ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 When night settles over Disney Springs, the stage inside Cirque du Soleil\u2019s theater becomes a sketchbook brought to life.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrawn to Life,\u201d an exclusive collaboration between Cirque du Soleil and Disney, drops audiences into a story centered on Julie, a young girl who loses her father, an animator, and discovers he left behind an unfinished animation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a story of a young lady who loses her father at a young age,\u201d said Kelly Straczynski, the show\u2019s artistic director. \u201cIt\u2019s passing the legacy of his animation and getting her to continue the unfinished book that he was creating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Straczynski said the production aims to do more than impress viewers with strength and spectacle. It is designed to make them feel something.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes that even stronger is to be able to combine that with storytelling,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t emotionally move me on a journey, I just think you look incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
That emotional pull, Straczynski said, can land differently depending on who is watching, children soaking in the visuals and older audience members connecting the story to their own memories.<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s performers bring that journey to life without relying on a traditional script, instead leaning on physical storytelling, dance and acrobatics. That approach requires artists with elite technique and an ability to connect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hire professionals at the top of their fields,\u201d said Andre, who performs the role of the mother and also serves as an artist coach. \u201cWe are looking for professionals with strong foundation, amazing technique, but we also do look for a mindset to be creatively risky, be able and willing to play, and connect directly with the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
For aerial hoop artists Liz Fraley and Susan Scova, the work is both technical and emotional, a performance that can\u2019t be faked once you\u2019re suspended above the stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s transferring movement and dance in the air using an apparatus,\u201d Fraley said.<\/p>\n
Scova described it as \u201csomething physical and also emotional altogether.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYou really have to feel it in your body. If you don\u2019t feel it, you get lost,\u201d Scova said.<\/p>\n
The audience often sees only minutes of an act, but the artists say those moments are built on years of training, repetition and safety checks.<\/p>\n
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What viewers don\u2019t see is the backstage machinery that makes the transitions seamless. David Wallace, technical director for \u201cDrawn to Life\u201d and a Cirque veteran of 28 years, said the theater was originally built for Cirque\u2019s \u201cLa Nouba,\u201d and retrofitting it for a different show came with challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest challenges we had technically was to make all of the scenic elements work in the space that we had,\u201d Wallace said.<\/p>\n
Wallace pointed to scenic pieces that rise from below the stage, then disappear to keep the floor flat for the next scene. Some elements function as tributes to Disney history, including a piece inspired by Mary Blair, a pioneering artist whose bold, modernist color palette helped shape mid century Disney design.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an ode to Mary Blair, one of the first female Imagineers with the Walt Disney Company,\u201d Wallace said, noting Blair\u2019s signature use of \u201cbold colors\u201d and \u201ca lot of primaries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with careful planning, Wallace said, live theater demands flexibility. If a performer is injured or an act has to be skipped at the last second, teams must quickly re cue the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens backstage is it looks like complete chaos, but it\u2019s absolutely organized,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For guests in the seats, the result is a production that blends Disney nostalgia with Cirque intensity, a show built to be revisited.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is so much happening all at once,\u201d Straczynski said. \u201cYou can come back and you\u2019ll see a different show.\u201d<\/p>\n