JENNY DE KLERK
THERE were gasps of recognition all around me: “There’s Peter Pan… there’s Baloo… there’s Mulan!”
Disney on Ice, Let’s Celebrate! opens with a rousing welcome from Lumiere of Beauty and the Beast fame: “Be Our Guest,” he carols, and you settle back for a couple of hours of fun with hosts Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
The costumes, of course, are superb, taken from just about every Disney movie you can remember, from Snow White to The Nightmare Before Christmas. Some of them are so massive that the skaters can do little more than lumber around the ice, but Pig and Dinosaur from Toy Story are still instant hits.
High speed skating is, of course, always an attraction, and the show tries to mesh in something for everyone, ranging from a slapstick “unbirthday party” with the Mad Hatter, which didn’t impress me too much, to Mickey the sorcerer’s assistant conjuring up a rink-full of glow-in-the-dark dancing brooms, which did.
To my mind, the best sequence is the Valentine’s Ball, where Minnie Mouse asks the Fairy Godmother how to find her Prince Charming, and they end up taking tips from all the Disney princesses and their swains.
Lifts and spins galore as each couple tries to outdo the next in high-speed duets, all accompanied by the songs everybody knows and loves. The movie villains also get their chance to shine at Halloween, led by Skellington. Again the costumes make the show.
In the second half, Minnie and Mickey go around the world looking for different kinds of celebration. Mickey lands up in the Mardi Gras, Minnie has a graceful encounter with dancing girls in Japan, they meet Mulan and a sinuous dragon in China and attend a beach party with Lilo and Stitch in Hawaii.
The greatest celebration of all, they decide, is Christmas, so they enrol Daisy and Donald Duck as guests, with Pluto barking along and Goofy parading as Santa Claus. Here, Woody and Buzz get a look-in – what’s Christmas without toys?
Video and special effects, billowing smoke, bursts of fireworks, a giant birthday cake, and, of course, a sleigh, add to the spectacle.