Disney Dare to Dream Jr

It is a real treat nowadays to hear Disney songs on stage, because they are restricted to use except with specific performing rights licences.  This production is a 60-minute musical revue that follows an eager group of trainees on their first day at a fictional Walt Disney Imagineering Studio. It is designed for young performers, and suited the Danbury Players junior section wonderfully well. 

Ava Barker and India-Rose Rogers played the trainers, encouraging the rest of the cast to ‘think, dream, believe, and dare’, they both had great stage presence and were a lovely double act. They lead the group in several songs, and I really enjoyed Ava’s ‘Friend like me’, and India-Rose’s ‘You’ve got a friend in me’.

Kyla Randall sang one of my favourite Disney new songs ‘Surface Pressure’, it’s a tricky one and she absolutely nailed it, with the tense emotion and impressive vocals, while interacting with ensemble choreography. Georgia Holmes had a lovely tone to her voice, performing ‘Let it go’ with grace and style, complete with icy graphics projected onto the back wall.

Jess sang ‘I just can’t wait to be king’, she had great energy and confidence on stage for someone so young. Layla Evans delivered a super version of ‘Dig a little deeper’, another Disney favourite of mine. Lily Kemsley sang a sensitive and moving ‘Out there’, and Rosie Malthouse gave a lovely performance of ‘Just around the riverbend’.    

The featured singers and Mia Theobald had speaking parts, the lines were spoken clearly and helped to tell the story between songs. They were supported in the production by an ensemble of Dolcie Lynch, Florence Bowman, Sienna Adair, Seb Gauntlett, Callie Young, and Ava Bedford, who had a lot of singing and moves to learn, and most performers seemed to love being up on stage, with beaming smiles and plenty of energy. Some were a little out of time with the dances moves, this can easily happen with nerves or over excitement. I understand from speaking to the directors that the more experienced cast members helped the first timers to feel comfortable moving around the stage, and that junior choreographers were involved in the production team, which is lovely to hear. It’s important to enable young people to develop skills and get involved for local theatre to continue into the future.

The set was simple, it focused on the projections that accompanied each song with very recognisable Disney imagery, and a bold lighting design which made it a really colourful production to watch.  The bright variety of t-shirts worn with dungaree shorts looked great, and using some blocks and occasional props added interest to the songs. Having the performers sitting on the front of the stage and moving down into the auditorium at times was a nice choice by the directors.  

Using personal microphones gave the freedom to be facing up stage, and in various formations without a drop in volume. The backing tracks being used had the iconic Disney sound which can be difficult to reproduce without a large band, and worked really well for this production. The harmonies sung at the end of the show were splendid, topped off with confetti cannons!

It was a lovely mix of 23 songs from the classic animated movies and more recently released films, performed by a talented young group. Watching this production was a joyful way to spend an afternoon, many thanks to Danbury Players.

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