Thursday night, Disney and Cirque du Soleil premiered their new live theater production, "Drawn to Life," in Disney Springs at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Like many attractions debuting this year, Drawn to Life was supposed to open in 2020. I attended a press preview of Drawn to Life in March 2020, where I shared a first look at this production that Disney and Cirque officials called "a love letter to Disney animation," told through acrobatic and performance arts.
"This show has been in the works for years and to finally share it with the world is a dream come true," Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group President and CEO Daniel Lamarre said. "This collaboration has been unlike anything we've done before. We hope it will mean as much to our fans as it has to us – it’s not just our show now, it’s theirs too."
Written and directed by Michel Laprise, Drawn to Life follows Julie as she explores the world of animation after being left an unfinished animation by her Disney animator father. The show includes 10 acrobatic acts along with animation from select Disney films as well as all-new Disney animation created a team led by Animation Director Eric Goldberg.
Even though I was in Orlando this week, I was not able to attend last night's official premiere because I had committed to being back in the LA area for two events today before getting the invitation to cover last night's opening in Orlando. But here is Disney's opening night highlight video, including some looks at the show.
And here are two other show scenes that we brought you from before the show's pandemic delay.
Drawn to Life plays Tuesday through Saturday evenings in the Cirque theater in Disney Springs. Tickets are available via the Cirque do Soleil website.
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I was fortunate to see the final dress rehearsal last Saturday evening. It w a s a great performance -- especially a crazy, intricately choreographed unicycle segment and along with Cirque's breathtaking aerial acrobatics. There was an odd and VERY long audience participation pre-show (which I hope gets trimmed). A great addition to Disney Springs.