Now open at Disney California Adventure’s Hyperion Theater at the Disneyland Resort is Rogers: The Musical. Perhaps one of the last things Twitter fandom made happen, the abridged musical history of Steve Rogers’ Captain America takes the corny parody seen in Disney+’s Hawkeye and expands it into a theme park-perfect musical theater sampling that really smashed our expectations.
io9 attended a media preview of the bite-sized musical at Disney Parks, opening for a limited time as part of their summer offerings. The one-act play is not only sweet relief from the sweltering sun in an AC’d theater, but a surprise delight that leans into full camp, with fun, heartfelt moments for all the Steve and Peggy Carter shippers. It was pretty much made to see how that love story comes back around after the events of The Avengers: Endgame, from their meet-cute heroic team-up in Captain America: The First Avenger. Taking inspiration from Alan Menken’s “Star Spangled Man” (as heard in Cap’s 2011 solo movie) and Disney’s signature “I want” songs, the show also features a history recap from Nick Fury (who sings!), love songs, and yes, the “Save the City” moment we saw alongside Clint Barton on Hawkeye—which is just as cringe but hilarious in the context of the show. It works!
Musical writer Hunter Bell ([Title of Show]) and songwriters Christopher Lennertz, Jordan Peterson, and Alex Karukas tap into more of Disney’s classic musical sensibilities in the surprisingly uplifting one-act parody, which finally provides the romantic ending we wanted to see in its depiction of why Steve made the choice to go back for his dance with Agent Carter. There’s a big moment I don’t want to spoil where Steve gets deeply introspective, which was beautifully done and could have so easily not worked—but again, this show is self-aware but thankfully in an earnest way and not ironically. The cast really came to prove this musical’s existence isn’t just a dragged out punchline from a Marvel Studios television show but a worthy Disney Parks musical moment that I hope expands past August 31, when it’s due to close.
Here’s a gallery of photos and videos from the show to give you a taste!
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