Rogers: The Musical Creative Team Reveals How Disneyland Show Began

Rogers: The Musical’s real-life team revealed how they came up with the one-act musical at Disney’s California Adventure. The show, based on Hawkeye‘s viral moment, is currently playing at the Disneyland sister park. D23 Inside Disney caught up with the creative team to talk about crafting an entire half hour from that quick bit on Disney+. According to writer Hunter Bell, the character of Steve Rogers really guided everything. Yes, “Save the City” is in there as a mandatory inclusion because the fans love it so much. Disney creatives knew they would have to find a way to cover a lot of ground in not a lot of time. That means centering in on what makes Captain America so good.

“I give a shout-out to our first Avenger, our director Jordan Peterson, who conceived this idea beyond what we saw on Hawkeye. So, it was a joy to kind of join into that,” Bell began. “And meet where Jordan’s head was with concepts, meet where Chris’s [Leonards] head was with lyrics. Luckily, it’s called Rogers: The Musical in Hawkeye and not Endgame or The Avengers, because that gives you your first clue, you’re going to follow Steve Rogers.”

“I would say that love stories make good musical comedy,” he smiled. “They make great musical theater. Also, Steve has an amazing hero’s journey from where we meet him in the first film. While there are lots of adventures and lots of battles everywhere, he keeps that compass of Peggy. It was such a great conceit to follow that journey.”

When Did Disney Decide To Bring Rogers The Musical Into Real Life?

Disneyland and Disney California Adventure brass bought into the idea of bringing Rogers: The Musical to life pretty quickly. Like most fans watching at home, they were very excited when the musical number made an appearance on Hawkeye. From there, they had to contact some of their partners to hammer out logistics. But, once development began, they realized they had a winning show on their hands. Dan Fields, the executive creative director for Disney Live Entertainment talked to Reuters about the first moments after they all saws the Disney+ show.

“From the moment we saw that first episode of the ‘Hawkeye’ series, we started to imagine ‘What if? What if we could turn ‘Rogers: The Musical’ into a real show?’” Fields began. “And clearly the fans online were wondering the same thing – practically demanding it!”

He would add, “When Kevin Feige and the studio brought ‘Save the City’ to D23 Expo, that sparked the conversations that led to the show guests will enjoy this summer at Disney California Adventure Park.”

How Did Rogers: The Musical End Up in Hawkeye?

In the case of Hawkeye, the MCU’s big musical moment began with an idea. Head writer Jonathan Igla was driving in to pen the Marvel Studios show and passed a Hamilton billboard. It feels like Steve Rogers would have something similar in the MCU. So, he joked abut the concept with Kevin Feige, only to be surprised when the boss was completely supportive of the idea.

“It was one of the most fun things,” Igla told the press on the red carpet. “Every day on my commute I drove by with my fiancé who was also my second-in-command on the show, Lisa clam. We would drive by a ‘Hamilton’ billboard every morning on the way to the writers’ room, and one morning I just thought ‘Rogers: The Musical.’ And we started talking about it and it expanded.” 

“One of the great things about working for Marvel is if you have an idea that starts out small or medium, it sort of started out medium I would say, and you pitch it to them and everyone is tickled by it and everyone is excited by it,” he continued. “They’re willing to pick it up and run with it and make it even bigger, and I’m so excited for people to see.”

What Can You Expect From Rogers: The Musical?

Disneyland’s website says: “In theatrical splendor, relive the life of Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America! The musical retelling takes you from Steve’s humble beginnings during World War II to becoming Captain America and leading the Avengers. Be on the lookout for appearances by Peggy Carter and Nick Fury—and watch some of your favorite Avengers assemble in epic, show-tune style. It’s a larger-than-life one-act musical coming this summer for a limited time to the Hyperion Theater in Hollywood Land at Disney California Adventure Park.”

Will you be making the trip to see Rogers the Musical? Let us know down in the comments!