Jim on Film
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On the Record On the Road

Some time ago, Walt Disney Theatricals had announced a musical revue of its classic Disney songs to be directed by Tina Landau, who helmed the Broadway revival of the musical classic Bells are Ringing. When that revue project faded into obscurity, just as Michael Eisner was facing scrutiny after the departure of Roy Disney and Stanley Gold from the Board of Directors, On the Record was announced as a future project to tour the country.

On the Record was conceived by Broadway director and choreographer Robert Longbottom, who did a fine job re-conceiving a troubled Scarlet Pimpernel and was also nominated for a Tony for his choreography in the recent Flower Drum Song revival, which he also directed. He is still probably best known, however, for the direction and choreography of his first Broadway project, the cult musical Side Show. For On the Record, he again takes the reigns as director and choreographer.

First of all, there is no doubt that On the Record was conceived as an easy way for Disney to make money. The show utilizes classic Disney songs in a show with one set, eight performers, a pre-recorded voice, seventeen costume changes, and only a whiff of a story-in other words, it couldn’t have been too expensive to produce. It is clearly intended to making a killing on the road from people who will pay up to $65 to hear classic Disney songs in a touring Broadway venue.

The basic structure of the show is that eight people have been gathered in a recording studio to record classic Disney songs. Advertising for the show is deceptive in its claims to be about “a young unknown . . . about to get her big break, a pop diva . . . about to meet her match, and a matinee idol . . . about to meet the new kid who could take his place.�? Other than a Recording Engineer (a pre-recorded voice off stage) who instructs the performers about some of the sessions, there is no dialogue to develop any of these ideas. The young unknown getting her big break is merely conveyed by a line or two spoken by the Recording Engineer which prompts the young unknown to break out into A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes. The rest of the plot as outlined in advertising is compacted into about four minutes of stage time, communicated through non-verbal gestures and attitudes. Moments into the play, the Recording Engineer instructs the performers to leave their baggage (both physical and personal) at the door, and at the door remains any sense of character and plot until the very end (with the exception of the pop diva using the line “bigger and stronger too�? from You’ve Got a Friend in Me to insult the matinee idol).

Most of the stage time is involved with eight people (our four main “characters�?-figures really-and a quartet) singing sixty-four classic Disney songs one-after-the-other and sometimes breaking into dance. Recording studio aside, the real concept seems to have been eight beautiful people with beautiful voices singing great Disney songs beautifully.

As for song selections, there are very few surprises among the choices. Let’s Get Together from The Parent Trap makes an appearance, as does The Walrus and the Carpenter from Alice in Wonderland, Will the Sun Ever Shine Again from Home on the Range, and Minnie’s Yoo Hoo. The majority of selections come from the best-known Disney films, with only The Jungle Book and The AristoCats making a showing among full-length animated features in the films after Sleeping Beauty (1959) and before The Little Mermaid (1989). Most of the songs are presented in a medley format, but they are mostly so well-cut (or at least creatively presented), that the often-annoying medley format is welcome. Of note to Disney fans, not listed in the program is that in one scene of underscoring, The Age of Not Believing can be heard, and several songs not performed in the show can be heard in the exit music.

On the Record finds itself on a fine line between Broadway show and theme park diversion. Oddly enough, it is bookended by the more theme park aspects of the presentation, complete with choreography and vocal arrangements one imagines can be found performed by any number of college students in theme parks across the country. However, when the Broadway roots of its creator kicks into high gear, that’s when the show really shines.

The cast is lead by Broadway star Emily Skinner, who was nominated for a Tony Award for her role as Siamese twin Daisy Hilton in Side Show and also appeared on Broadway in Jekyll and Hyde, The Full Monty, and James Joyce’s The Dead. It’s hard to say whether Skinner is as talented as she is beautiful or is as beautiful as she is talented, but her passionate soprano brings life to the stage in the role of Diane, the supposed diva. The moment when the show first kicks into high gear comes from Skinner, who delivers Someday My Prince Will Come with a sense of mature longing and passion tempered with the operetta style in which the song was original performed. Skinner makes one of Disney’s earliest and best known songs come alive in a way little Snow White could never have understood. It doesn’t take long to see why Skinner is indeed a Broadway star.

Emily Skinner’s presence in On the Record is a true blessing. Skinner is a performer well-known in theatre circles in New York, a true Broadway leading talent. Rarely do stars like Skinner-such as Marin Mazzie, Carolee Carmello, and Adam Pascal-ever make it out on the road, with lead roles usually going to talented no-names or to celebrities with varying degrees of talent. Kudos goes to Disney for giving On the Record a star of Skinner’s name and caliber.

Brian Sutherland plays Julian, the matinee idol. Sutherland, who boasts Broadway credits in shows 1776, Victor/Victoria, The Sound of Music, Cats, and others, is also a welcomed Broadway presence. Blessed with a rich and versatile voice, Sutherland follows Skinner’s amazing Someday My Prince Will Come with another highlight of the show, leading the presentation of one of my favorite Disney songs, Once Upon a Dream, which is, according to my notes, “to die for.�?

Ashley Brown portrays Kristen, the young unknown. At first hearing, Brown deceptively comes off as a beautiful soprano like so many others gracing Broadway shows in New York and across the country. However, it is her rendition of Reflection (climaxed with a powerful Broadway belt) that will make you say Christina Agu-who?, and her performance of A Change in Me, from the Broadway Beauty and the Beast, is amazing.

Andrew Samonsky is Nick, the new kid who could take the matinee idol’s place. He gets to lead a fun Brian Setzer-esque rendition of Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat and a heartfelt Out There. One of the most interesting moments in the show is to see Emily Skinner and Brian Sutherland, who split Frollo’s Out There intro between them, singing to Samonsky about how ugly and deformed he is. Samonsky, of course, looks like he just walked out of a Gap advertisement.