Bad Luck at Horseshoe Revue: Disneyland Cuts 3 Musicians

At least three of the eight musicians in Disneyland’s “Golden Horseshoe Revue” lost their jobs and a fourth was demoted to part time in the latest shake-up of the long-running Old West-theme stage show.

The show, which runs five times daily in Frontierland, uses two four-piece bands, one five days a week and one two days a week. Disneyland fired all 24 cast members, including the eight musicians, last month and invited them to re-audition for their jobs in what a park spokesman called a bid to “keep things fresh.”

Information on other cast members was not available, but drummer John Whited and trumpeter Steve Charpie from the two-day-a-week band were not rehired. Neither was Dale Olsen, the full-time trumpeter since 1970, who had been on medical leave and was not able to re-audition. All three are older than 40. Danny Smith, the full-time violinist, was rehired for the two-day band.

Several longtime cast members were forced into retirement when the show was revamped in 1986.