Captain America gets ready to storm into Hyperion Theater
One-act ‘Rogers: The Musical’ coming this summer, park says
Disneyland will bring a Broadway musical based on Marvel superhero Captain America to the Hyperion Theater this summer for a limited run at Disney California Adventure.
An 18-second video clip posted to social media by Disney Parks shows a woman in a red hat with a red, white and blue ribbon looking at a “Rogers: The Musical” playbill before walking into the theater.
“A timeless story of a timeless hero,” Disney Parks posted on Twitter. “A short one-act musical is coming for a limited time this summer to Disney California Adventure Park.”
Disney cryptically teased the upcoming run of “Rogers: The Musical” at the Hyperion during a live performance at the D23 Expo in September at the Anaheim Convention Center.
“Marvel fans may know the fictional musical from the first episode of the Disney+ series ‘Hawkeye,’ ” according to MousePlanet. “Fans who attended the 2022 D23 Expo were treated to a surprise live performance of ‘Save the City’ during the Marvel Studios panel.”
In the Disney+ show, Hawkeye attends a performance of the Broadway musical about the life of Steve Rogers, the first Captain America.
“In the show, all the Avengers are invited to New York for the premiere of the brand new, showstopping musical, but only Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, shows up,” according to Marvel.com. “The
MIA Avengers don’t know what they’re missing, though, as viewers are treated to a musical number based on The Battle of New York — though a few creative liberties have been taken here and there.”
Disney Live Entertainment is auditioning actors, singers and dancers for a new limited-run, Broadway-caliber theatrical production at the Hyperion.
The new show will be written by Tony nominee Hunter Bell with music by Grammy winner Christopher Lennertz. Bell wrote the book for “Villains Tonight” on the Disney Cruise Line, according to Broadway World. Lennertz served as music director on Disneyland’s new “Wondrous Journeys” fireworks show.
“Frozen: Live at the Hyperion” was the last show to play at the Hyperion before the theater went dark in 2020 during the yearlong pandemic closure of California Adventure and Disneyland. The theater has stood vacant since the parks returned in 2021.
Top companies in the theme park industry have recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic by leaning into one of the great secrets of business management. You can get people to do anything, so long as they believe it was their idea.
What theme parks needed people to do after the lockdowns was spend more money in the parks — a lot more money. Many have succeeded, as average guest spending has soared at top theme parks since they reopened. Sure, parks have raised prices on food, souvenirs and admission. But the theme park companies enjoying the greatest financial success in the past year also have found ways to entice fans to stay longer and buy more stuff, too.
Knott’s Berry Farm owner Cedar Fair last week reported record financial results that it attributed in part to the company’s focus on special events and food festivals during 2022. Knott’s has been running its Peanuts Celebration this month, to be followed by the return of its annual Boysenberry Festival in March.
Events such as these have proved across the country that they can entice fans to spend more on food and merchandise. Not only that, special events also can encourage fans to invite others and stay longer in the parks than they might if they were just focused on rides and shows. As one Theme Park Insider reader wrote, “It’s just a lot of fun to hang out with your friends at a familiar theme park while eating junk food and drinking beer.”
If a park can offer new stuff people want, they’ll spend the extra money without the complaints that just raising prices on the old stuff inevitably draws.
Not every theme park special event hits with fans, of course. Another business maxim says ideas are worthless, it’s the execution of those ideas that delivers value. Just repackaging a park’s everyday food and entertainment as a “special event” won’t draw crowds and open wallets. And if a park isn’t already a familiar, beloved location for enough fans, special events likely will not be enough to build that relationship. Parks still need great rides, shows and environments to create the atmosphere in which fans will want to spend their time and money.
Knott’s has done that with its yearlong lineup of festivals, which Cedar Fair now has exported to many of its other parks across the country. Disney has been running a food and wine festival at Walt Disney World’s Epcot for decades and in recent years has expanded its festival lineups in Florida and California. The SeaWorld and Six Flags parks are leaning into festivals and events with varying success as they try to boost their guest spending numbers, too.
With Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood raising the bar to multibillion-dollar heights with attractions such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Super Nintendo World, special events such as food festivals have helped level the playing field for parks such as Knott’s Berry Farm to compete for fans’ time and money.