Encore!

I've now had four Encore rehearsals, two with my section leaders and two with the full orchestra. I am totally blown away by the talent that is in this group and the production that is planned for this August!

In total, there are 101 musicians in the orchestra and 300+ in the choir. We also have a troupe of dancers and models that will be part of the show this summer. The show is called Dream Our Dreams! (with an exclamation point, or course), and is a musical tribute to the legacy of Disney. The show opens with Let the Magic, Music, and Mayhem Begin from our new fireworks spectacular at Magic Kingdom, A Dream is a Wish and Circle of Life, at which point the orchestra will be dramatically revealed to the audience. We continue on into Dreams of Love, which includes Can You Feel The Love Tonight, Bella Notte, He's A Tramp (can only be described as "hot"), and You'll Be In My Heart. We segue into Dreams of Fantasy, which includes That's How You Know from Enchanted. I Put A Spell On You from Hocus Pocus plunges us into Dreams of Darkness, which also includes This Is Halloween, Grim Grinning Ghosts, Poor Unfortunate Souls, and Be Prepared. We have a brief intermission, then jump start the second act with music from Pirates of the Caribbean and Dreams of Adventure, which also includes music from The Princess and the Frog, Tarzan, Hercules, Mulan, and Pocahontas. We then have Dreams of Family (my favorite from there is Shadowland from the Broadway version of The Lion King), and finally Dreams of Discovery, which includes many themes from Future World attractions at Epcot.

The finale of the show is Dream Our Dreams, which actually came from an unpopular parade that ran at Disneyland for all of ten weeks back in the 90's. The music itself is really cool though, we get to rock out and fiddle the theme from the Main Street Electrical Parade.

The rehearsals are a lot of fun, but very long. It's tough to sit upright with a violin for three hours every week. It's a fun group to work with, we have two keyboardists that crack jokes all night long, loud enough for me to hear but out of our conductor's range. Most of the musicians don't play for Disney, they have regular day jobs in the parks just like me. This orchestra provides a great venue for all of this creative talent to be unleashed! I cannot wait to see how this show is going to turn out.

ADDENDUM: Kyle is my stand partner. He's pretty cool. But he really needs to replace his A string, it's bringing the whole orchestra down.