Behind the Ride

Finding the Music in Nemo

Visiting students see how the pros do it at a new musical based on the computer animation hit.

by Maria Aiello

The performing arts are always in full evidence at Walt Disney World Resort, and students attending one of the Disney Performing Arts Programs get not only feedback, instruction, and the opportunity to perform themselves, but also a chance to see some of the nation's finest professional actors, singers, and dancers.

One of the most innovative productions staged by the resort this year is an adaptation of the hugely successful Disney movie Finding Nemo. Featuring songs by the Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Robert Lopez (co-creator of Avenue Q) and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Finding Nemo-The Musical re-imagines the story of the overprotective clownfish father Marlin and his curious son Nemo.

With a production that combines puppets, dancers, aerialists and animated backdrops, the musical aims to provide audiences with a unique visual experience that rivals the stunning 3-D graphics of the original film. It's the first time Disney has taken a nonmusical animated feature and transformed it into an original musical production. The show has been running since January in the newly enclosed 1,500-seat Theater in the Wild, which was completely redone to accommodate first-class theatrical productions.

As co-creator Kristen Anderson-Lopez explains, the musical Nemo has lots of qualities that performing arts students can look to for inspiration and an understanding of professional productions. After writing a story treatment and (with husband Robert) the musical's main song "The Big Blue World," she says, "the project just sort of found its way to the stage. [Walt Disney World] built a beautiful state-of-the-art theatre, brought in amazing designers, a Tony-award winning director, and Finding Nemo came to life."

The director, Peter Brosius, is artistic director of The Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, winner of the 2003 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The Broadway show A Year with Frog and Toad, nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award, originated at The Children's Theatre Company.

Cross-country Casting

The 35-minute Nemo musical, which is performed several times daily at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom Park, began as many full-scale Broadway productions do, with workshops and casting calls in New York and Los Angeles. Although the show's music is prerecorded, all other performers appear live, and three complete casts were put together for rehearsals. The Lopezes traveled regularly to Florida to help with staging and revisions.

"About 25 percent of the cast came from the Disney family," Kristin says, "and a large percentage of the crew was already working on Tarzan Rocks," the park's previous show. The rest of the cast came from auditions in various cities. "The casting director Ron LaRosa was looking for what I call quadruple threats," Kristen says. "They have to be able to sing and dance and act and puppeteer."

The puppetry came courtesy of Michael Curry, who co-designed the richly detailed character puppets seen in the Broadway version of Disney's The Lion King. Main characters, such as Marlin, Nemo, and Dory, are represented by live performers operating animated puppets. Some puppets like Crush, the cool sea turtle, are nearly the size of a small car, and Nigel the pelican stands 22 feet tall.

Other characters are brought to life by puppetry techniques like rod, shadow, and bunraku. The show also has tap-dancing sharks, puppets riding bicycles, and a punk rock routine by Bruce the shark. Students get to see some of the novel opportunities that the live-performance world can afford.

A Foot in the Door

Cast Members from far-away cities take up residence in Florida, and have to be prepared to assume several different roles in the show. "You can start off as a sea anemone, and then you become a shark, and then you become a moon fish, and then you become an octopus," says Kristin. "You have to really learn a lot of parts, because somebody may be out, and the only person who knows that part is you."

And for performing arts students attracted to the demands of a career like this, "Disney Parks are a great way to get your foot in the door," Kristin says, "because you learn professionalism, you learn quickly, and you learn how to deliver day after day and show after show. It's one thing to be able to sing a song well once, but to do it four times a day for six months really trains you how to keep things fresh."