One of the new Disneyland Resort vacation offers is a show showing the young guitar character from Miguel de “Coco”. But it is ultimately rooted in a culture and a story that predates the 2017 film.
The director of the show, Tobi Longo, withdrew from her childhood, her family roots and a cultural heritage by working with her peers to give life to the performance focused on Mariachis. In turn, its main influence was not the Disney / Pixar film, but Las posadas. The latter – Think of a festive procession that travels among the community – are traditionally organized in Mexico between December 16 and 24. In their purest form, Las posadas represents the biblical history of Joseph and Mary and the search for a shelter at the time of the birth of Jesus.
Disney's performance deviates from religious overruns. But some of the main touch stones – a mixture of music and stories, centering children with candles – are present. The show in the early evening, officially nicknamed “a musical Christmas with Mariachi Alegría de Disneyland & Miguel”, is part of this year's extended program for the Disney California Adventure festival, now a tradition of almost decades that concentrates its events on cultures that Disney films represent rather than the films themselves.
While the guitar character of Miguel de “Coco” appears in a new Disneyland Resort holiday show, the performance is simply inspired by the world of the film, rather than telling his story.
(Joshua Sudock / Disneyland Resort)
In this sense, Festival of Holidays draws on the original Disneyland mission, that is to say presenting an ambitious vision of society which seems as much as the world beyond its doors as the fantasies held there.
Longo, asked questions about the inspiration behind the show, spoke of his education.
“My grandfather was going to become a priest for the mission of San Gabriel, and he met my grandmother and did not follow this path,” explains Longo. “But my family participated in Las Posadas, and in San Gabriel, there was a blue line painted on the ground and everyone followed it, and it was a great tradition for the Mexican Catholic community. I have always disguised myself as an angel and I had a small candle.
“I remember beautiful lanterns and candles and people who treated and representing different characters in the story of Christmas,” continues Longo. “So when they talked about making a song and a procession, I thought:” Wouldn't it be beautiful if we were inspired by that? “”
The dancers holding shiny and starred lanterns lead a musical walk to the main hub of Disney California Adventure. There, a narrator and singer welcomes and returned to the guests with stories about the way different Latin countries present stories from Santa Claus, or, let's say, the joy of unpacking a tamale.
Popular Carols – “Santa Claus is coming to town”, “Jingle Bells” – are presented in bilingual, and while the performance accumulates to an appearance of Miguel, the culmination is in the serene place, an interpretation of a candle of “Night Silent”, with the participation of the public. There is a moment, the prices of the park with a festive theme become something more reflective, while slightly nodding the more spiritual foundations of the party.
“Raising children and giving them a candle – I thought if it would be controllable?” Said Longo. “But the children are there and are almost hypnotized by the candle. It turned out to be very soft, but it is fun and living and teaches a little on people on Mexican culture and their traditions around Christmastime.”
Such an approach has become a vacation festival mission.
(Christian Thompson / Disneyland Resort)
Disney, says Susana TubertThe creative director of live entertainment of the complex, has considerably increased the quantity of acts it presents for the event, which takes place until January 6. Musical groups touch jazz, klezmer, reggae, polka, gospel and more, while festivities are trying to reflect Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other cultural traditions, this year of depth in the communities of southern California and California.
It is a doubling about diversified and inclusive programming, which means that Festival of Holidays feels in time, animated and even to take risks, especially when Disneyland could simply rely on its popular films and its fairy tales and avoid the sometimes politicized examination which can come with multicultural programming.
This reflects an approach that occurred on a complex scale. In recent years, the Walt Disney Co. has adopted a wide view of its themed parks, examining places to increase diversity or remove obsolete stereotypes. See, for example, the recent change in Splash Mountain on the adventure of Bayou de Tianaor adjust to classics such as The jungle cruise To put the attraction to modern sensitivities. To come soon: an update of Disneyland Peter Pan flight To eliminate the cartoon from the Amerindians.
“Representation – I think it is so important,” explains Paul David Bryant of Disneyland, who helps to orchestrate the holiday festival, focusing strongly on his musical performances.
“And I think that's exactly what we are here at Disneyland Resort,” he continues. “We want to make sure that when I, or that you or Tobi enters the park, I hope we can see someone who looks like us. We are A little world. It makes me feel good when I walk there and see all these different cultures. When I go out and see a kwanzaa group singing R&B that looks like a gospel and that talks about a piece of Disney, it brings me to a trip. »»
A trip, adds Bryant, on the widening and opening of customer views in the world. “You can enter and go out knowing more than you have made it know,” he says.
This year for Festival of Holidays, there are three signature shows. Joining Mariachi's performance is a new history of the afternoon that uses the songs of “Incant”, recommending them only in the frenzied festivities to prepare for Christmas. He does it while alluding to the Colombian influences of the film.
The two new entertainment offers are joined in a long time “Long live Christmas!”“Street parade with the three Caballeros led by Donald Duck.” ¡Viva Navidad! “The weekends and serve a folk event which from start to finish is a noisy celebration of Latin art and music, with folklórico dancers and Mariachis as well as Mojiganga puppets 12 feet high, that is to say large-scale and more paper sculptures.
The new day holiday show “Mirabel's Gifts of the Season” is based on a grand finale in Cumbia.
(Christian Thompson / Disneyland Resort)
“Mirabel's Gifts of the Season” relies to a grand finale in Cumbia, with an actor playing the “Incant” Mirabel protagonist trying to teach dance movements to the public. Throughout, the show humorously captures the hectic nature of decoration and cooking for a Christmas gathering, the characters sometimes having the best of a little, like a Christmas tree constructed in a hurry.
While using a number of songs in the film, performance is not a story. The show even tries to refocus the songs, such as the use of “all of you” as a boundary ballad to shed light on the holiday candles.
“Colombia is one of the founding houses of the magical realism of Latin America,” explains Tubert. “So even the fact that Mirabel creates this small tree of sticks and sees it as his Christmas tree is part of this everyday poetry which makes magic realism what it is. We are going there. We take ourselves in Colombia and say, “What makes it authentic?” Our dialect coach gives us perfect accents for Colombia. »»
The director of “Mirabel Gifts of the Season” Linda Love Simmons says that Tubert defies the team to think beyond the simple creation of a performance that serves as references to the film, even if we recognize that the public would probably be happy to simply sing the songs they know. Notes Tubert: “It would be the low fruit to make a song, but it's already on Disney +.”
“At the beginning, it was:” Let's make a song “, admits Simmons.” Susana and I are going: “We can do better”.
“Susana always said to me,” You are a best storyteller than that. It makes me widen deeply. But three -quarters of the path, we do it all along and sing “all of you” and pass a candle. »»
The holiday festival lasts a few weeks, but it also has an impact on Disneyland all year round. Tubert, for example, says that the Mariachi group which directs the show “Coco” – Mariachi Alegría de Disneyland – will remain after the holiday season. Expect that they are part of the station's musical offers, she teases.
“This is part of the tapestry of the diversity that Disneyland represents,” explains Tubert. “That's who we are.”
