[PhantomBantam]

Just saw Disney on Ice here in Columbia SC. It was a triple feature in two acts retelling the Lion King, The Jungle Book and Tarzan. It was about a two hour show.

It was incredible.

The Show was presented at the Carolina Center, a brand new multi arena facility completed this New Year. It cost a lot of Money for us Gamecocks (University of South Carolina) to build but it truly is a wonderful place.

The set was so neat. It was completely portable and dangled from the rafter sets. Back ground pieces were very detailed and featured multiple interactive scenery, ramps and special effects staging including a running waterfall. Extremely well done.

The music was great of course with only two spliced updated songs from the original scores which did not detract from the show. I believe Nsynch did one of the revamps of the Your Our Friend song of the Vultures (Jungle Book) (wonderful costuming!) Original Voice tracks were used through out the show from the films effectively. The group that produced the show had a wonderful sound system rigged as well. They also had a live synthesizer sound effects team that played several key cues to facilitate the remarkable amounts of site gags and slapstick gesturing. It was cool to see the synthesizer groups below our seating area go into mad prestidigitation as the Gorilla breaking Camp song rendered itself in truly chaotic fashion.

The costumes were super. The obvious smile makers were the Elephant Patrol from the Jungle Book operated by tandem teams skating brilliantly in huge elephant sized character suits. The more athletic skaters wore costumes suited to the tasks (body suits) Now a brief note (ahem), Mowgli wore only his red hip wraps and Tarzan a loin cloth. They were not boys. These men were definite Eye Candy. But so was Nala and Jane. Yow... Please don't change it!

As each Character came out, a teaser of theme music was played to make a more grand entrance for the lead roles and all the kids and some adults (ahem) cheered there appearance. The talent was hardly reused as pairs had their designated roles and the primate choruses were interchangeable. And what fun they were...Skating their hearts out using trampolines and teeter boards to do summersaults and what not on ice!

Scar's contemptuous villain song from the lion King with Accompanying Hyena chorus was thrilling as always but with the added Ice Skating Staging and remarkable light show, was really special. There was a nice death of Mustafa lighting and semblance feature that was great too.

Timon and Pumba were wonderful. And the costumes were better than anything at the Disney Parks. No Kidding!

The Nala and Simpa pair Skating was so very strong. They were so very polished and the lifts were so very fast and immediate. Flawless. BUT FAST...Its hard to emphasize the almost reckless but exciting speed at which Simba spun Nala over his head in one of several mind blowing high energy lifts in their pair skating routine.

The original sound editing were incredible for the Jungle Book. It was not as flashy as far as skating went but the cast was large and it was probably more fun for the Kids. They did Trussst In Meeee using an effective Chinese Dragon style multi person Skating Team as a costume. The elaborate and very long and large python body was highlighted with hypnotic LED motion lights in the eyes of the creature. Cool.

I could truly feel King Louis philanderers style as he harassed everyone on stage and near by audience. He clambers over every piece of set including his own portable and self destructing palace ruins. His monkey tribe was all over the place! Most of the main Characters were best described as sturdy skaters as they had a lot of dialog to pantomime through. Mowgli had talent but his part was lower key as should be for the part.

Tarzan brought the house down.

Riggings of vine dangled from the rafters for Tarzan to take a high speed free swing maneuvers over the audience as he darted around the rink. Children screamed with excitement as he did running back flips and high energy maneuvers around set pieces and cast members. He was everywhere!

Jane was remarkable too. She was a calming force to Tarzan making grace a growing aspect of the pairs skating routines as the story progresses to an amazing love scene dangling and spinning from the vines in true Circus du Solei worthy acrobatics in SKATES! IN SKATES!!!!!

Those kids were strong. I wish I could have gotten a program but they cost $12.00 so I don't have any names to share.

The music the skating the light show the look on my Daughter's face...It was well worth the admission and I will definitely see the next one.

[mattomouseman]

We wanted to see this but never got to! We did see the Lion King on Broadway a few weeks ago and it was wodnerful! I posted it on here when we saw it. It is definitly a must see!

[quartz7]

Hi Phantom

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. I'm hoping for the Disney on ice Classic. Hope it comes to Colorado. I have always loved Disney on Ice.

Janelle

[dab]

Phantom what a great review... better than the ones I read in the Atlanta Journal & Constitution! What gift you have! Sadly that show isn't coming to Atlanta! You really made me want to see Mowgli and Tarzan! We saw Disney Princess on Ice last fall and it too was spectaclular. Glad to hear you had such a great time!

[BDavis932]

Thanks for the great show report, Phantom!!

We have been going back and forth about buying tickets to this show, which will be here starting April 10th.

After reading your report, we went ahead and booked our seats today for opening night! They were also running a special for $10/seat for opening night!! Yahoo!

We saw Disney on Ice, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs about 2 years ago and it was FANTASTIC! I can't wait for this one!!

[goofygal1975]

Thanks for such a great recap of the show. This show is THE one we wanted to see. But it's not showing here in Fl. I *wish* it would!!!! The Princess one is coming here real soon, but try as I might, I just couldn't convince my 7...uh, exuse me, 7 AND 3/4 year old DS to go see it with me!! ;) A few years back, when he had NO say in the matter, a friend and I took both our sons to see THe Little Mermaid on Ice. Now that was awsome (and he even enjoyed it!!!)

At least I got to see it through the recap above!! I wish they would air these on TV, once the show is done traveling live, ya know? Like they do for the Campbells on Ice tour, or other Ice skating tours!

[DisneyAnne]

Hey Phantom...... Your show sounded so much better than the one I saw on Thursday night ....at the Carolina Center. It may have been because it was opening night.

I totally agree with your initial comment about the stage set-up. I was impressed with the attention to detail (like I should be surprised...this IS Disney) - the bird sounds, the fog and the waterfalls did it for me.

I thought Mowgli's skating was more amatuer than professional and the Jungle Book sketch went on a little long In fact, we considered leaving at intermission. (Mowgli's costume was a bit risque as well)

But I wasn't about to give up on Disney and knew better things were coming. :D And they did... Tarzan was by far the best skit in my opinion. The acrobatics and vine climbing were GREAT! They did a wonderful job casting Tarzan and Jane. I also enjoyed the Lion King.

FYI... Disney Club members can still get $4 off per ticket when ordering through Ticketmaster for several off the shows...I think it was the Thursday night and Friday matinee.

[BDavis932]

We went last night to opening night at the Erwin Center here in Austin, and it was fantastic!!

I agree...The jungle book went on a few minutes too long...but Tarzan was so worth the wait!! It ALL was fabulous...just as we expected and the show was packed, which I was so happy to see!

We kept it a secret from the kids until we walked up to the entrance. They were so happy. They were surprised again after their Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, Grandpa, and cousins showed up to share the fun with us! What a magical night!!!

Now....I'll keep hoping that Toy Story will come to our town....

[Angie]

I'm so bummed. I really wanted to see princesses on ice with my kids but it's not coming to New Orleans or Biloxi. I'm glad for those of you who are getting to see any of the ice shows. The only one we've seen was a few years ago, the Little Mermaid. It was so great!