'Mickey and the Magical Map' coming to Disneyland this summer - Los Angeles Times
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‘Mickey and the Magical Map’ coming to Disneyland this summer

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Mickey Mouse will serve as a mischievous tour guide on a musical journey through a magical map in a new stage show coming May 25 to Disneyland’s Fantasyland Theatre.

“Mickey and the Magical Map” casts the title character in his classic role of sorcerer’s apprentice from “Fantasia” in a 25-minute musical featuring songs from half a dozen Disney animated films.

Spoiler alert: What follows is a fairly detailed summary of the show. For those who wish to be surprised when the musical opens at the renovated outdoor amphitheater, consider yourself forewarned.

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The story begins with Mickey in the studio of the sorcerer Yen Sid (Disney spelled backward) as a team of mapmakers puts the finishing touches on an enormous map using giant paintbrushes.

As you might expect, trouble ensues when the mapmakers quit for the day, leaving a curious Mickey alone in the studio with a nearly complete map capable of taking dreamers to any place imaginable.

Before long, a paintbrush-wielding Mickey is absorbed into the world of the animated painterly map -- an ingeniously disguised LED screen spanning the width of the stage. His nemesis throughout the story is an amusing and stubbornly unfinished portion of the map named Spot.

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From here, a series of choreographed set pieces starring a succession of Disney characters leap from itinerary stops made during Mickey’s journey through the magic map.

Songs include: “I Want to Be Like You” from “The Jungle Book,” “Just Around the Riverbend” from “Pocahontas,” “Reflection” from “Mulan,” “I See the Light” from “Tangled” and “Under the Sea” from “The Little Mermaid.”

After Mickey paints his way out of the map, the show concludes with a pair of big production numbers set in Hawaii (“Lilo & Stitch”) and New Orleans (“The Princess and the Frog”).

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In the end, Mickey realizes his mentor has been watching over him the entire time when the adversarial Spot is revealed as the pupil of Yen Sid’s eye.

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