Mickey and the Magician is a show performed at Walt Disney Studios in Disneyland Paris. We follow Mickey Mickey as he learns magic tricks, guided by a gallery of Disney characters.
- Type of show: illusion, dance and song
- Venue: Walt Disney Studios, Studio 3
- First performance: 2 July 2016
- Capacity: 1,044 people
- Running time: 30 minutes
Good to know…
- It replaces the old show, Animagique, which has been performed since the park opened in 2002. In fact, the venue in which the show is performed was called Animagique Theatre, before being renamed Studio 3.
- At the end of 2016, it was voted “Best Theatre Production” by the IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions)
- Mickey and the Magician returned in 2022 during the 30th anniversary celebrations.
- In 2018, Mickey and the Magician is the first show performed in sign language! Indeed, an interpreter stands next to the stage. He or she translates the entire show for the hearing impaired. It took two years of preparation and joint work between the various teams in charge of shows, accessibility and disability to bring this new version to fruition. For this adapted version of Mickey and the Magician, the shows teams were surrounded by two bilingual LSF coaches and two interpreters specialising in the show. A deaf actor also attended the dress rehearsal of the show to ensure that the narration was understandable.
- In February 2023, after a break of several months, Mickey and the Magician returns in a modified version. The French Sign Language actor no longer simply stands at the side of the stage and translates the show into sign language. The directors have worked on integrating the FSL actor into the show and the story. He now interacts with the characters, being part of the story!
The show
Brass instruments play 5 chords, beams of light sweep across the room, the process is repeated once and to the sound of violins, and finally the curtains of the Animagique Theater Stage open.
Let’s enter the workshop of a magician with a splendid view of the roofs of a sleeping Paris. The melancholic and creative atmosphere of the dressing room allows the imagination of the master of the house to run wild. Numerous objects of all kinds are displayed in an organised disorder: a medieval suit of armour, a dressmaker’s dummy, a Victorian armchair…
After a quick tour of the place, with a wave of his magic wand, the magician, helped by a Tinkerbell twirling around the room, makes different parts of the stage sparkle, as if they had a surprise in store!
Knock, knock, knock! But who is it that announces himself at the workshop door? It’s time for Mickey to enter the stage with the magician’s permission. It’s a Mickey who has been given a Parisian makeover, bucket, broom and feather dusters in hand, who arrives in the house and is very excited to start practicing the art of magic! An overflowing enthusiasm quickly channelled by his future model! The mouse cannot practice spells and divinations until the room is spotless! Moreover, this must be done before the moon disappears from the sky! Which Mickey promises! “But beware,” he retorted, “a real magician always keeps his promises! With a subtle gesture, the magician opened the doors of the stairs without touching them and disappeared into them!
Mickey barely has time to get to work when he is distracted by a hat on a pedestal table! A hat, yes, but a hat that talks! A hat that talks and finds it hard to believe that our friend is the new greatest magician in the world!
Mickey and the Magician: the scenes
Cinderella
After a few incantations, and seeing that the top hat continues to stand up to him, Mickey gets back to work. He starts to smooth out a sheet on the red Victorian chair. Astonishment! When he lowers the cloth, Godmother Fairy has appeared on the seat! It seems that these apparitions are playing tricks on her memory! She can’t find her Magic Wand!
Once the wand is found and a little mistake is made about Mickey, she decides to take him under her wing and give him her favourite magic formula: “Salagadou la menchika bou la Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo”. A few jolts later, the dressmaker’s dummy is dressed in a dress, then after the passage of 2 birds and the unfolding of a curtain to hide it, the object is transformed into Cinderella! The singing and dancing resume but as midnight approaches, it is time to take the Princess to the ball! It is time for Cinderella to take her place in her beautiful golden carriage, and for the Good Fairy to give her last advice to the future magician: don’t forget that magic is inside him!
Beauty and the Beast
How time flies, a quarter moon has already disappeared! It is high time to get back to work! Feather duster in hand, our hero dusts an old chest of drawers where a candlestick is placed, barely hidden by a blanket that soon falls. Light! The character from Beauty and the Beast is also pressed for time: the banquet must be prepared!
In a few seconds a whole horde of servants with their hands full of different dishes and plates invade the space, with an incredibly long banquet table. A remake of the scene from the 1991 cartoon is played out. The waiters caper around the ballroom. The props appear and disappear just as quickly, it’s like being in the brigade of a great restaurant! Everything follows on perfectly. The dishes cross paths without ever clashing. Then suddenly all this little world fades away to make way for the real magic: the magic of Love! An imposing Beast appears accompanied by Belle, more ravishing than ever. A few waltz steps later, Lumière teaches Mickey that real magic lives in our hearts!
The Lion King
A piece of the moon disappears again while Mickey dances with his broom and the Wizard inquires about the progress of the cleanup while standing behind the door! The mouse gets back to work and as he spins a zoetrope, good old Rafiki appears behind a veil!
While some birds and felines invade the stage, the wise monkey takes up the hymn of the Lion King! And then, the animals appear from all sides! From the courtyard, from the garden, but also from the four corners of the room, giraffes, rhinoceroses, cheetahs, ostriches come to dance and seek the caresses of the public! Life fills the room.
Rafiki tells the house mouse that he knows the way and that he can show him! You can run away from him or learn everything from him! As the animals of the savannah resume their choreography, the mandrill rises on his mountain that has appeared in the background to continue singing the Story of Life. Slowly the animals gather at the bottom of the mountain to finish in a transcendent bow!
After a last piece of advice from Rafiki, who tells Mickey to follow his path and believe in his destiny, the different protagonists return to their savannah.
Aladdin
Mickey, dreamy in the face of such beauty, starts a guessing game with the magic hat. But when the moon loses one of its quarters again, Mickey goes back to his business. He sets about cleaning a lamp, which he accidentally drops! Rubbing it to avoid any stains, it starts to smoke and delivers a genie, THE Genie!
The new best friend is very relieved to get out of his golden prison. He decides to show him his secrets to becoming a magician! Accompanied by the oriental cartoon tune, the deity performs a series of magic tricks until a flying parcel is brought on stage. A few hand movements are enough to make it spin around and discover the dancer who was hiding inside. By the time the Blue Genie tells Mickey that real magic is the kind that makes people happy, it’s showtime! A whole troupe of dancers dressed in the most beautiful oriental textiles invade the stage. They begin a spellbinding tap dance that ends with a tableau worthy of the greatest productions of the golden age of Broadway. One last rehearsal of his advice and the genie disappears even faster than he appeared!
Frozen
The moon is thinning again! There is not much time left for Mickey to do his chores. He immediately goes back to work, dusting off some snow globes in the corner. And when he picks up one of them, a cute snowman appears: Olaf! Once the introductions are made, Olaf wonders which he prefers: magic or summer? Of course, it is magic! It is thanks to his friend’s magic that he is alive. But who is his friend? It is Queen Elsa!
Just before she intones Let it Go! accompanied by massive smoke effects, and a spectacularly fast dress change. Elsa gives Mickey her advice: “We all have magic in us, we just have to have the courage to share it with those we love!
Mickey and the magician : the final
The apprentice magician, carried away by the song, starts to do magic! And it works! The broom starts to move. Followed by the armour, the mummy, the beams of the workshop… Everything goes wild. The mess fills the room. The canes do as they please, the zoetrope never stops revolving, the doors slam… And unfortunately the last piece of moon disappears! This signals the return of the master of the house. The magician finds a Mickey distraught by the mess he has caused and for not having kept his promise.
Moved by Mickey’s sadness, the magician gives him the greatest advice of all: remember the precepts of his friends. He also reminds him of his first piece of advice: “A true magician always keeps his promises”. And it’s high time Mickey kept his promises.
The enchanter hands Mickey his wand. Feverishly, Mickey starts to move towards the armour, which is slowly getting up. Gaining a little confidence, he turns to the mummy who calmly slides into his coffin. Then gradually the whole room comes to life. The beams return to their place. The garlands come back to life… the workshop is back to its full splendour!
Let the magic shine
Is Mickey ready to become a real magician? The magician guides him behind the hat still on his table, places his hands over it and the top hat starts to rise to the sound of “Let the magic shine” until our friend can grab it and put it on his head! That’s it! Mickey is a real Magician!
All of Mickey’s encounters enter the stage for a splendid collegiate performance. Accompanied by all the dancers, they remind Mickey one last time of their advice one by one.
It is now time for the master to leave. After a final embrace, he moves to the back of the stage. Then covered by a veil, he rises into the sky. When Mickey pulls on the veil, the magician has disappeared and finds himself sitting on the moon which has returned to the Parisian sky!
A final thank you is given by the new magician as a spray of multi-coloured cotillions sprays the room and the audience!
To the applause of the audience, the music starts again, the characters and dancers greet the audience and the curtain is drawn on this wonderful adventure!
Discover the music of Mickey and the Magician