MUSIC REVIEW : A ‘Fantasy’ From Disney at the Bowl

There have been Disney programs at Hollywood Bowl before, but none as elaborate as “Disney’s Symphonic Fantasy,” which opened Friday evening, for the first of three performances. From there the show goes on tour, including 16 performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Ironically, this may be one Bowl spectacular that will work better at an opera house. With the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Azusa Pacific University Choir taking up most of the stage, the busy action of the costumed Disney characters was confined to a broad but shallow strip.

The big production numbers seemed very cramped, and much of the ensemble dancing inhibited. Sets, of course, were limited largely to props, and the lighting was not effective until the second half, after the sun had set completely.

This is a show, though, that lives on its music, vividly reminding us of the bottomless treasury of classic songs created for Disney films. It touched most of the expected bases from “Snow White” to “Aladdin,” with the older material on the first half, and the second centered on the trilogy of recent hits.

Jim Christensen led the orchestra in crackling, limber performances of real presence. But then, the band played on quite capably in an excerpt from the “William Tell” Overture while Goofy cavorted in Christensen’s place.

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Thirty-two voices from the Azusa choir, prepared by Gary Bonner, supplied suave, accomplished ensemble and provided uncredited soloists of compelling pop skills, particularly in the “Snow White” ballet. The choir will tour with the show, joining other orchestras (the American Symphony Orchestra in New York).

Most of the staging and choreography tried to remain faithful to the originals, whether animated or live action. The most significant departures came, appropriately enough, in the “Nutcracker” excerpts from “Fantasia.” There the models were humanly balletic and as neatly danced as the tight conditions permitted.

This is not a show long on special effects--a few flash pots and a live horse about did it. It was at its best when most intimate, as in “A Whole New World” from “Aladdin,” choreographed as an ice-dance-influenced adagio with stunning lifts.

The finale did utilize the Bowl peculiarities, sending much of the cast out on the curved wall behind the first section of boxes and bringing a large contingent of flag-carrying children down the aisles for “It’s a Small World.”

Disney exec Michael Eisner was the familiar, if still stubbornly uncharismatic and atheatrical host Friday. The program was repeated Sunday, with the final Bowl performance scheduled tonight.