Disneyland Debuts 'Mickey and the Magical Map'

Written by City News Service, posted by Roy Rivenburg.

"Mickey and the Magical Map," a live musical featuring Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer's apprentice and characters from several Disney films, debuts Saturday at Disneyland's Fantasyland Theatre.

The storyline has wise sorcerer Yen Sid directing his Mapmakers, a singing-dancing ensemble that paints a wondrous map capable of taking people to any place imaginable. The map spans the entire stage of the outdoor Fantasyland Theatre, where the show will be performed five times daily.

Mickey Mouse stumbles upon the map's magical powers, which take him on a fantastic journey of imagination.

The show includes appearances and songs by King Louie from "The Jungle Book" ("I Wan'na Be Like You"); Pocahontas ("Just Around the Riverbend"); Mulan ("Reflection"); Rapunzel and Flynn Rider from "Tangled" ("I See The Light"); Princess Tiana from "The Princess and the Frog" ("Dig a Little Deeper"); and Sebastian from "The Little Mermaid" ("Under the Sea").

"Each new show we create is a chance to push storytelling in a new direction," said Michael Jung, theatrical development executive for Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment.

"At Disney, we love the challenge of continuously looking at our classic tales and most recent stories to see how we can bring live entertainment and excitement to today's audiences."

The Fantasyland Theatre was inspired by the original Fantasyland Theater, which showed Disney cartoons and Mouseketeer footage from 1955 to 1964.
The current theater debuted in 1985 as Videopolis, a dance location, which quickly drew crowds for stage productions including "One Man's Dream"; "Dick Tracy Starring in Diamond Double Cross"; "Mickey's Nutcracker"; and one of Disney's first stage productions of "Beauty and the Beast."

The venue was renamed Fantasyland Theatre in 1995 with the debut of "The Spirit of Pocahontas." "Animazement -- The Musical" ran for three years and  "Snow White - An Enchanting Musical" for two. The theatre was then converted into an area where park visitors could meet Disney princesses.