''Finding Nemo – The Musical'' is a

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music * Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of album ...

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move ...

and musical stage show based on

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

's 2003 film ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was wr ...

'', located at the Theater in the Wild in DinoLand U.S.A at

Disney's Animal Kingdom Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is a zoological theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division, it is the ...

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. The 40-minute show (performed 5–6 times daily) started holding previews on November 5, 2006, officially opening on January 24, 2007. The music, composed by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and her husband, Robert Lopez, the writers behind the scores of ''

Avenue Q ''Avenue Q'' is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty. It won Best Musical, Book, and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards. The show's format is a parody of ...

'', ''

The Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude dat ...

'', '' In Transit'' and '' Frozen'', used direct lines from the film, bringing the film characters to life on stage. On March 15, 2020, the show had its final performance before Walt Disney World Resort closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak's impact on Florida. However, following Walt Disney World Resort's reopening, it was announced that a new reimagined version of the show entitled ''Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond!'' that would premiere on June 13, 2022, as part of Walt Disney World Resort's 50th anniversary celebration.

History

The stage musicals ''Journey into the Jungle Book'' and ''Tarzan Rocks!'' occupied the Theater in the Wild at DinoLand USA in Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida from 1998 to 2006. These were themed to the

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

films ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...

'' and ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

''. After the closure of ''Tarzan Rocks!'' in January 2006, rumors began spreading that it would be replaced by a musical adaptation of ''

''. This was confirmed on April 7, 2006, when Disney announced that the musical adaptation of ''Finding Nemo'', with new songs written by

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

-winning ''

'' composer Robert Lopez and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, would "combine puppets, dancers, acrobats and animated backdrops" and open in late 2006. Years later, Anderson-Lopez explained that she had written a compact 15-minute ''

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

'' version of the story of

Oedipus Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby ...

; someone at Disney read it and recognized her talent for condensing material, and offered her the opportunity to make a pitch for the ''Finding Nemo'' project. Tony Award-winning director Peter Brosius signed on to direct the show, with Michael Curry, who designed puppets for Disney's successful stage version of ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

'', serving as leading puppet and production designer. Anderson-Lopez said that the couple agreed to write the adaptation of "one of their favorite movies of all time" after considering "the idea of people coming in o see the musicalat 4, 5 or 6 and saying, 'I want to do that'....So we want to take it as seriously as we would a Broadway show". To condense the feature-length film to 30 minutes, she and Lopez focused on a single theme from the movie, the idea that "the world's dangerous and beautiful". The show started holding previews on November 5, 2006, officially opening on January 24, 2007. That same month, a New York studio recording of the show was released on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

, with Lopez and Anderson-Lopez providing the voices for Marlin and Dory, respectively. ''Avenue Q'' star

Stephanie D'Abruzzo Stephanie Ann D'Abruzzo (; born December 7, 1971) is an American actress, puppeteer and singer. She has performed various Muppets in the TV program ''Sesame Street''. She held starring roles on '' Oobi'' and ''The Book of Pooh''. She was one of ...

also appeared on the recording, as Sheldon/Deb. ''Finding Nemo'' was the first non-musical animated film to which Disney added songs to produce a stage musical. In 2009, ''Finding Nemo – The Musical'' was honored with a Thea Award for Best Live Show from the

Themed Entertainment Association The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) is an international non-profit association that represents creators, developers, designers and producers of themed entertainment. It is also noted for its THEA Awards, which were founded in 1995 and ar ...

. When Walt Disney World reopened in July 2020 following the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of in ...

, all stage shows are remained closed due to a dispute between the

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a boo ...

and Walt Disney World over allowing performers to wear face masks and providing regular testing. On September 14, 2021, it was announced that a "reimagined" version of the show would open in 2022. However, on November 19, 2021, it was announced that the show would be replaced by a new show entitled ''Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond!''.

Plot

The musical is based on the plot of the film ''

'', with characters performed in large

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performa ...

by live actors and dancers on stage. It revolves around Marlin, a widowed

clownfish Clownfish or anemonefish are fishes from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. Thirty species of clownfish are recognized: one in the genus '' Premnas'', while the remaining are in the genus '' Amphiprion''. In the wild, t ...

who is desperate to find his son Nemo, who was snatched away by a diver in the ocean. Along the way, Marlin meets Dory, a

regal blue tang ''Paracanthurus hepatus'' is a species of Indo-Pacific surgeonfish. A popular fish in marine aquaria, it is the only member of the genus ''Paracanthurus''. A number of common names are attributed to the species, including regal tang, palette s ...

with short-term memory loss, who ends up accompanying him on his journey. Meanwhile, Nemo ends up in a fish aquarium at a dentist office in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

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and meets Gill, a moorish idol living in the dentist's aquarium, and the leader of the Tank Gang, who also live in the aquarium.

Soundtrack

All songs featured were written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. A soundtrack album was released in 2007, with Anderson-Lopez and Lopez providing the voices of Dory and Marlin, respectively.

References

External links

*
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finding Nemo - The Musical Amusement park attractions introduced in 2007 Amusement park attractions that closed in 2020 Amusement park attractions introduced in 2022 Walt Disney Parks and Resorts entertainment Disney's Animal Kingdom DinoLand U.S.A. Finding Nemo Musicals based on animated films