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Lost Boy
01-05-2003, 06:18 PM
Today's (Sunday 1/5/03) L.A. Times Calander Section, Part II, has a front page and full center section story with color pictures on Anne Hamburger and the fabulous job that she is doing with Disney Theme Park Entertainment! No mention is made of the cuts in budget to Disneyland's Stage Shows in order to make something big enough to hopefull bring people into a Theme Park that is not up to snuff (story's words, not mine). And I also found it funny that they are making a big deal out of the "Cast Bow" at the end, stating that is new to Disney Theme Park Entertainment, that no other Theme Park Stage Show ever had stage bows as the audeince was more interested in the show being over so they could run off to the next ride, attraction or to get pictures with Mickey and the gang. I guess whoever wrote this never saw Beauty and the Beast or Pochantas or Animazement or any other big stage show at Disneyland. You know, the ones we used to get before Anne Hamburger came along and cut everthing off so we now get "Kiddie" shows like Mickey's Detective School, and Minnies Christmas thing, all to make sure there was money for DCA' new show. All those shows got standing ovations at the end of each performance and most of the audience stayed for that payment of appreciation to the live performers of those shows. They were Broadway Stage Musicals in minitature and everybody connected with performing in them deserved every bit of appreciation that could be showered on them. I have nothing but the utmost awe and admiration for the Disneyland Stage performers, and I have no such feelings for Anne Hamburger at all. Except she killed the shows at Disneyland. That is her legacy to Disney as far as I am concerned.
I like the new Aladdin show very much, but not at the expense of Disneyland's great stage shows.

ldsguy
01-05-2003, 06:42 PM
I'm sorry, I have to make this comment in regaurds to the Cast Bow and Animazment, true Animazment had somewhat of one, the main characters going and freezing in their poses, then the Animators took a final bow, but the entire cast didn't come back out on stage and take a bow, like in Aladdin.

Also, what killed the Disneyland shows is two fold: One was Blast! not Aladdin, sorry, blame it on the right show please, I lvoed Blast! but it was at that time, before they even though of putting in Aladdin that we got Mickey's Dumb School oops, I meant Mickey's Detective School but the other problem is the dwindling audience at the shows in Disneyland, I mean Animazment towards the end wasn't even filling 2/3 of the theater, I remember when they had to turn guests away 10 minutes before the show started because the theater was full.....That's not even happening with Aladdin, they've only had to trun away people a few times because the theater was full, most of the time it was because people go there too late.

I doa gree that Disneyland should get really good shows too, at least in the Fantasyland Theater and put something back in the FOF area, but my point is that Aladdin didn't kill these, these died long before Aladdin.....Blast! was when it really got killed, but we also had Minnie's Christmas Party before Mickey's show, so we thought we were getting a good deal by getting a fairly good Christmas show put in there, so no one thought about it at the time, now we see Mickey's show coming as Aladdin is really getting going so it's more prominent now.

Sorry, I just had to get this out there, no offense is intended in any shape or form, but I wanted to make it clear that Animazement was gone long before Aladdin was even considered for the Hyperion.

Lost Boy
01-05-2003, 06:58 PM
Anamazement never really seemed to hit it off as well as B&B or Pochantas, but I loved the show. And, yes it was not drawing the audience toward the end. But, Blast did not kill the large scale stage shows in Disneyland. Paul Pressler and Anne Hambruger did. Aladdin has been in the works long before Blast even opened! She was working on it as soon as she started the job. It is her ticket to Broadway and that's all she cares about. No matter what she says about Disney Theme Parks being a great venue and all that. She killed the large stage shows at Disneyland and put in lousy, small stage shows at both DCA and Disneyland to work up the budget for her big Broadway show at DCA. And Blast, which I loved to death and saw everytime I went, was thrown out, because of a clause in the Contract that was put in just for this reason, to get them out when Aladdin was ready. She didn't care one whit that Blast was a big draw to DCA and getting rave reviews. Just throw them out three months before the contract was up to put "Her" show in. I am sorry, but I would rather have a big show in both Parks and by anybody other than Ms. Hamburger! She doesnt' have the Disney connection at all. She is looking to Broadway and will kill anything that gets in her way. Blast was it.

Again, these are my feelings and I stand by them. It may be stuborn of me, but she killed one of the main reasons I went to Disneyland. The wonderful, large scale Disneyland Stage shows. I love to see live theater and Disneyland had the best. Had being the operative word here.

sydney
01-05-2003, 07:09 PM
Lost Boy, would you have the same opinion of this show if it was playing at Disneyland instad of at DCA?

You say that there's no large scale shows at disneyland right now. That's pretty much accurate. But there's a gosh darn big one called "aladdin" playing just across the street.

Seriously, I don't really distinguish between the parks when I go to the resort anymore, so as long as there's quality stage entertainment somewhere behind those gates, I'll be happy.

I found the article interesting and it was nice to learn about Anne Hamburger's roots in avant garde theater.

ldsguy
01-05-2003, 08:05 PM
Actually, fact is, Aladdin wasn't planned when BlasT was put in, it wasn't considered until about 4 months after it opened. And like it or not, since she has come in atomoshphere entertainment has gotten far, far better, take Groove 66, the comedy group the wrong bothers out in front of Soarin' Over California and Chance to Shine, no they aren't big shows, but they are good atmosphere entertainment. I also don't really distinguish between the parks anymore and most don't other than those that have one day, one park passes.....I still maintain that other things will be opened in Disneyland as well......we also have Fantasmic! in the summer through October, if you don't call that an Aladdin big shows then what do you call big shows? Greanted, it's off season, we realyl only get good shows on the weekends during the off season normally anyway and we are going to have Aladdin seven days a week this off season.....now how can that be bad? We have only had one big show at a time since FOF closed. Aside from Fantasmic! which you didn't include in your list anyway. I don't mean for any offense, just mean to state facts here.

HeeHeeHeeHoHoHo
01-05-2003, 08:19 PM
I know in context (the past 10 years) will surface........ but large shows? Believe and Fantasmic! are huge and expensive.

Let California Adventure have Aladdin

HeeHeeHeeHoHoHo
01-05-2003, 08:20 PM
Oh whoops my bad for not reading all the threads before posting :-)

ldsguy
01-06-2003, 07:37 AM
That's ok, it just reiterates my point that DL does have large shows....now how could I forget to mention Believe? It's a really good show....still not the best fireworks display I've ever seen, but it is indded really good and a really large show.

Lost Boy
01-06-2003, 06:23 PM
I never said I didn't like Aladdin. I happened to think it is a great show. My comments simply refer to the fact that they have spent an incredible amount on money on this one show and put it in the Hyperion just to get people to come over to DCA, and taken all the large "Stage Shows" out of Disneyland to do it. Believe is a fireworks spectacular, not a stage show. Fantasmic! is the greatest entertainment show the Park has ever done. But I was speaking stickley about the loss of a Disney Themed Sit Down Stage show done 5 or 6 times a day, in a theater-like setting, and as good as Fantasmic is, and I do love it, it is not a "Stage Show". Besides, I think the Park wants to close it anway. I hope they don't but the signs of failure to keep it up are there and that usually means it's getting too expensive to keep around. I just hope they don't close Fantasmic to pump it's money into Aladdin. These are two seperate Parks, and each should have a large stage show going on all the time. Look at WDW in Florida. There are 4 seperate parks and every one of them has at least 2, some more, large stage type shows going on. I don't consider street entertainment as part of this. And, I haven't seen anything at DCA that is worth stopping to watch on the streets yet. Again, that's me. I just don't care for a noisey (and not really that good) Rock and Rool band rolling thru the park in a trailer being pulled by an old car a "Stage Show". They are a noisy interuption as far as I am concerned. The Monster's Inc show was a joke. So was that awful thing she staged in the Hollywood Backlot area, with all that heavy metal music, and people running around the scafforlding. They didn't even attempt to "Dance" it time to what they call "Music". No, thanks. I will take the old Disneyland Beauty and the Beast, Pochantas, Anamazment, One Man's Dream, Dick Tracy, Plane Crazy, and Mickey's Nutcracker anyday over what they call "Entertainment" at DCA (Except for Aladdin - it is a great show, and the Hyperion is the only venue big enough to handle it).
Again, my views and feelings only.

ldsguy
01-06-2003, 08:22 PM
I'm assuming that by your post, you haven't seen Groove 66? Thier the Acapella group in DCA and are really good....also during the Holidays we had The Mistle-Tones and The Holiday Pep Band....both really good groups, I don't care for thatmstupid rock and roll car either......oh, we also have Chance to Shine, which is pretty good, not near the quality of the other groups, but it's intended as more a kid type show. Really, who cares which park the shows are in, lately we have only been having one large stage show for the entire resort anyway.

sydney
01-07-2003, 02:22 AM
that awful thing she staged in the Hollywood Backlot area, with all that heavy metal music, and people running around the scafforlding. They didn't even attempt to "Dance" it time to what they call "Music".

just to clarify, I believe lost boy is talking about "Lights Camera Chaos", which indeed was pretty bad.... But was canceled months before anne hamburger came to work for disney. So let's not blame that one on her.

(Unless i'm wrong, someone correct me if I am...)

Merlin
01-07-2003, 08:24 AM
A link to the article for those interested:

http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/theater/cl-ca-boehm5jan05.story

Lost Boy
01-07-2003, 07:00 PM
I forgot about Route 66. They are indeed a great singing group. Them I will stop and listen too and watch.

Light Camera Chaos was Anne Hamburgers first show at the Disneyland Resort from what I had heard when it first opened. Either that or she came along and changed it before it opened.

And let's not forget the infamous "Steps in Time", which was actually a very interesting show until she decided to change it, then it became truly awful. I have both on Video, and the difference really shows.

I guess what I am trying to say is "can't we have a stage show in DCA at the Hyperion like Aladdin, and another large stage show at the Fantasyland Theater? After all, they rebuilt that theater for large stage shows and all of a sudden Paul Pressler and Anne Hamburger give us Kiddy Shows which belong over on the old Carnation Theater stage. Actually, they put on better shows there. I remember a time when there was a great small stage show at Carnation Gardens and a Large Spectale going on at the Videopolis Stage. And of course let's not forget the astounding and wonderful theater in the round production of "Festival of Fools" in the arena at the back of Frontierland. Now that was a terrific show. Too bad they took it out for Corporate Picnics. Paul Pressler just never get "Get It". And niether does Anne Hamburger, whom he brought in. They somehow fit each other.
Sorry, to rant. But this topic of stage shows really gets me going. That is one of the main reasons I go to the Parks, aside from the occasional rides (which I have been on thousand and thousands of times) is the big Disney Stage Shows and the Fireworks spectacles (which fortunately we still have with both versions of Believe. I'm stopping now. I could on all night.

ldsguy
01-07-2003, 10:54 PM
Hey, I just found out from a Hyperion CM, that we are going to have more "adult friendly" shows in the Backlot Stage and Fantasyland Theater some time in March or April....That was all the details that I got, sorry, I will post more when I get them if I can. Just thought everyone might like to know and adult friendly were his words, not mine.

JeffG
01-08-2003, 09:36 AM
The New York Times article about Anne Hamburger that also ran over the weekend mentioned that a stage show based on "Snow White" is being prepared for Disneyland. My assumption is that this would be intended for the Fantasyland Theater.

-Jeff

sydney
01-08-2003, 11:22 AM
Lost Boy, I absolutely agree that it would be wonderful to have a large stage show in each park. And I still curse myself for never getting to DL to see the hunchback festival show in the arena.

Someone explain to me this though... Everytime I went to see Mickey's detective school (which was only 3 or 4 times, just to make sure I hadn't missed some intricate subtext or something... :)) I noticed two things... the theater seemed pretty full, and the audience kept applauding. I really didn't understand this (except to thank the hardworking cast and crew, which did more with the production than seems humanly possible).

But I guess if I were in TDA's shoes, and the majority of the DL-going public is content to take their little kiddies to one of these shows and is in fact happy afterwards that they did so... why would they spend more money?

The only answer I can try to defend (at least in my opionion) is that as happy as they may be with one of these small kiddie shows, the audience would be fantastically more happy with a large scale show. Basically, at least at DL, there are enough "things to do"... what they need is more "AMAZING" things to do. like E-tickets, or a large scale show.

sydney
01-08-2003, 11:23 AM
Oh- and I guess you may be right about Lights Camera Chaos, LB. For some reason I had it in my head that Anne was hired on long after DCA opened, but since she did "fix" Steps in Time, which opened with the park, that's not possible. So my bad.

DisneyGuy03
01-08-2003, 11:52 AM
The New York Times article about Anne Hamburger that also ran over the weekend mentioned that a stage show based on "Snow White" is being prepared for Disneyland. My assumption is that this would be intended for the Fantasyland Theater.
Now this would indeed be cool, I hope they have a cool effect for her transformation into the witch.


Someone explain to me this though... Everytime I went to see Mickey's detective school (which was only 3 or 4 times, just to make sure I hadn't missed some intricate subtext or something... ) I noticed two things... the theater seemed pretty full, and the audience kept applauding. I really didn't understand this (except to thank the hardworking cast and crew, which did more with the production than seems humanly possible).
The answer is really two fold here, one is that the theater is truly usually about 1/2 full, at least at the Fantasyland Theater, look at the point that never have to turn anyone away amore because the theater is full, like they have had to do in the past.

The second part is that they do indeed need to do more amazing things and a show is much cheaper to put in than a new attraction. I personally think we need both, I really do like the Snow White idea, I always thought it would make a great musical, maybe we can start a tradition with Aladdin and Snow White if that one indeed comes, we start the show here at the Disneyland Resort and then it goes on tour or to Broadway....we already did it with Beauty and The Beast, at lease to some degree, I think this would be really cool.

missymouse
01-11-2003, 07:44 AM
I understand that now that thr ROA are drained, fantasmic has been cancelled. We are planning a visit in february and are wondering if there are still nightly fireworks going on, or has this put on hold too? does dca have fireworks, too, or what. (We have moved away, and have not been to DL in a loooong time- never even seen DCA!!!!)

DisneyGuy03
01-11-2003, 11:17 AM
Ok, the fireworks are running on Fri. and Sat. only right now, DCA doesn't have thier own firework show, but if you don't care about the music, if DCA is still open during the fireworks show, you can see most of the show from the Paradise Pier area, as well as SunShine Plaza (Just look in the maps to see exactly where these are)

gn2dlnd
01-11-2003, 11:40 AM
Originally posted by JeffG
The New York Times article about Anne Hamburger that also ran over the weekend mentioned that a stage show based on "Snow White" is being prepared for Disneyland.

Uh, is this the one where Dopey has lines? Seriously, I'm wracking my brain trying to remember where I heard the story about the Hamburglar's version of Snow White where Dopey has lines. Anyone?

BTW, the Beauty and the Beast stage show at Disneyland was not "taken to Broadway," as is so often semi-stated. If anything, it showed Disney that the story worked as a stage musical, but the version at DL and the version on Broadway are light years apart in just about every aspect.

Lost Boy
01-11-2003, 04:36 PM
Yes, you are right about that B&B show at DL and on Broadway. But, for the last two seasons of the show at Disneyland, it was directed and operated by the Broadway Stage people who just getting into the feel for staging live theater. They used the Disneyland show to try out new ideas, see what worked and didn't work with live theater in front of a live audience and delvelpoed some new stage effects that were later expanded and, with more budget available, made bigger and better for Broadway. So, the show itself didn't go, but the peopel who ran it for two years did, and that's what I meant. This information came directly from one of the guys working in the tech booth at the back of the theater with whom we talked after each show we saw on Sundays during our 2 1/2 years of going to Disneyland every Sunday.

By the way, I have just about every Disneyland Stage show on tapes spread all over the place. I was thinking of offering this as a special two tape set of "Disneyland's Stage Shows". This would include: Dick Tracy; One Man's Dreaml; Plane Crazy' Beauty and The Beast; Pochahontas and Animazement.

Anyone interested in me doing this?

DisneyGuy03
01-11-2003, 06:17 PM
This is very true, without the live stage shows around, they wouldn't have been able to get a feel for what to do as well and who knows, maybe we wouldn't have seen Lion King on stage, as well as Hunch Back of Notre Dame (I am curious if anyone on here has happened to have a chance to see it, I forget where it's palying, but I believe it's in England or France or some such place, but still, wondering if anyone has gotten over there to see it?) and then who knows, maybe Aladdin? Snow White? Etc. on Broadway as well as the short versions here to help promote them initially.

sydney
01-11-2003, 08:14 PM
Lost Boy, you clearly are worthy of that title printed beneath your name. That having been said.... As a disney fanatic in training, I WOULD LOVE it if you would be so kind as to assemble that tape you mentioned. I have memories of being like 11 and going to see Plane Crazy and loving it. Also, what a great way to compare what entertainment was like a decade ago to what there is now.

Lost Boy
01-11-2003, 08:20 PM
This is going to take awhile, as what I said about being on tapes scattered all over the place is not quite as bad as it sounds as all my Disney Theme Park Tapes from around the world are in three boxes under the TV. It's just finding the ones, with the stage shows on them, and then making a Master Tape on high quality tape to make copies from, that takes the time. When I have it all assembled I will repost here to let you all know what to do to get these free tapes.