DOHA: Residents here will be seeing more Disney shows next year after the Disney High School Musical performance tomorrow at the Ceremonial Court in Education City.
Steven Armstrong (pictured), regional marketing director - UK and Ireland for Feld Entertainment, one of the world's largest producers of live family entertainment, said he is planning on bringing more Disney shows in the future.
"We are looking at other venues where we can put an ice floor for a potential Disney on Ice show... or maybe bring in some of our other Disney Live shows," said Armstrong in an interview.
Feld Entertainment produces live family entertainment that travels around the world. It includes six Disney Live stage shows and nine Disney on Ice shows, among others.
Feld Entertainment's Disney Live stage shows include Winnie The Pooh, Mickey's Magic Show, Playhouse Disney Live!, Three Classic Fairy Tales, Rockin' Road Show, and High School Musical. The company's Disney on Ice shows include Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey, 100 Years of Magic, Princess Classics, Finding Nemo, Disneyland Adventure, Princess Wishes, Worlds of Fantasy, and Disney on Ice Let's Celebrate.
Armstrong said this is the first time their company is bringing any of their products to the country and had to adapt to how people dress here. "We changed some of the costumes to more conservative ones and we had to change some of the dance moves that may seem provocative."
He said his company was approached by Qatar Foundation to bring an event here that would support QF's mission of spreading performing arts and entertainment to the people in the country which has "a bit of an educational element to the show and value entertainment, as well as bringing a name like Disney to Qatar."
The High School Musical show by Disney, which will be shown tomorrow at the Ceremonial Court in Education City, will include new twists to the performance, Armstrong said. The cast and crew of the show include around 22 people.
"We have added extra elements to the show, specifically for the audience in Qatar... It includes one where we teach the audience how to dance a part of the routine... we have also put up a screen to project the lyrics of some of the songs so the audience can sing along... we are all trying these new elements for the first time and we are looking forward to seeing how the audience will react to a show like this and the open-air venue... We usually have our shows indoors."
The dance move will be like the finale of the High School Musical 3 movie where the kids graduate and perform a big dance at the end of the movie. The cast will teach the audience the moves around the start of the second act so they can join in the dance during the finale.
The entire musical includes scenes from all the three Disney High School Musical movies and has included 18 tracks from all the three films.
Armstrong said even during the global economic gloom, their business was hardly affected as "people still want to experience the world of Disney."
© The Peninsula 2009
