BY PAM HARBAUGH
FLORIDA TODAY
LAKE BUENA VISTA -- It's been 12 years since Disney brought "Beauty and the Beast" to Broadway and started the transformation of not only Times Square but also of Disney as a Broadway producer.
Everywhere you look, it seems to be Disney on stage. "Disney's The Lion King" runs through Jan. 14 at the Carr Performing Arts Centre in Orlando, and Disney's "Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida" comes to the King Center Jan. 3 and 4.
Now, the powerhouse entertainment company has created another Broadway-quality production, "Finding Nemo: The Musical."
But there's only one place you can find the show: Disney's Animal Kingdom.
It is the first time Disney has made an original musical from a nonmusical animated feature. The spirited musical opened in previews to audiences last month.
Although its official opening isn't until January, the colorful, feel-good show is destined to please through and through.
The fact that Disney has mounted this show in Walt Disney World doesn't surprise King Center executive director Steve Janicki. He suspects amusement parks everywhere will begin delivering what people want -- Broadway-quality entertainment.
"Disney spends a lot of money making sure the quality is there," Janicki said. "They certainly hire the best designers and people within the industry."
With "Finding Nemo: The Musical," Disney has put together an exciting creative team:
Again, the show still is in previews and may be tweaked along the way. But it's difficult to imagine it being any better.
Like the movie, it concerns a little clownfish named Nemo who disobeys his overly protective father, Marlin, and ventures into an undersea area. He befriends a lovingly absent-minded fish named Dory, whose dysfunctional, short attention span is a knee-slapping hoot. The two encounter sharks, jellyfish and a cool-dude turtle named Crush.
Nemo eventually is caught and put into a fish tank in a dentist's office in Sydney, Australia.
(If you didn't see the movie, skip the next paragraph.)
Nemo eventually gets away and is reunited with Marlin.
(OK, you can read on.)
The visuals in this production will warm and thrill even the most blasé audience member. As a matter of fact, go on and count the number of times you say "wow." It begins soon after the start of the musical, when actors dressed in leotards and tights and holding what look like tall, floppy poles sit down with their backs to the audience. They fan out these "poles," which, in fact, are mammoth strands of coral.
"Wow."
Nemo appears to swim literally up and away from his father toward a shipwreck.
"Wow."
A procession of huge, iridescent octupi galumph on stage and all around throughout the audience.
"Wow" and "wow."
The show has a huge payoff, which will leave you tearing up. That's right. You laugh. You cry. What more do you want?
Well . . more.
When this joyful, 37-minute musical ends, you wish it were only intermission.
Animated images, monumental props and artistic theater magic help advance the plot line while compressing it into a little more than a half-hour in length.
Eighteen actors portray the principal characters and the fishy ensemble. Each cast member brings a unique quality to the roles and imprints them with strong, lively characterizations.
To keep the players fresh, three full casts were hired for this production.
Bert Rodriguez, who, as the cool-running Crush, intones "Duuuudde," said Disney "wanted to raise the bar and say to the world we can produce Broadway-type shows on the Disney property."
They sure have.
Contact Harbaugh at 242-3717 or pharbaugh@brevard.gannett.com.
