The dancers I dub "Brown-Haired Girl" & "Blonde Girl".
THE MAGICAL FRIENDSHIP FAIRE:
-So the show on Saturday led to the single greatest Disney Magical Moment EVER, and one that I will forever use to advertise the park to people. One of those "this could only happen here" moments combined with pure serendipity. But that was days after this, lol. Without spoiling it, it involves watching the show with a performer's family, then hearing backstage impressions of myself.
Okay, so in 2019 I saw this show for the first time- it was then called the "Royal" Friendship Faire and had everyone in medieval gear. In 2020 naturally they killed it off and we went without, and I didn't miss it TOO bad, but this year it returned, and once I'd heard the fireworks on my first day at the MK I was like "Oh crap- I forgot!". This show is such a big deal they actually block people from going THROUGH the castle entirely for the first half of the park day (you can't do this until 5pm, after the last MFF show), and it blocks off the entire stage, which you can see from some angles having tons of markers to show the people where to stand for their dances.
Part 1) The show is the same as usual- a bunch of dancers do a big dance while the Big Five show up and welcome the audience. Mickey's friends split up to bring people to their celebration, leading to three segments before the finale, in which the characters are actually voiced by their movie VAs, showing just how big this show is (and how those actors probably never guessed they'd be doing these voices for eternity).
Flapper Tiana! Making her the only "off-model" character in this.
Part 2) Goofy brings in Princess Tiana, Naveen & Louis, along with some New Orleans girls in flapper gear (actually the dancers from the first part of the show in a rapid costume change)- Tiana herself is a flapper as well, making her the least-recognizable royal in the show. Here they do Mama Odie's "Dig a Little Deeper" to bring out Goofy's secret skills to the "gumbo" that is their jubilee (in this case, the tambourine). I am impressed at Goofy's balance- that heavy head and he still manages to do a full kick above his shoulders. Though the main event here is oddly a random dude who comes in tap-dancing. The song is PRETTY good, but reminds me of how weak that movie's "Hero Songs" were since they went with Odie's song instead.
Part 3) Donald brings in the "ruffians" by mistake- the Pub Thugs from
Tangled! They cause a scrap, and Daisy just totally harpies out on Donald like a mean sitcom wife ("You've ruined EVERYTHING!"), but Flynn & Rapunzel pop up in the top corner. They all sing "I've Got a Dream" when the heroes convince the gang that the Thugs aren't that awful. The main eventers are Hook-Hand (wearing a bald cap and fake mustache) and Vladamir. A backgrounder does a big backflip during the "brawl" (in which nobody gets punched or anything- it's mostly just throwing each other around). This one always feels a bit odd to me, as Hook-Hand is easily the main character and the stars of
Tangled are just backgrounders who kind of just pop in on one side and are largely ignored- you barely even hear people react to them because they're an afterthought.
The trademark "Elsa Pose".
Part 4) Minnie's about to start it, but Mickey announces his OWN surprise, and brings out OLAF! The crowd inevitably freaks at this, and it only gets bigger when ANNA AND ELSA arrive! Wearing their more recognizable "Frozen 1" costumes. Minnie declares "I wish I could be more LIKE you!" but is corrected- "But being who YOU are is PERFECT!" cries Anna, while Elsa turns that into an opportunity to sing "Let It Go" (I mean, duh), complete with bringing out handfuls of "snowflakes" (one got stuck to me and I kept it once) from a hidden pocket and I think Minnie's costume, fog, and more. It's funny how clearly they make it that Elsa is the true Main Eventer of Disney during this show- Tiana & Rapunzel barely sing at all and are part of ensembles, and here Elsa does a 2-minute number by herself while Anna just stands there ("You can do ANYTHING when you have someone you LOVE by your side!" "That's me!" cries second-stringer Anna).
Part 5) Mickey announces the Friendship Faire can now begin, reintroducing all the named characters (Flynn is always going by his thief name and not his real one- Eugene Fitzherbert). They all do a big group dance as I kinda laugh at how simple Elsa's has to be because she's wearing high heels, so it's just her and Anna kind of hop-skipping to one side and then the other. Characters dance with their own castmates (Elsa/Olaf), then swap out (Goofy dances with Tiana, and Elsa dances with a random background guy- it actually seems bizarre for me for such a closed-off character who noticeably rarely deals with men in the movie to the point where "Elsa is Gay" is a meme. Finally, everyone does their big poses (Elsa naturally using her famous "hand held up while the other's at her side" pose) while fireworks go off timed to their hand movements (the left ones when they point stage right, the right ones when they point to stage left, then some little ones, then the big eruption).
Watching the cast switch out is fascinating- I notice that the background dancers are often the same, but some swap out (thers is a redhead, brown-haired girl, black girl & blonde... but the black & blonde girls seem to swap out randomly or one only does an earlier show?). At some shows, Vladamir was a strong-looking, hefty black dude and at other points a skinnier white guy. I noticed three different Elsas, two Tianas (one I only saw once) and swap-outs for a few others (the tap dancer is often different on alternating shows- that must be more exhausting than it looks). I also noticed a few swap-outs in choreography- with one Elsa, the two Pub Thugs actually fight each other over who gets to dance with her, at which point she kind of pantomimes by gesturing to Olaf and dancing with him, and the Thugs hang their heads, shrug and then dance with each other.
MFF SNAFUS & FUN BITS:
-At one point, I was on the far right side of the stage because I arrived late, and I overheard some of the actors actually talking on-stage during the final dance- some of them seem to be made to "pretend talk" to each other to get to know one another during the Faire, but I actually heard Elsa utter, in her real not-Idina-Menzel voice, "D'ya remember that?" to Olaf, and I LITERALLY HEARD HIM TALK THROUGH THE SNOWMAN COSTUME. I couldn't make out what he said, but I bet we're not supposed to hear THAT, lol. I only ever saw a screw-up once, though- Elsa at one point kicked the steps during her rapid ascent to the upper platform during "Let It Go", stumbling and crouching down for a second before popping up in time to pantomime the singing. The dad beside me remarked "UH-OH".
At one point, Hook Hand was about to do his comedy stuff while Flynn sang to it... but the sound abruptly turned off entirely. Immediately, the cast frozen in place, stood there, then ran off behind the curtain while the familiar "Kingly Voice" narrator went "The show has been temporarily DELAYED". A few minutes later, everyone burst out to do the Part 4, ignoring the rest of the
Tangled one. Later on one day, it started raining mid-show and they IMMEDIATELY bailed off stage and the music ended. Later, everyone came out for a "Rainy Day" version of the dance, which is much like the other one but features simpler choreography with people just kinda skipping in place so nobody slips.
Fun fact: if the MFF is cancelled due to weather, they still have to fire off the fireworks, because they're armed and can't be disarmed. It seems funny to me to announce that the show's been cancelled and celebrate it with huge explosions.
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