This summer at the Hyperion Theater in Disney California Adventure, fans have been able to experience Rogers: The Musical. This is a musical telling of the story of Stever Rogers, or Captain America, that is being offered on a limited basis at the Disneyland Resort. For some fans, a big question has come up while watching this new musical: Why isn’t there more Bucky Barners?
Conductor and composer of Disney’s Rogers: The Musical, Christopher Lennertz, shared why Bucky only shows up at the beginning and the end of the show in an interview with The Direct. At the end of the day, it came down to time. Lennertz shared that Disney wanted to have four presentations of the show per day. To do that, the show needed to be 30-35 minutes long. This meant that some changes needed to be made on the show and some characters stories had to be cut down. “[We were forced] to make some choices we really didn’t want to make. Probably the biggest one being that we didn’t want so little of Bucky.”
What is interesting about this, however, is that there is a longer version of Rogers: The Musical that does contain more of the story of Bucky Barnes. “Hopefully, you know, if anybody would ever let us do it, the longer version of this show had Bucky as a much bigger player in this. That’s the other really big person in Cap’s life from the get-go. I could absolutely see a Bucky and Cap song in there somewhere. But we just literally didn’t have the time,” Lennertz shared. He also shared that the number with Bucky was never completely finished.
The potential for a longer version of Rogers: The Musical is something that Lennertz thought could be a possibility. “Absolutely there could be a great Broadway version of this show in which Bucky has a really big part and will say the lines he needs to say. So it’s interesting to think how that could work.”
Lennertz also addressed fans dismay over Peggy Carter getting one of Bucky Barnes’ lines from the movie in this new musical. Once again, this was a decision that was made due to time restraints. Lennertz said, “Obviously, we all knew that. It wasn’t a mistake. We all knew; we all knew. We all made the choice that for this 35-minute show we wanted to get the line in, and the way to get it in was to land on the Peggy storyline.”
Rogers: The Musical is continuing its limited run at Disney California Adventure on Tuesdays through Saturdays through August 31, 2023. If you haven’t seen it yet, or won’t get the chance to before the end of its limited run, watch Daps Magic’s video of this Marvel musical here:
What do you think of the reduced role of Bucky Barnes in Rogers: The Musical? Do you think it the logic his reduced role makes sense? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!