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Friday, May 17, 2013

Remembering Howard Ashman

Today would have been the 63rd birthday of the late writer, lyricist and director Howard Ashman. With composer Alan Menken, Ashman wrote the great songs of Disney's animation renaissance during the 1980s and 90s: "Part of Your World" and "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid; "Be Our Guest" and "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast; "Friend Like Me" and "Prince Ali" from Aladdin--among so many others.

Ashman had a passion for musical theater and a gift for clever wordplay that coalesced brilliantly during his time at Disney. In this clip from the 2009 documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty, we see Ashman in action, coaching Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel, through a recording of "Part of Your World." He goes on to explain why that song and others like it are critical in theater and film to make audiences "fall in love" with the leading lady.


With Menken, Ashman won two Academy Awards for "Under the Sea" and "Beauty and the Beast." In 1991, Ashman died far too young at the age of 40 from complications arising from AIDS. Both he and Menken were named Disney Legends in 2001.

Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Ashman's sister, Sarah Ashman Gillespie, about her brother's life and legacy. Sarah manages the website Part of His World, a labor-of-love tribute to Howard, full of history and fond remembrances from Sarah and some of the people who knew and worked with Howard, including Alan Menken, Jodi Benson and John Musker. I'll post part one of my conversation with Sarah this weekend in The Mouse Castle Lounge.

Happy Birthday, Howard.  You are missed.

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Sunday, May 12, 2013

MCL: Down the Rabbit Hole with Camille Rose Garcia; Merida Gets a Princess Makeover

Happy Mother's Day from The Mouse Castle Lounge!

In today's episode, I talk with artist Camille Rose Garcia about her new exhibit at the Walt Disney Family Museum, Down the Rabbit Hole, a fanciful interpretation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Ms. Garcia shares with me the things that influence her work, from Walt Disney to Philip K. Dick to all manner of pop culture. She also talks at length about how it feels to share space with the great Disney artist Mary Blair, whose concept art from Disney's Alice in Wonderland also adorn the gallery.

Camille Rose Garcia

Down The Rabbit Hole at the Walt Disney Family Museum
This weekend, Merida from Pixar's Brave officially took her place among the Disney princesses with a royal coronation at Walt Disney World. 



It was all the usual Disney fluff and fun for the benefit of guests, but on the consumer products side, Merida's princess makeover is causing a stir among fans of Brave for making the headstrong Scot a little too princessy. Even Brenda Chapman, who co-directed Brave and created the character, has gone out of her way to criticize the new look, calling it "a blatantly sexist marketing move based on money."


I respect Chapman's objections. After all, Merida is a very personal character to her. But, in the grand scheme of things, is this really that big a deal? Disney has been tarting up its princesses for years, not a look I'm particularly fond of, but in the end it doesn't change the spirit of the characters I remember from their movies. Merida is strong, brave and wields a wicked bow and arrow. Nothing Disney merchandising can do is going to change that.

Walt Disney Animation Studios released a sneak peek of Big Hero 6, its new animated feature based on a little-known comic book series in the Marvel universe. Think The Avengers with an Asian vibe. And while this clip is attractive to look at, it's little more than an animation study and really doesn't do anything to create excitement for the film which is due out November 2014. Sorry, Disney, you're going to have to show me a bit more to get me interested.



All this and more is in today's edition of The Mouse Castle Lounge. Enjoy!

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Thursday, May 9, 2013

The Walt Disney Family Museum Takes you 'Down the Rabbit Hole' With Camille Rose Garcia and Mary Blair

Camille Rose Garcia
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?" - Alice, Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Starting today, The Walt Disney Family Museum presents a charming--and slightly dark--bit of nonsense as it opens a new exhibit, Camille Rose Garcia: Down the Rabbit Hole. The exhibit features several dozen paintings by the well-known "lowbrow" artist, who reinterprets the world of Alice in Wonderland in her unique Goth-tinged style. Garcia's paintings from this exhibit first appeared in a 2010 reprint of Lewis Carroll's classic children's tale, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, replacing the traditional illustrations by John Tenniel. The result was a Wonderland that visually was more harried, emotional, disorienting...and quite compelling.

Providing an ideal counterpoint to Garcia's work, the exhibit also includes a selection of Alice in Wonderland concept art by Mary Blair, Disney's legendary artist and color stylist. Though their respective takes on Alice are quite distinct and separated by more than 50 years, Blair and Garcia are still kindreds in their vivid use of color and their abilities to challenge perspective.

I had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Garcia about her work--and that's all I'm going to tell you for now. You can hear our conversation in the next edition of The Mouse Castle Lounge podcast, which will be out this weekend. Suffice it to say, Ms. Garcia scored points with me for having grown up in Orange County, a stone's throw from Disneyland, where she spent a good portion of her childhood. That she embraced the works of William Burroughs and Philip K. Dick as she grew older, darkening her pop culture sensibilities, only made her more interesting.

In Camille Rose Garcia's Wonderland, Alice is a bit of a hot mess.

Garcia's trip down the rabbit hose is very distressing.

Blair's rabbit hole is much more orderly, but just as vivid.

Garcia's mad tea party is disorderly, even menacing.

Blair's tea party is just silly, but the White Rabbit is none too comfortable with it.

Camille Rose Garcia: Down the Rabbit Hole will run through November 3, 2013 in the Walt Disney Family Museum's lower level theater gallery. For more information, visit www.waltdisney.org.

For more about Camille Rose Garcia, visit www.camillerosegarcia.com or listen to my interview with her at www.themousecastle.com/2013/05/mcl-down-rabbit-hole-with-camille-rose.html.

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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

MCL: "Iron Man 3" Reviewed, the Official Princess Merida and Pez Ratzenberger

There's nothing like staying up late to finish a podcast when you have to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight to San Francisco. It's for a good cause, though, as I get to preview the Walt Disney Family Museum's new exhibit showcasing the dark and fanciful art of Camille Rose Garcia. In the meantime, though, here's the latest from inside The Mouse Castle Lounge: I have my review of Iron Man 3, all the details about how Merida is becoming an official Disney princess, and why it's cool John Raztenberger is being immortalized in Pez dispensers. Enjoy!


The Mouse Castle Lounge can also be heard on iTunes and Stitcher.

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Thursday, May 2, 2013

MCL: Monstrous Crowds Expected at Disneyland's 24-Hour Party

I've got a bunch of fun stuff crammed into the latest episode of The Mouse Castle Lounge. First, Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom are going to be plenty busy on May 24 when they each host a 24-hour party from 6:00 a.m. straight through to 6:00 a.m. the next day. The Magic Kingdom will be busy, to be sure, but the crowds on the west coast will be, well, monstrous as the Disneyland Resort attempts to hold a Grad Nite at the same time.


Also, Iron Man 3 opens in the U.S. this weekend after an overseas opening worthy of a superhero. I've got sound clips from Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, IM3 director Shane Black and producer Jon Favreau as they talk about the making of the film.



All that and a preview of the still-under-construction Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Walt Disney World are inside this edition of The Mouse Castle Lounge. Enjoy!

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