger and Piglet perform "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers". From there, we move on to the 80s. Projected on the curtain, we see Ariel's silhouette and hear her iconic riff ("Ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah..."). But then, a section of curtain flies open to reveal Sebastian and his crustacean band performing "Under the Sea" in a grand style.
The 90s bring along
The Lion King, featuring Simba, Timon and Pumbaa singing "Hakuna Matata" as they delight upon eating many delicious bugs. The 2000s are represented by an old bayou in New Orleans, where we find Tiana, Naveen and Louis performing "Dig a Little Deeper". And of course, who better to represent the 2010s than Elsa from
Frozen? In the far-left hand corner of the stage, she sings "Let it Go" from atop a balcony in her ice palace.
When this song ends, the sound of the orchestra come rising up from the pit. To the right, Brer Fox, Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit rise into view and began singing "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah." As they sing, the orchestra rises beside them. The rear curtain lifts to reveal all of the show's scenes at once. The houses of the Three Little Pigs and Seven Dwarfs are gone, leaving all the characters contrasted against a brightening sky in the background. Pinocchio and his puppet friends stand to the left of the orchestra, Cinderella now stands with Prince Charming, Ariel joins Sebastian under the sea, Elsa now has Anna, Kristoff and Olaf by her side, and everyone joins in the song. A rainbow gleams across the horizon as the voices and instruments of all the characters reaches a crescendo. At the close of the song, the entire stage falls dark save for a spotlight on Mickey. His pedestal spins to face the audience as the other characters sang the "Mickey Mouse Club Alma Mater." Mickey, all choked up, speaks.
"Well folks, that concludes our show, we hope you enjoyed it..." Then, as he let out a little mouse laugh, the main curtain was drawn and the show was over. The host or hostess comes back out to remind us to exit safely and wishes us a magical day in the Magic Kingdom.
In order of appearance, here are the players and, where applicable, their instruments:
1. Mickey Mouse - baton
2. Mad Hatter - bass clarinet
3. March Hare - helps with bass clarinet
4. Dormouse
5. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit - saxophone
6. Max Goof - upright bass
7. Ludwig von Drake - clarinet
8. Minnie Mouse - violin
9. Daisy Duck - cello
10. Uncle Scrooge - ukulele
11. Stitch - guitar
12. Mushu - gong
13. Mulan - sitar
14. Pluto - high-hat cymbal
15. Huey - trumpet
16. Dewey - trumpet
17. Louie - trumpet
18. Gus - trombone
19. Jaq - helps with trombone
20. Goofy - bass viola
21. Dumbo - tuba
22. Timothy - helps with tuba
23. Jiminy Cricket - triangle
24. Gepetto - xylophone, timpani, etc.
25. Peter Pan - pan flute
26. Esmeralda - tamborine
27. Quasimodo - French horn
28. Rapunzel - her own hair (!) as a harp
29. Flynn Rider - helps with hair/harp
30. Practical Pig - brick organ
31. Fifer Pig - accordion
32. Fiddler Pig - fiddle
33. Snow White
34. Bluebird
35. Doe
36. Fawn
37 and 38. Squirrels
39 and 40. Quail
41 through 45. Rabbits
46. Raccoon
47. Sneezy - oboe
48. Dopey - flute
49. Grumpy - pipe organ
50. Doc - lute
51. Bashful - accordion
52. Happy - mandolin
53. Sleepy - fiddle
54. Pinocchio
55. Dutch Puppet
56. French Puppet
57. Fairy Godmother
58. Cinderella - workmaid
59. Cinderella #2 - ballgown
60. Prince Charming
61. Mowgli
62. Baloo
63. King Louie
64 through 70. Monkeys
71. Winnie the Pooh
72. Tigger - bouncy tail provides musical accompaniment
73. Piglet
74. Sebastian
75. Newt - flute
76. Carp - harp
77. Plaice - bass
78 and 79. Bass - brass
80. Chub - tub
81. Duke of Soul
82. Ray
83. Ling
84. Jellyfish - strings
85 through 95. Other Fish
96. Ariel
97. Simba
98. Timon
99. Pumbaa
100. Tiana
101. Naveen - ukulele
102. Louis - trumpet
103. Elsa
104. Anna
105. Kristoff - lute (?)
106. Olaf
107. Brer Fox
108. Brer Rabbit
109. Brer Bear