Me and my two nieces (ages 3 and 6) have attended a couple of Disney Live! productions before this one.  We are by no means experts in Disney productions, but we’ve been to enough of them to have a basis for comparison.  After some discussion after the 90 minute (with one intermission) show we all concurred that this was our favourite one that we’ve seen.  Why you ask? Well, I’m about to tell you.

First of all it contained our most favourite of stories and characters.  Snow White, Cinderella and Belle are three of the most popular female Disney characters of all time.  Throw in a couple of dastardly villains and a trio of handsome princes and you have stuff that kids eat up with a spoon.  Their stories contain all the necessary elements to make an engaging story.  Humour, romance, hope, and some tension or scary stuff (I’ll talk more about that later) all mixed together in the Disney cauldron equals three stories that have kept generations coming back for more.

The hosts of all this were Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, and Goofy.  Those four beloved characters (Disney never has a production without them) find a magical book that contains the three stories of Snow White, Cinderella and Belle.  This is a world of wonder when dreams really do come true.

Disney films have produced many catchy songs over the decades.  This show contains many a person’s favourites like “Heigh Ho”, “Bibbidi, Bobbidi, Boo”, “Be Our Guest”, and “Beauty and the Beast”.  They just kept coming throughout the production.  So much so that the three of us were continuously singing.  A great way to keep the viewer engaged in what is going on.  Encouraging interactivity never hurts a production.

The sets, lighting, special effects, and costumes were all eye catching.  Despite the fact that the productions have all been put on by Disney that hasn’t always been the case.  This time the costumes, especially the gowns of the three princesses, were up to the standards expected. What really lifted the show above the others were the special effects and sets.  With tons of little explosions, moving stage parts and smoke there was always something going on.  I especially liked how they used the smoke to enable the actors to get off the stage or to hide costume changes.  Quite clever!

A little warning though for those accompanying very young people.  There are a couple of sections in the Snow White story involving the evil Queen that are quite scary.  Plus there are some loud explosions that caused my 3-year-old niece to cover her ears and cry out in fear.

The two “critics” that count most - my two young nieces - spent the entire show glued to what was going on onstage.  Sign of a good show!  The length of the show was perfect for the younger audience members.  Bravo Disney for creating a magical experience for them.

There is one more opportunity to catch this show (in French) Wednesday morning.  If there are tickets left I recommend checking it out.