From “Hawkeye” to the Hyperion Theater: The Making of “Rogers: The Musical” at the Disneyland Resort

Many fans, upon watching Hawkeye on Disney+, dreamed that they would have the chance to see a real-life version of Rogers: The Musical. Now, when visiting Disney California Adventure, you have that chance. But how did it come to be? It turns out the creative team at the Disneyland Resort had the same idea as the rest of us. As Dan Fields, Executive Creative Director at Disney Live Entertainment, tells it, “We saw [Hawkeye] and said, ‘I want to see the rest of it. I want to see all of Rogers: The Musical.’ But then we realized, ‘Hey, we're Disney Live Entertainment. We can do that!’ So that's what we set out to do. We pull down this amazing team of collaborators as well as many other collaborators who are behind the scenes in the dark today to make it come to life.”

From L to R: Hunter Bell, Christopher Lennertz, Sarah Kobayashi, Dan Fields, Dave Bushore. (Disney)

But how do you condense the seven-film story of Steve Rogers into a thirty-minute theme park show? The team looked for the heart of the story, which was Steve and Peggy. “So much great musical theater is based around a love story,” Fields said. “When we honed in on that, even while Cap is having all these adventures in all the films, there's a compass and that’s Peggy. So we honed in on that love story of Cap and Peggy.” The show does not try to retell the entire history of the MCU, but by focusing the show on Steve and Peggy, it was able to use them as their guiding light.

The show-within-a-show on Hawkeye had one song, “Save the City,” and the team also knew they could lean into “Star Spangled Man” from Captain America: The First Avenger. But a musical needs more than two songs, so Christopher Lennertz wrote five new songs to fit the moments “where the emotion is so strong that talking won't work anymore, and you actually need to sing it.” The story of Rogers spans over seventy years, so the team was able to write songs in various styles that spanned the decades. From Big Band Jazz to Nick Fury’s funky number, the show runs the gamut. While the variety of styles brings a lot of energy, the show ensures each song has a role in telling the overarching story.

(Disney)

Disney veteran Sarah Kobayashi was tasked with the show’s choreography. She enjoyed the challenge of having to create a unified feel while also embracing the decade-spanning nature of the story. As she said, “The music and lyrics tell such a great story from the opening to the final bows, and I wanted to make sure the dance carried the same strong narrative. The time travel aspect gave us a great well to draw from choreographically, taking inspiration from various dance styles throughout the decades and spinning them with a modern twist.” She also had to balance the musical theater genre with the combat that is embedded in the story.

As Steve Rogers proved, sometimes there are challenges that require a team. Crafting Rogers: The Musical ended up being one of those challenges. But between writers, songwriters, choreographers, set designers, production designers, media producers, performers, technicians, operations cast, and many more, everyone involved rose to the occasion to craft a special experience for Guests of the Disneyland Resort.  

Combining musical theater and superheroes is not a guaranteed success. When the teams at Disney and Marvel presented their concept to Kevin Feige, you could imagine they might be nervous as they waited to see his reaction. But as they showed him the animatic of what they envisioned, Feige exclaimed, “Nick Fury Sings! That should be on the billboard!” He advised the teams to lean into and embrace what they created. The result is a mash-up of styles and genres that turns out to be a perfect fit for the Disneyland Resort.

Rogers: The Musical is performed at the Hyperion Theatre at Disney California Adventure for a limited time. The show is dark on Sundays, Mondays, and select other dates. Guests can check the Disneyland app for showtimes and virtual queue information.

Rogers: The Musical Credits:

Laughing Place recommends MouseFanTravel.com for all your Disneyland Resort travel planning

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