The Premiere of Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular
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Michelle Smith: So Disney found you. They kind of head hunted you away from La Jolla Playhouse and you thought...

Anna Hamburger: You know in a way ... I love Disney. I've always loved Disney and there were a few occasions even before this where I thought I might end up working for the Company. Because the work I did in En Garde Arts in New York was site specific work and I remember..this was like 15 years ago now through En Garde Arts - we were working on something called the Funhouse that this designer was working on about people wandering through these sets and having these experiences and somebody from Imagineering at the time came and said this is a perfect Disney project. So I feel like it was destined that I end up working for the Company.

Smith: How do you bring this cartoon story to life? Obviously with respect for the original but breathing fresh life into it.

Hamburger: Well, I think a few things. One is we knew we had to be faithful to the score because Alan Menken's music is so brilliant. So we didn't want to take a lot of liberties with interpreting the score. We asked Alan to write this new song which is fantastic that he did because we felt like it needed it. And then Chad Beguelin who did the book, Francesca Zambello the director, Lynne Taylor-Corbitt the choreographer..it was really about bringing the right people together in the group. And my role was to kind of artistically shepherd the process to function as an integrator between the Dsineyland Resort and these creative people who never worked with the Company before.

Smith: I noticed you have something hugely in common with Walt Disney. He was very, very into the arts. In fact he founded Cal Arts, California Institute of the Arts. And I've heard you talk about how important it is to get children introduced into theatrical, theater arts while they are moldable.

Hamburger: Being a theater artist, there's like 1% of the population that cares about the theater and I've always been someone who created for the audience. I mean even back when I was in New York doing En Garde Arts part of the reason I did site specific was because there were people who'd read article in the paper and come to see the show, but there were people in the neighborhood, kids in the neighborhood, who'd never been to see a show before in their life who would come by virtue of the location. And for me Disney offers that same kick. It's like so fantastic to be able to go see so many people who come to these theme parks. They don't care about theater and then they come to Aladdin and they see it and they get really jazzed.

Smith: I'm a theater geek and a lot of my readers are theater geeks so its nice to see Disney speak to them. I love the old Kids of the Kingdom shows. I have a little girl so I know there's a place for the character shows but its nice that something that there's something of this caliber, too. Now you're in charge of all Disney entertainment. What else are you working on?

Hamburger: Well we're working on Snow White for the Fantasyland Theater.

Smith: Great big show?

Hamburger: For what that facility can manage, yes.

Smith: What about Christmas? People have been really wanting a big show for Christmas like Mickey's Nutcracker.

Hamburger: We don't have anything special planned right now. We're working on the 50th anniversary, a fantastic parade and fireworks. So we're working on that and shows in other parts of the world.

Smith: Are you doing anything else outside the Company?

Hamburger: Oh God no! I'm a mother, I have 5 ½ year old twins, my husband and this job, that's about it.

Smith: Having a 8 year old daughter I know kids can keep you busy. When do you sleep?

Hamburger: Exactly.

Smith: What was the most challenging thing about the Aladdin show? Anything that was a really tough nut to crack to for you.

Hamburger: I don't think so. I don't think there was one thing I can point out. I think it was just the whole endeavor of figuring out how to tell this tale in 42 minutes. We've never done anything like this before so its about getting people to believe in it.

Smith: Did you feel constrained by the time at all or did you find it perfect?

Hamburger: It is constraining to do it 42 minutes. Absolutely. But it's also a necessity because theme park audiences aren't here just to see a show. I think its harder to do it in 42 minutes than it would be to do it in 2 hours, actually.

Smith: What an amazing deal, you go into a theme park and see a show for less than the price of going to see something like The Lion King?

Hamburger: Absolutely. I think it gives added value to DCA and brings something really special to this park.

Smith: Thank you so much, Annie. I really appreciate it.

Anne Hamburger tears up the dance floor at the after performance party.
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