Sunday, October 17, 1999
Disney on Ice show glides over 75 years
Cast goes through 300 costumes
BY CHRIS KLEIN
Enquirer contributor
It's a season of “firsts” for the Disney on Ice cast and crew.
This year for the first time, the show does not focus on one Disney favorite. The costume changes — almost 300 in two hours — keep them all hopping. And their nine-month, 33-city tour already has been interrupted by a hurricane.
This year's show, 75 Years of Disney Magic, features bits from Disney's past. It comes to the Firstar Center Tuesday-Sunday.
Expect to see oldies like the Mouseketeers, Pinocchio, Goofy and Dumbo. New Disney characters including Woody, Buzz, Mulan and Flik. And dozens of favorites from those in-between years including Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Simba and Winnie the Pooh.
Quick change artists
Because the show had such a wide range of stories and characters, each of the 47 skaters wears five or six costumes. Imagine being Minnie Mouse, Nala, Cogsworth, Eeyore and Jiminy Cricket all in one evening.
It may sound like a dream-come-true to a child playing dress-ups, but it can be a nightmare to someone charged with keeping this two-hour performance running smoothly.
“Some of the costumes are only used for five minutes,” company manager Scott Dickerson says. “The skaters are really, really busy!”
Another scene features the princes and princesses from Disney favorites, including Jasmine and Aladdin, Ariel and Eric, and Cinderella and Belle, each with their prince.
Another first: The show also includes the ice premieres of scenes from Mulan, A Bug's Life and The Lion King.
Weathering Floyd
Then there was Hurricane Floyd.
“We're like a small town that moves around the country,” Mr. Dickerson says.
So when the cast and crew arrived in Charleston, S.C., last month and received orders to evacuate, the logistics of finding a place to put 120 people, 17 tractor trailers and three buses presented a challenge.
“The venue for the show was being turned into an emergency shelter,” Mr. Dickerson says. “We couldn't find a hotel with vacancies in a four-state radius.”
The nearest place that could accommodate the group was in Alabama. Thus began a journey which, under normal conditions, would last five hours. “We arrived 18 hours later only to find the hotel had inadvertently released our rooms to other people,” he says.
Another eight hours later the group found shelter in Birmingham where they stayed and practiced at a local rink until time to move on to Portland, Maine.
The largest employer of professional figure skaters in the world, Mr. Dickerson says, Disney has hired skaters from 10 different countries for the tour, which runs until May 21.
“Not all of them speak English, and it can be a tough situation for those that don't,” Mr. Dickerson says. Most join the show just out of high school.
“You have to be young to keep this type of lifestyle,” quips Mr. Dickerson, who at 33 is one of the oldest of the group.
IF YOU GO
• What: Disney on Ice performs
“75 Years of Disney Magic.”
• When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday Oct. 19-22, 11:30 a.m., 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday 23 and 1 and 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: Firstar Center
• Tickets: $13.50, $16.50 and $18.50. Opening night tickets start at
$9. Children under 12 save $2.50 on
Tuesday and Wednesday. On sale at
(End Leg 1)
Firstar Center box office, Ticketmaster
outlets or call 562-4949.
• Web site: www.DisneyOnIce.com
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