It’s been a while (nearly three years, in fact) since we have looked at what was happening on the Videopolis stage at Disneyland. Back in April 1992, Beauty and the Beast opened, ushering in a new era of Disney stage entertainment. So popular was the stage show in Disneyland, it continued to run until April 30, 1995. The Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast opened in April 1994, meaning the theme park production overlapped with it for just over a year.
Clearly, whatever replaced Beauty and the Beast would have to be very, very special. And Disney pulled out the stops to ensure just that.
Disney’s Pocahontas opened in theaters on June 23, 1995. The same day, The Spirit of Pocahontas opened at the newly christened Fantasyland Theater in Disneyland. Disney Feature Animation believed that Pocahontas was destined to become the single most important animated film of all time. They had been caught by surprise by the tremendous success of The Lion King, which had opened a year earlier. The Lion King was intended as a “lesser” feature, filling the gap between more prestigious fare. At Disneyland, The Lion King was celebrated with a daytime parade.
The Spirit of Pocahontas was a lavish production. The original musical utilized songs from the film, but told the plot with a new framing device. The highly detailed unit set represented the sacred ceremonial grounds of the Algonquin people. Werowance, a shaman, has invited the members of the tribe to share the story of a great spirit, Pocahontas. Through play acting, dance, and puppetry, this timeless tale would, in turn, be shared with the audience.
The song Steady as the Beating Drum drew the members together around the sacred fire. The spirit of Pocahontas rises from a nearby pond. Soon, she is being borne aloft by dancers as she performs her song of longing, Just Around the Riverbend. She consults with Grandmother Willow, represented by a massive tree. Her vision, she is told, represents a tall ship with billowing sails, carrying her dream.
These ships are carrying the Englishmen of the Virginia Company. The tribe performs this song in white masks, mocking the stylized movements and exaggerated speech of the strangers to their shores. Werowance then introduces another great Spirit, John Smith, who magically rises from the fire.
After an awkward encounter, Pocahontas and the tribe persuade Smith to view their world differently, performing the show-stopping number Colors of the Wind. Although Pocahontas and John Smith fall deeply in love, the tribe and the Englishmen remain suspicious, performing the song Savages in a threatening counterpoint.
A full-scale, stylized war breaks out, as each group of warriors attacks the other. John Smith is captured and condemned to death. As a club is raised to strike the fatal blow, Pocahontas kneels over her beloved, crying out that she will die with him. Her love and sacrificial offering bring about peace, and the entire tribe joins in a triumphant and joyous finale performance of Colors of the Wind.
The Spirit of Pocahontas was commemorated in a colorful program. Unlike the usual theme park souvenir booklets, this included full professional credits and a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process.
The director/choreographer of the production was Michael Barnard. He was already represented at Disneyland with the Magic Kingdom Cabaret at the Tomorrowland stage. This amusing little character show was performed five times daily. The Spirit of Pocahontas, meanwhile, performed four times nightly. Barnard would continue his career at Disney through 1999, creating shows that included The Hunchback of Notre Dame Festival of Fools (1996) and Animazement (1998).
As had been the case with Beauty and the Beast, The Spirit of Pocahontas would run for three years in the Fantasyland Theater. Unlike its predecessor, this one would make way for a musical review, rather than another stage musical of a Disney film. By the time the Disney Decade was drawing to a close, there were no more new hit films reliably available for adaptation. But no one had any reason to suspect such a thing was possible, following the triumphant opening of The Spirit of Pocahontas, thirty years ago at Disneyland.
