So how long does it take to add some Disney magic to
"Dancing with the Stars" ? Would you believe 9 months?
"That's actually how long we've been having meetings
about 'Disney Night,' which is the theme of this week's show," explained
Rob Wade, the executive producer of this long-running ABC series. "But you
have to understand that — when you're building an episode of ' Dancing with
the Stars' around Disney — you've got this huge assortment of characters to
chose from. Not to mention decades of popular music to dig through as you look
for just the right songs to build dance routines around."
Ah, but then there's the other aspect of "Disney Night" on
"Dancing with the Stars." In order to make Monday night's proceedings
seem genuinely magical, Wade & Co. are going to take memorable pieces of
Disney animation and then digitally insert them into this week's dance
routines.
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"We did this for the first time with last year's
'Disney Night' and really got a huge reaction from 'Dancing with the Stars'
viewers. So this time around, we're going all out. You're not only going to see
brief bits of Disney animation in Monday night's dance routines, you're also
going to see it in the show's bumpers. We'll have live Disney characters —
Mickey, Minnie, Donald & Pluto — performing in the show's opening number.
We'll even be flying people as part of this week's dance routines, just like in
'Aladdin,' " Rob enthused. "Truth be told, you're going to see Disney
characters throughout this week's show. At one point, you'll even see an
animated Pinocchio clapping at the judge's table."
As you might expect, there's a lot of behind-the-scenes
effort that goes into pulling off a 2 hour-long, live television presentation
like "Dancing with the Stars." But when you add digitally inserted
animated footage and live costume characters to that mix, what was once just
tough to pull off now verges on impossible.
"That's why — for the past two weeks — we've been
getting ready for our 'Disney Night' show. This past Saturday, we had a whole
extra day onstage where we did just prep," Wade stated.
"Dancing with the Stars" executive
producer Rob Wade
So which celebrities will we see performing what Disney numbers? Rumer Willis
(i.e., the rumored front runner for the Mirror Ball in this season's
competition) will dance to "Poor
Unfortunate Souls" from "The Little Mermaid." War veteran Noah
Galloway will reportedly soar through the air as he performs "A Whole New
World" from "Aladdin." Suzanne Somers will supposedly channel
her inner Peggy Lee as she dances to "He's a Tramp" from Disney's
"Lady and the Tramp." And Nastia Liukin will appear in a dance
routine built around "Love Is an Open Door" from "Frozen."
"That was the song that I really wanted to be featured
in this show. I wanted to be sure that there was something from 'Frozen' in
this episode of 'Dancing with the Stars' because that Disney animated feature
has been such a big hit. But because we had used music from 'Frozen' in our
first 'Disney Night,' I have to admit that I got a little pushback from some of
the dancers," Rob admitted. "They weren't sure that it would be wise
for us to build another number around music from 'Frozen.' But I was adamant
that someone was going to dance to 'Love is an Open Door.' And eventually we
were able to push that number through."
Which brings us to an intriguing aspect of "Dancing
with the Stars." How much (or is it how little?) influence do this show's
producers have over the dance numbers that the celebrities perform.
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All rights reserved
"In the end, it's the celebrity and their dance
partner's decision. Sometimes they'll say things like 'I really want to dance
to this music.' And we're like 'Really? That's the music you want to perform
to? You really think that that piece of music is something you want to build a
dance number around?,' " Wade said. "Mind you, we never force anyone
to do anything. But as the show's producer, I will sometimes strongly suggest
something. Tell a performer that a particular piece of music would be a great
song to build a dance routine around."
"Because that's what it really comes down to. What the
celebrities who are appearing on 'Dancing with the Stars' need is music that
they can dance to. Music that fits a particular style of dance," Rob
continued. "And that's what great about building a show around Disney's
musical library. Because they've got songs that fit all manner of dance."
As Wade hopes to prove tomorrow night when Patti LaBelle does a dance to
"When You Wish Upon a Star" from "Pinocchio" and Chris
Soules of "The Bachelor" fame powers through "Zero to Hero"
from Disney's "Hercules." Not to mention Robert Herjavec's energetic take
on "Step in Time" from "Mary Poppins," Willow Shields' elegant
dance to "Alice's Theme" from "Alice in Wonderland," and
Riker Lynch's dance routine to "He's a Pirate" from "Pirates of
the Caribbean."
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"All season long, the celebrities have really been looking forward to
performing on 'Disney Night.' That's one of the main reasons we scheduled this
particular 'Dancing with the Stars' show for the middle of the season. So that
as many of our celebrity performers as possible would then get the chance to
dance to a piece of classic Disney music," Rob stated.
"Of course, we obviously want to make sure that whatever our
celebrities do with the Disney characters looks fabulous and is suitably
impressive. So just from a technical perspective, this particular episode of
'Dancing with the Stars' will be a real challenge. There's an extra level of
precision involved with this particular show," Wade said. "Which is
why I'd like to remind the folks watching at home that — thanks to all of the
talented people who work in front of and behind the camera — 'Dancing with the
Stars' always looks polished and professional. But you still have to remember
that this is a two hour-long live TV show."
"I mean, there is so much animation on television
nowadays and so much pre-taped & pre-recorded stuff on TV as well. Which is
why I worry that someone's going to tune into Monday night's 'Dancing with the
Stars' and think that 'Disney Night' was pre-taped and pre-recorded. But I
assure you people: We are doing this show absolutely live. Which makes things
exciting because things can sometimes go wrong," Rob concluded. "Mind
you, we're always trying to make sure that things don't go wrong. But it's kind
of an inexact science when you're doing live television."
This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on Sunday, April 12, 2015