By BRUCE DENNILL
Disney On Ice presents Mickey’s Search Party / Produced by Feld Entertainment / SunBet Arena, Pretoria
It’s interesting that the Disney On Ice brand is associated with cartoon characters old and new, rather than Avengers: Infinity War or Arachnophobia or any of the other scores of film properties associated with the famous company. That would be a whole different show, and probably not as sure to be family-friendly.
As it is, a group of the studio’s classic characters – Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Minnie Mouse – anchor a cast of all-skating, all-dancing performer-athletes who portray characters from a number of famous films including Beauty And The Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Moana, Coco and Frozen. This allows for the showcasing of some of the big hits from those soundtracks, accompanied by complex choreography that can include ice dancing, figure skating pas de deux, tumbling on trampolines, launching over ramps or twirling around in the air doing aerial work.
The company is well-drilled, both in terms of their movements and the maintenance of their professionally cheery personae, and the enormous lighting and sound rig means there are visual effects that heighten the movements of the performers, such as circular shadow patterns rotating around pirouetting soloists or cartoon sound effects (“sproing!”, etc) when a clumsy pirate bumps into a prop or similar. A giant digital screen at the end of the ice rink is also a palette for other effects that crank up the scale of the presentation, from ice storms to the magic metre that Mickey and the team are trying to push to its maximum level.
The lavish costumes and special effects create the feel of a big show (even if it’s scaled for touring) that will likely fulfil the expectations of the older members of the audience. The plot, such as it is, is geared entirely for the kids, though. It’s a holiday club narrative about needing to find and free Tinker Bell in which audience participation and the singing of songs are ways to beat baddies and relentless exuberance is as good a strategy as any for completing tasks and engaging with the audience.
One of the happy outcomes of this approach – for parents, in this case – is the joy of watching their children’s eyes widen and their mouths form surprised “O” shapes as favourite characters make their entrance or skaters soar into the air or technical trickery makes something or someone appear or disappear. Plenty of that takes place, underlining that continuing effectiveness of the Disney formula: magic still gets created.*
*And taken home, for those persuaded to shell out for the popcorn and candy floss, which come with branded gear at Disney World prices.