These days it seems like many musicals are compiled, rather than composed. A fashionable alternative to writing from scratch is to find an existing collection of songs and create a plot that encompasses all of the lyrics. Is this post-modernity at its finest, or mere laziness?
Previously applied to George and Ira Gershwin for the 1992 musical Crazy For You, this formula was more recently applied to ABBA, Billy Joel and The Beach Boys for Mamma Mia, Movin’ Out and Good Vibrations, respectively. Disney’s On the Record, like all of the aforementioned, capitalizes on an audience’s desire to see their favorite songs sung live and their willingness to pay up to $85 a ticket for the privilege.
Disney’s On the Record features 64 all-time favorite songs spanning 75 years of Disney animation, a surefire bet with most Disney fans. However, the show’s feeble attempt at a plot features four singers: Kristen (Ashley Brown), Diane (Kaitlin Hopkins), Nick (Andrew Samonsky) and Julian (Brian Sutherland), along with a quartet of backup singers. Set in a modern recording studio, the musical is supposedly about the characters relationships while trying to make it big as singers.
In reality, the musical plays out more like this: The characters sing a romantic song, like “Cinderella’s” “So This is Love,” and give each other starry-eyed looks. Then they move on to a jazzier number, like “The Little Mermaid’s” “Under the Sea,” make silly fish faces and swimming motions, kiss each other, and change into jazzy sequined costumes to dance to “Mary Poppin’s” “A Spoonful of Sugar.”
While it’s hard to take many of the songs seriously (especially when sung in a mouse voice), some come through with surprising honesty. Songs that are sung by live actors become better in many ways than when they are sung by a talking dog, toy or candelabra. For example, “When Somebody Loved Me,” a lament to the female owner of Jessie the cowgirl doll in “Toy Story 2” originally voiced by Sarah McLachlan, is a song that takes on a whole different meaning of lost love when sung by a middle-aged man.
The songs are arranged into recording sessions, which revolve around a theme. The arrangers were clever to place all of the songs featuring nonsense words, like “Mary Poppin’s” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee” of Pinocchio, and “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” of Cinderella in one fast-paced recording session.
The performers are backed by an excellent band – literally providing the backdrop for the scene in a three-story set of six stacked and moveable cubes containing the musicians. The background dance troupe is less than excellent with its lackluster choreography; namely, a variation of the four dancers and four singers gyrating around microphone props.
While it might seem postmodern to build a plot and choreography around existing work, Disney’s On the Record is just lazy. It features a minimal and monochromatic set, tired choreography and a nonexistent plot with a hasty ending. The scenarist didn’t even make an effort to write some dialogue. However, it’s likely that Disney will make a pretty penny off of this so-called musical.
Disney’s On the Record runs through Jan. 30 at the National Theatre. Call (800) 477-7400 for tickets.
