Will Disneyland's new Marvel musical be campy, cheesy and silly?
Disneyland and Marvel fans alike have been waiting for months to see if the Avengers musical coming to Disney California Adventure will have the same campy, cheesy and silly tone as the Broadway-style song that the new show is based on.
Disneyland will bring “Rogers: The Musical” based on the life story of Captain America to the Hyperion Theater on Friday, June 30 for a limited run.
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The “Save the City” song that briefly popped up in the “Hawkeye” TV show on the Disney+ streaming service was equal parts campy, irreverent and absurd. The Broadway-style number played at various times like a spoof, satire, parody and joke on Marvel, superheroes and musicals.
“It was campy,” Disney Live Entertainment Executive Creative Director Dan Fields said. “It was comic book-inspired as much as anything else. So you’ll see touchstones of that, but that’s not the only flavor at all.”
Disney Live Entertainment turned to classic Broadway musicals as inspiration for the new 30-minute one-act stage show starring Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Ant-Man and Hawkeye.
“If every number and scene in ‘Rogers: The Musical’ felt exactly like ‘Save the City’ it may not be as fun as I think you will find our show to be,” Fields said during a video interview. “We really looked to classic musicals to see when humor is enjoyed, when campiness and silliness add some flavor and when to sit back into relationships, romance and aspirations. We tried to do all the things that the greatest musicals do even though we were compressed to 30 minutes.”
The fictional Broadway musical number that briefly popped up in the “Hawkeye” TV show influenced the look and sound of the full-fledged theme park production coming to the Hyperion.
“We worked backwards from ‘Save the City’ to inspire our treatment of our scenery,” Fields said. “The score is epic, beautiful and powerful as well as fun and funny.”
The backstory will follow the journey of Steve Rogers from his service in World War II to becoming Earth’s first known superhero to the birth of the Avengers.
Marvel fans were introduced to the fictional “Rogers: The Musical” in the first episode of the Disney+ series “Hawkeye.” In the show, Hawkeye attends a performance of the Broadway musical about the life of Rogers, the first Captain America.
“In the show, all the Avengers are invited to New York for the premiere of the brand new, showstopping musical but only Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, shows up,” according to Marvel.com. “The MIA Avengers don’t know what they’re missing, though, as viewers are treated to a musical number based on The Battle of New York … though a few creative liberties have been taken here and there.”
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Disney cryptically teased the upcoming run of “Rogers: The Musical” at the Hyperion during a live performance at the D23 Expo in September at the Anaheim Convention Center. D23 attendees watched a surprise live performance of “Save the City” from the musical during the Marvel Studios panel.
The new “Rogers” musical coming to DCA’s Hyperion will feature “Save the City,” “Star Spangled Man” from the 2011 film “Captain America: The First Avenger” and five new original songs written for the show.
Disney Live Entertainment has been working on the Broadway-caliber theatrical production since January. In addition to Rogers as Captain America, the cast of Marvel characters will include SHIELD founder Peggy Carter, Avengers founder Nick Fury and members of the Avengers.
“It’s a classic tale of heroes, time travel and romance,” according to the Disney Parks Blog. “Oh, and Nick Fury sings.”
The new show will be written by Tony-nominee Hunter Bell with music by Grammy-winner Christopher Lennertz. Bell wrote the book for “Villains Tonight” on the Disney Cruise Line, according to Broadway World. Lennertz served as music director on Disneyland’s new “Wondrous Journeys” fireworks show.