Disney on Ice is back in the Bay Area, and boy is it rockin'! The boys and I attended the opening night show of Disney on Ice presents Rockin' Ever After, and we had a great time! The show features 4 of Disney's best-loved princess tales: The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, and Brave. In this 2-hour show, Disney on Ice skaters bring the movies to life on the ice, skating to songs from the movies and reenacting a condensed version of the story.
The fun starts with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald skating onto the ice and introducing a series of short performances by Pinocchio, Cinderella's sisters Anastasia and Drizella, and Ariel's six sisters along with Sebastian. I loved watching Ariel's sisters skate to a medley of tunes from my teenage years including Vogue and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!
After Ariel's sisters performed, Sebastian started looking for Ariel, which led to the Little Mermaid portion of the show. Even though we've seen The Little Mermaid performed on ice several times before, Disney on Ice constantly tweaks the costumes, props, and choreography to keep things fresh.
Next on the program was the story of Beauty and the Beast. In past years we've seen Belle and the Beast skate to Tale As Old As Time, but have never seen the whole story reenacted on ice. The scenery and props for this segment were amazing! I was really impressed by how they were able to recreate Belle's village, the Beast's library, and Gaston's pub. They even had real flaming torches for the Kill The Beast musical number.
Enjoyable as the first half of the show was, I was even more excited to watch the second half because everything was new to me. After intermission came Tangled, the story of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Again, I was impressed by their clever usage of props like huge flags, the floating lanterns and Rapunzel's tower. Somehow, they were also able to get Maximus the horse and all the thieving thugs dancing and twirling on the ice -- with frying pans, no less!
The final quarter of the show featured the Disney-Pixar movie Brave. I was wondering how they would port the story of Merida onto the ice, because it's not a musical, but they managed to do it quite well. It started with Mickey Mouse opening a book and beginning Merida's story, then gradually switched over to a narration from Merida's point of view.
The two main musical numbers were Merida skating to Touch The Sky, and the archery tournament, set to lively Scottish music. I love Scottish music, so I enjoyed both numbers immensely -- in fact, right after the show I downloaded "Touch The Sky" onto my phone! It's going to make a great addition to my Disney-themed running playlist!
Of all the 4 stories, Beauty and the Beast seemed the most complete. If you haven't watched Little Mermaid, Tangled or Brave, you might have a bit of trouble following along, because the show leaves out key elements of the 3 stories. (Ariel & Eric defeating Ursula, cutting Rapunzel's hair, Merida turning her mom into a bear and pretty much the entire second half of the Brave movie). I'm sure it was a challenge fitting 4 stories into a single show! I think Disney on Ice did a great job, and this production is one of the best Disney on Ice shows I've seen in recent years! It's playing tonight and tomorrow at the SAP in Center in San Jose from February 19-23 and Oracle Arena in Oakland from February 26-March 2. Don't miss it!
Disclosure: : I am a Feld Family Ambassador, and in exchange for my time and efforts in attending shows and reporting my opinion within this blog, as well as keeping you advised of the latest discount offers, Feld Entertainment has provided me with complimentary tickets to Feld shows and opportunities to attend private Feld pre‐Show events. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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