A whole new world opened up to audiences November 18 when Drawn to Life, the new collaboration from Cirque du Soleil and Disney, opened in Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort. Get a sneak peek above at the show and the opening night festivities.
Drawn to Life explores animation through Cirque’s signature acrobatic storytelling. The story follows Julie, a girl who discovers a gift—an unfinished animation—left by her father. As she dives into the world of drawing, guided by a helpful pencil, Julie embarks on a quest filled with childhood Disney memories. Along the way, she encounters rhythmic gymnasts interpreting pages of drawings in continuous sequence, a pair of human trapeze artists moving as paintbrushes to create a kaleidoscope of colors, teeterboard artists displaying the squash and stretch principle of animation, and more. Plus, like any Disney film, Julie must face down a truly heinous villain: Miss Hésitation, a massive ball of crumpled paper composed of rejected drawings that feeds off of self-doubt.
The show is written and directed by Michel Laprise with Fabrice Becker as director of creation and developed with Michael Jung. Drawn to Life is driven by 10 acrobatic acts alongside animation from films like Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, and Cinderella. There is also new animation created by Disney Animation artists, led by animation director Eric Goldberg, best known for characters such as the Genie in Aladdin.
“This show has been in the works for years and to finally share it with the world is a dream come true,” said Daniel Lamarre, president and CEO of Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group. “This collaboration has been unlike anything we’ve done before. We hope it will mean as much to our fans as it has to us—it’s not just our show now, it’s theirs, too.” The show also marks the first theatrical collaboration between Cirque du Soleil, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Walt Disney Imagineering.
“It means so much to finally be raising the curtain on Drawn to Life,” said Laprise, after the show was originally slated to open in March 2020. “Every step of this journey has been emotional, from researching and viewing original Disney Animation, to writing this beautiful story, to meeting our cast and becoming a family supporting each other through our unexpected ‘intermission’ together. I’m overwhelmed at the magic we have the opportunity to create for families.”
For more information and tickets, visit CirqueduSoleil.com.
