Version of ‘The Little Mermaid’ among new shows coming to Disney Wish cruise ship

[Disney4me]

Disney Cruise Line is loading up on dinglehoppers for one of its newly announced stage shows coming to Disney Wish, a version of "The Little Mermaid."

View the full article

 

 

An original Broadway-style production of "The Little Mermaid" is coming to Disney Cruise Line's new ship Disney Wish. (Disney Cruise Line)

 

Disney Cruise Line is loading up on dinglehoppers for one of its newly announced stage shows coming to Disney Wish.

At the Destination D23 event on Saturday, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro announced an original Broadway-style production — “Disney The Little Mermaid” — will be the signature show for the ship set to debut out of Port Canaveral in June 2022. Also announced were details for a new embarkation show called “Disney Seas the Adventure.”

They join the already-announced reimagined version of “Disney’s Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular” to be performed in the 1,274-seat Walt Disney Theatre.

“The Little Mermaid” follows similar moves to give its most popular princesses center stage, with versions of “Frozen,” “Tangled” and “Beauty and the Beast” having rolled out on its other ships in the last decade.

The Walt Disney Theatre will be a 1,274-seat, three-deck venue on board Disney Cruise Line's new ship Disney Wish. (Disney Cruise Line)

Of late, the line has embraced detailed projection mapping to enhance the limited production space on board ships. Disney Wish’s version in the three-deck theater will be the most robust yet, the line stated, along with a first-at-sea Dolby Atmos 3D audio system. The show will use the mapping across all 360 degrees of the theater.

“‘The Little Mermaid’ is a timeless story, one that transcends generations,” said Shelby Jiggetts-Tivony, vice president, creative and advanced development, Disney Live Entertainment in a press release. “Our hope is that this new stage adaptation aboard the Disney Wish continues that incredible legacy, not by simply re-enacting the elements that make the original film so powerful, but by reinterpreting it in a way that resonates with the audience sitting in the theater each night.”

 

Based on the 1989 film, the show will feature characters Ariel, Prince Eric, Sebastian, Flounder and of course, the villain, Ursula. Favorite songs will feature during the show including “Under the Sea,” “Part of Your World” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”

• TOURISM

Star Wars, Marvel, wet Mickey and hidden stars: Disney Cruise Line offers up Disney Wish behind-the-scenes look

AUG 19, 2021 AT 11:30 AM

 

The opening of the show will center on a treasure chest found by a group of storytellers, including a young woman with the power to unlock its magic. The storytellers will then transform into the main players with what the line describes as a “contemporary spin on the timeless story of a young woman’s search for independence, love and a place in the world.”

Disney’s puppetry skills will once again be on display for characters like Sebastian and Flounder as well as Scuttle, Flotsam and Jetsam.

For the other newly announced production, “Disney Seas the Adventure,” the line will populate the stage with Captain Minnie, who will hand over the helm to Goofy, who will “set sail into uncharted waters on a journey to discover his own inner captain.”

It’ll be a singalong affair with Tiana performing “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog,” Pixar characters Crush and Squirt performing “Go with the Flow” from “Finding Nemo - The Musical.”, plus a medley from Elsa, Moana and Merida and a heroes’ chorus of “Go the Distance” from “Hercules.”

The show’s conclusion will ask theatergoers to shuttle into the Grand Hall to mark the end of the first day on board each sailing.

For the Aladdin show, the line is getting one new song written for DCL by Grammy Award-winning composer Alan Menken titled “To Be Free,” which will be a solo by character Jasmine. The Disney Wish version promises to feel like new with brand-new sets and projections, although expect fan favorites “Friend Like Me” and “A Whole New World” still.

Elsewhere on the ship, a Pirate’s Rockin’ Parlay Party will join the Disney Wish lineup. It’s a nighttime deck celebration led by Captain Redd from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Held one night per voyage, passengers are invited to dress up and talk like pirates, and can expect the line’s signature fireworks at sea for the finale.

Images of Disney Wish, the fifth cruise ship coming to Disney Cruise Line that will sail out of Port Canaveral beginning January 2022.

(Disney Cruise Line)

 

The show lineup augments previously announced features coming to the line’s first new ship in a decade. Those include dinner theater venues centered around Marvel and “Frozen,” a Star Wars-themed bar and more.

Disney Wish is the first of three new cruise ships on order for the line. The new class of ship is larger than the the lines’ four previous ships, coming in at 144,000 gross tons, but will have the same number of staterooms: 1,250 as Disney Dream and Fantasy.

All three new vessels will be powered by liquefied natural gas, a cleaner burning fuel than the diesel most ships use now. It will be second such ship to home port at Port Canaveral after Carnival’s Mardi Gras debut this year. Disney Wish is currently under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany.

The ship debuts on June 9, 2022 and will perform three- and four-night voyages to the Bahamas including stops at Disney’s private island Castaway Cay. Bookings opened on disneycruise.com this past May.

 

 

Richard Tribou

Orlando Sentinel