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[0:35] David Alpert: Welcome to E-Ticket to Broadway, where Broadway meets Main Street.

[0:35] David Alpert: Here's your host, my pal, David Alpert.

[0:35] David Alpert: Ha ha!

[0:35] David Alpert: Hello to you listening, and thank you for tuning in to E-Ticket to Broadway, the podcast where the stars you see on the Broadway stage share with you what makes them cry at a Disney theme park.

[0:35] David Alpert: Before I intro this episode's guest, I want to be sure that you know that there's an official E-Ticket to Broadway merchandise shop.

[0:41] David Alpert: There are tons of incredible designs on a variety of products, from the popular "See with the Parks" design to the mashups of Broadway lyrics and Disney theme park attractions.

[0:51] David Alpert: Bring the magic home today by visiting www.eticketpodcast.com/shop.

[1:34] David Alpert: Here he is. Please welcome Tony Award nominee, Rob McClure.

[1:47] David Alpert: Rob McClure, you talented devil you, I'm thrilled to spend this time with you, and even more thrilled to learn more about your views of Mickey Mouse.

[1:55] David Alpert: Do you want to start there with your views of Mickey Mouse?

[1:57] Rob McClure: Let's go.

[2:00] Rob McClure: So listen, Rob, I've been a fan of you on the stage, and when we first got to work together eight years ago, I found what a mensch you were. So to learn that you love the Disney parks is just perfect. Do you remember the first time or first few times you went to the parks?

[2:14] Rob McClure: Yes. It was fairly late. I was sixteen. Um, and it was at my high school girlfriend's mother had to go to Florida for a work convention, and it was in Orlando. And so we were like, oh, so can we go down? So I went with like three high school friends and my high school girlfriend when I was sixteen, and I was in awe. I mean, I had never—my family wasn't a traveling family. In fact, that was the first time I ever left the state of New Jersey where I grew up. That trip to Florida. Um, and yeah, we weren't travelers, and I fell madly in love quickly with the whole spiel, and then I didn't go back until I went on tour with Avenue Q with my wife in 2007 and 2008, which we were there, we were playing Orlando for her 30th birthday. So she got to experience Walt Disney World for the first time on her 30th birthday, and it was one of the most magical days. That one I'll remember for the rest of my life.

[3:30] David Alpert: Do you remember when you went to Walt Disney World and you saw the castle for the first time?

[3:34] Rob McClure: Yeah.

[3:34] David Alpert: What did you think?

[3:36] Rob McClure: I mean, like from New Jersey to this beautiful castle. What was that like?

[3:39] Rob McClure: It's so much more legit than I thought it was going to be. You know what I mean? Like I thought—and especially as an aspiring actor, you think it's gonna be like sets, you know? And you get there and you just go, wait, that's just a castle. It's actually a castle. And if you're lucky enough to like go inside it, you realize, oh no, this really—like even inside, this is a castle. Um, and I was blown away by the, um, you know, this is one of the things I love about the Florida parks versus the LA parks, is that you really lose track of the world outside. It's so immersive and so sprawling that I completely lost track of where I was other than Disney World. I mean, I was in Disney World and the rest of the world was gone for all I care.

Um, especially, you know, Main Street. And the castle is epic, but there is also just something about Main Street USA leading to the castle that by the time you arrive at that statue of Walt and Mickey, it's in—you're incapable of bringing anything, any garbage that you might have had on your back when you entered the park gates. It's gone by the time you reach that statue. It's inevitable. There's no fighting it.

[4:56] David Alpert: You are a perfect walking commercial for the parks.

[4:58] Rob McClure: Oh, I mean, it's great. Are there any attractions, rides that are just a must-do when you go to the parks?

[5:05] Rob McClure: Country Bear Jamboree. First thing I'd go to the Country Bear Jamboree.

[5:09] David Alpert: Very specific.

[5:10] Rob McClure: We love it. I love a specific house. I love how blue it is. I love how blue the comedy is. I love how, um, you know, it's absurd, but it's so well done. Um, both Country Bear Jamboree and the Tiki Room, I make sure to like immediately give some love just because they are so old, um, that they, um, you know, there's sort of heartbreakingly never really long lines for them, and I feel a responsibility to like carry the enthusiasm for them because they're really, really special and um really they're wonders now, but they were really wonders when they came out. Um, and I just love celebrating that old school stuff.

[5:53] David Alpert: What's funny is—and we'll talk about this later, but for a podcast that's kind of Broadway meets the parks, you've chosen two stage shows in a way.

[6:01] Rob McClure: Yeah.

[6:02] David Alpert: And for many of us, I mean, I'm assuming when you were sixteen you had seen a theatrical production, but for many people that is their first introduction to a show, a musical. Like a curtain going up and somewhat, yeah, yeah.

[6:13] Rob McClure: Like we're gonna watch the two o'clock performance of Beauty and the Beast.

[6:16] David Alpert: Right.

[6:16] Rob McClure: You know, and then we're gonna watch the Tiki Room show, and you kind of get to see what a show is.

[6:21] David Alpert: Sure. What about when you went to the park for the first time? Were there any characters that you remember meeting and freaking out about?

[6:27] Rob McClure: I mean, the first time you lay eyes on Mickey Mouse, it is—it's like Santa. I mean, it really—and there's something about the, um, the performers they hire to do those characters in the park, Mickey and Minnie and Goofy and Donald and Pluto. Those—that sort of quintet specifically is—there is something otherworldly about them. Um, and for me, my wife and I talk about this all the time. We're like the costume characters with like who are head to toe covered, are those characters for real? We have a harder time with like princesses just because we're aware, like we're like okay, you're not Cinderella. I'll buy that you're Cinderella for this moment, you're not Cinderella. But I will fight you on the fact that that is Goofy.

Like that is Goofy. It really is. Those are really the characters. That's right. Um, but yeah, for some reason that quintet struck me quickly and in an emotional way. Like there is a—um, and then of course Tinkerbell. Uh, particularly during the fireworks, you know, the arrival of Tinkerbell is one of the most magical things I've ever experienced in my life, because I had been told that Tinkerbell is part of the fireworks display, and I was so ready for a little light bulb or a laser or a something. So when that human dove out of a castle, it's a fairy, but yes.

[8:01] Rob McClure: Yes, exactly. When that Pixie launched herself out of that castle, I—I was the last thing I expected, even though I had heard the rumor that Tinkerbell's in the fireworks, I didn't know it was a—it was an actual, you know, living breathing fairy.

[8:19] David Alpert: Um, and it was in that moment. Speaking of living breathing fairies, nice to meet you.

[8:24] Rob McClure: Thank you, nice to meet you.

[8:25] David Alpert: Yeah, hello.

[8:35] David Alpert: So we're gonna go back in time a little bit. When you were a child, do you remember watching the Disney movies? Were you a fan of them? Did you have any favorites?

[8:42] Rob McClure: Uh, the first thing that comes to mind when you ask me that is me in my room with the cassette to the soundtrack of The Lion King, um, pretending to conduct the music of the Stampede. That butter dun dun dun dun, got a dun dunno dun dun dun gun dun. Oh ho ho ho. I literally had a Dixon Ticonderoga number two pencil in my hand, and with no knowledge of music theory, conducting an invisible orchestra in my mind. There was something so, um, I don't know, I was like the fantasia of it all, like shooting that kind of music out of my fingertips. Um, so yes, I watched every single one of the Disney movies. I have a memory of my, uh, my Aunt Tresa, who's no longer with us, um, bringing me to the movie theater to see Aladdin for the first time, and falling in love with that and, uh, and being in awe of whoever the heck had done the Genie.

Um, which now is kind of blows my mind that I'm getting to play Mrs. Doubtfire on Broadway is a crazy, uh, crazy thing, because I do remember sitting in that theater and thinking, wow, whoever is playing that Genie is the funniest person I've ever heard, you know. Um, that was a great introduction. And actually, I think now that we're sitting here talking, gosh, I haven't thought about this in forever. You know when sometimes you're talking about something and it's like you drag the file out of the trash can in your brain and it was gone for a decade, but you all of a sudden you're like, wait. Um, I think the first movie I ever saw in the movie theater was the first celebratory re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the movie theater.

[10:20] David Alpert: So here's the deal. You and I were born around the same time.

[10:23] Rob McClure: 1982 for me.

[10:25] David Alpert: Yep, and I'm 85, and so the Renaissance with Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast came out when we were kids, but the fiftieth anniversary of Snow White was nineteen eighty-seven.

[10:34] Rob McClure: That's it. And so I mean, Dopey's my favorite. I love Snow White, and like I remember that as well. That's so funny that you knew that because that is exactly right. I must have been around five and went to see that re-release for the 50th anniversary. That's incredible.

[10:48] David Alpert: And I will also say that I also loved that cassette tape of The Lion King, but I remember my sister and I, we would talk about—you know, back in the day, you would just like go to bed and you'd hit play, and you'd have like Circle of Life and just can't wait to be king. But then if you weren't asleep by the stampede and you woke up and hearing that music, it was terrifying. Like I distinctly remember—it's just funny to think that I was in Michigan, you were in New Jersey, you were conducting the Stampede, I was terrified of it. Because as a kid when you're trying to fall asleep and you hear that music that was so wonderful, that's a scary piece of music.

[11:23] Rob McClure: Yeah.

[11:24] David Alpert: And it's so funny now as a parent, I have a three-year-old, uh, three-year-old girl named Sadie, and as a parent, that stampede is sort of a huge life-defining moment as to when I'm comfortable enough to let her experience that. Um, because I remember its impact on me. Um, and I think, uh, it's a weird thing trying to sort of like guard the concept of death from your kid. And those movies do such a beautiful job of handling it and introducing it and showing how you can overcome it and, uh, the beauty of remembering those we lose. I mean, it's done so well, but you do end up wondering like how young is too young, and when is the right time for that? And that instant specifically Mufasa, specifically—and we all hear it in our head, right?

We all hear Dad, Dad, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, home improvement fame. Breaking our hearts. Um, and just wondering like when is the right time for that? And I—I haven't done it yet, but I—you know, sooner or later that'll be a huge family discussion.

[12:28] Rob McClure: I know.

[12:29] David Alpert: Is it too soon for the stampede?

[12:31] Rob McClure: Exactly. Maybe now what about like the old school Disney, the classic golden age of Disney with the princess movies and Pinocchio and Peter Pan, any of those?

[12:40] Rob McClure: All of them.

[12:42] Rob McClure: All of them, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[12:43] Rob McClure: Um, I, uh, Jiminy Cricket singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" out the window is I think perhaps some of the most beautiful cinema ever made. In my daughter's room, I have, uh, Disney sells these beautiful, um, sort of 3D dioramas that are in these tiny little picture frames. They're like little cubes about the size of like a Rubik's Cube, and they have these beautiful stage—they light up.

[13:08] Rob McClure: And they light up. You push the—I have three of them.

[13:11] David Alpert: There you go. See, I knew I was came to the right place tonight.

[13:14] Rob McClure: But the one that we have in her room is Geppetto finishing painting Pinocchio.

[13:18] David Alpert: Yes, it's a beautiful one.

[13:19] Rob McClure: Oh my gosh, it's stunning. And, um, I don't know that there's any more heartbreaking story than that. I—I, uh, Geppetto is one of my all-time favorite characters in all of sort of fiction. Um, I just think it's such a beautiful, heartbreaking, wonderful character.

[13:37] Rob McClure: That movie has stayed with me since I saw it initially. Cinderella, I wore out as a kid, and then I had a younger sister, so we wore it out, and I had an older sister, so Cinderella was in my house for a decade. It's so funny now watching it with Sadie, how much I remembered from when I was a kid. Underscoring and things like Cinderella walking from the door toward her stepmother in the bed and the animation of the window, the shadow of the window. Oh my god, I get goosebumps just talking to you about it. That stuff, I watched it and went, oh my gosh, that must have struck me when I was eight because I'm watching this going like I remember every frame of this moment. It's true. Every time I can hear the horses' hooves from Sleeping Beauty of Samson. There's just things that as kids we just latched on to.

[14:35] Rob McClure: Yeah, and I was really lucky. My wife and I, the last tour we did was the Something Rotten tour, and when we were in San Francisco, we went to the Disney Family Museum, and that had an exhibition there of the artist, forgive me for not knowing their name, but the artist, I believe it was a woman, who did all of the background art for Sleeping Beauty. Walking through these halls of these giant tapestries that she had painted for that film, and that movie specifically had such a wild style for that time, and a very distinct style, that I just, all of those films stayed with me for such a long time. I'm such a huge fan of them. And also, I remember as a kid, Maleficent turning into that dragon at the end was horrifying in the best way. And again, my three-year-old Sadie now getting to celebrate that movie with her because last Christmas all she was doing was running around the house, making things pink and blue.

[15:41] David Alpert: Does she have a preference, pink or blue?

[15:43] Rob McClure: You know, she likes to end it at the moment when it was both colors for the drama and the conflict of it all. Do you have a preference of Sleeping Beauty in blue or pink?

[15:54] Rob McClure: You know, I don't. I think pink wins because Flora, I think, is the sort of the most maternal and had the idea to take her in in the first place, so she wins.

[16:06] David Alpert: I'm definitely Team Blue.

[16:07] Rob McClure: All right, Mary. Team Blue.

[16:24] David Alpert: So you mentioned Geppetto, you mentioned Jiminy Cricket. Are there other Disney characters that you love?

[16:29] Rob McClure: Oh gosh. Hook and Smee, I think are perfect dramatizations of a fictional character that hadn't quite been done so beautifully up until that moment. I mean, we had the stage show and we had, you know, I'm thinking Cyril Luchard. I don't know which came out first. But the animations of those characters were so delightful, and it gave life and shape to Neverland in a way that I think anyone who was a fan of that universe hadn't quite been so specific in the past. Now suddenly they had a real sort of geography for Neverland in a wonderful way. What other characters? God, this, I mean the stepmother in Cinderella is an astonishing, and also that voice work, that actor's in the voice work is just unbelievable. What other classics? Let's go through them again. Snow White was the first. The witch in Snow White is still horrifying.

[17:27] David Alpert: And on the ride in LA.

[17:29] Rob McClure: Well, yes, terrifying. That reveal when she's looking in the mirror and then she turns around and it's the other version. I mean, that is not only is that a great legit jump scare on the ride, but it's also just a well-designed. I mean, what a great idea the way they pull that off. They recently updated the ride, and it's stunning. And they've kept that, but they've actually slowed down their ride vehicles a little bit, so you're in that room a little longer. But that, yeah, that was a terrifying moment of that ride.

[17:56] David Alpert: Oh yeah, yeah. And I again, I'm remembering back my my auntresa growing up. She bought me one Christmas. It was a stocking stuffer. Gosh, you are dragging the fossils out tonight. I'm so thrilled about it. But one of the stocking stuffers was one of those Disney used to sell these wonderful little flip books of moments of animation. And I got two of them for Christmas. One was the moment where there are three genies sort of doing a dance in Aladdin and Friend Like Me when they're all in the tucks and tails and they all, the genie and the two giant versions of his hand are doing that wonderful dance. That was one of the flips. And the other flip was Snow White dancing with the three of them stacked on each other with Dobby on top.

[18:36] Rob McClure: Yeah. And that little flip book moment, and I have such a wonderful memory of flipping through that over and over and over and over and being fascinated. It was a magic trick, those little flip books. That's the thing. The magic of Disney is so present in our childhoods that as we grow older we kind of forget, but you're like, that was actually a huge impact.

[18:55] David Alpert: Oh yeah. Have you, I mean, have you done the deep dives on Disney Plus yet with all the imagineering shows and all of that? Because it is.

[19:02] Rob McClure: I weep. I weep. I weep at the care and the innovation and the dedication to providing wonderment because that is such an endangered species. You know what I mean? Like things that really provide a sense of awe. And the fact that that was of value to them to do it so thoroughly and so immersively, it's why I, it still makes me cry.

[19:46] David Alpert: So Rob, you recently shared that you took Sadie to Walt Disney World. What was that like to bring her to the parks?

[19:53] Rob McClure: This is literally six days ago. That it was Mrs. Doubtfire's gearing to come back on Broadway, and I knew my time was running out in terms of like having every moment of every day with my family. So my wife and I just looked at each other and we were like, let's just go. Let's just go. So I went online to see what was available, and there was a room at the Contemporary, and I thought, oh great, 'cause it's one monorail stop away from Magic Kingdom, which is where I'm gonna be spending most of my time because she's three. And she is like all in on Disney right now. I can't count the number of times I hear We Don't Talk About Bruno a day. She is like right in the middle. She owns every princess dress there is. She won't go to sleep in pajamas anymore, so I had to buy her nightgowns of princess dresses so that she'll wear pajamas. Like she's all in.

[20:46] Rob McClure: Yeah. So we, once I saw there was a room available at the Contemporary, I was like, that's it, let's go. And you know, it's a whole nother level, I'll be honest. Like experiencing the Disney parks at yourself, which I think is kind of essential to do first so that you can deal with your own sort of splendor. But then getting to see it through her eyes, what is one of the more, I mean, it's one of the most magical things you can do as a parent is to provide that moment for them. And then I'll, you know, and there were a lot of people who were like, she's three, she might not even remember it. Great, because then she'll get to experience it for the first time again. Fantastic. Like, I hope she forgets it so that she walks in and goes, oh my god, this is incredible again.

I've heard that so often, like when to take a kid, it's like they sure they might forget it, but they will remember it the day you get home, and they'll remember it, you know, the next day, and you will remember it. And you know, as I share with you before, like I went when I was five months, I don't remember it, but here I am.

[21:51] Rob McClure: Well, and she will have videos of her on my shoulders after It's a Small World up at eleven oh five at night, leaving the park with giggling on my shoulders. Like she'll have that for the rest of her life, and you know, it's an interesting thing though, because I am one of those people who is like, okay, we're going. Let's do everything there is to do, and I'm not one of those people who like schedules myself to within an inch of my life, but I'm gonna get creative while I'm there to try and fit in as much as I can. But with a three-year-old, there is a little bit of trepidation in terms of overextending her. So you do have to let her steer a bit in terms of like, oh, she's crashing a little bit.

I think even though it's twelve thirty, I think I need to jump on the monorail and go back to the Contemporary and let her nap for two hours, which breaks my heart thinking about having two hours in the middle of the day that I could be in a Disney park and then I'm gonna be in a hotel room. But it will pay off during the fireworks when she's not unconscious.

[22:52] David Alpert: That's right, that's right. Were there any rides that you and Maggie did like a ride or switch pass? You were like, I know Space Mountain is not gonna work out, so we're just gonna swap places.

[23:02] Rob McClure: We actually, this was an all Sadie trip. So we didn't do anything that she couldn't go on. Which was very hard because Maggie and I are also die-hard Star Wars fans. Oh no. So we did walk through it and sob while Sadie was like, this place is dirty.

[23:21] David Alpert: Have you been able to go on Rise of the Resistance yet?

[23:24] Rob McClure: Not at all. No, we did, we literally walked through it and wept and walked past the Millennium Falcon. We're like, we will be back as adults and we will experience all of this.

[23:31] David Alpert: Oh my gosh. I should have come just to be like, I'll watch Sadie for the next one.

[23:35] Rob McClure: Oh, it would have been, I would have loved you for it. Oh my gosh, because you if you love Star Wars, you will lose it.

[23:40] Rob McClure: Oh, we, I mean, we literally walked into the, we finally walked into Galaxy's Edge and we saw the X-Wing that was just sort of sitting there in the distance, and we ball started crying. Again, it's like, and also I think Disney, I don't, I can't be sure, but I think maybe there was a little bit of a lesson learned from the reveal of Harry Potter world in Universal because it kind of, they kind of keep Harry Potter World a secret until you do a sort of dramatic entrance into that world. And I think when they built Galaxy's Edge, they were like, wait, these, we can't just suddenly like turn around from Muppet Vision 3D, which is one of my favorites ever, by the way, and be like, oh, and there's the Millennium Falcon. Like there you need, you need a moment to enter that universe, you know. And they so beautifully did it.

[24:39] Rob McClure: So the reveal has so much more impact when all of a sudden you come through a tunnel and in the daylight, you're like, wait. And they also did that really well with the whole Avatar world in Animal Kingdom, the sort of like slow introduction to another world. They're getting really great.

[24:56] David Alpert: It's true. I mean, like, my dream is always to be an imagineer, but how theater and the parks overlap. I mean, like, you think when a curtain opens and you're transported, how similar that is to walking to Galaxy's Edge.

[25:10] Rob McClure: Yeah, yeah, I mean similar. It's so funny. I worked with a really great director, this guy named Aaron Posner, and he used a term that has always stayed with me, and it was a simple one, but he always said, actually, actually. And when we would be, we'd be playing a moment, you know, and the stakes wouldn't be high enough or the comedy wouldn't be rich enough, and he would say, no, no, no, I just need you to do what you would actually actually do. Meaning like it feeling as real as possible. And that's what's captured in those moments is that you walk in and you go, wait, that's actually actually the Millennium Falcon. Like, actually, that's actually actually Cinderella's castle. There's something about, and Sadie would say to me, is that the real one? And you go, yeah, that that's the real one. Is that the real Mickey Mouse? Yes, that is the real Mickey Mouse.

[26:15] Rob McClure: Oh my god. And they say no, and I want to turn over and say yes. Yes. Or what I'd started doing, I FaceTime my nephews from the parks when I've been there, and they say, is that a real castle? And I said, it sure looks like it. Yeah, that's it. And just to keep them going, and I so thank you for doing that for Sadie.

[26:31] David Alpert: I love that you do that. I there's so many times I'm in the parks and I hear a kid ask their parent, are those real fireflies on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride?

[26:31] David Alpert: Yeah. So Rob, you know, this is a Broadway meets Disney Park, so here's a question for you. Who would you most like to go to Walt Disney World with? Charlie Chaplin, Adam from Beetlejuice, or Daniel Hillard?

[26:41] Rob McClure: Oh my gosh. Oh, that's so hard. Okay, other option is what would you like to do with each of them if you can't choose.

[26:50] Rob McClure: Okay. Well, okay. I would not want to go with Charlie Chaplin because too many people would know who he was and we'd never get to do anything. He would just be mobbed. Okay. Number two, Adam and Beetlejuice is dead. So I couldn't see him. Okay. And then so I'm gonna go with Daniel Hillard because he's a really good time.

[27:10] Rob McClure: He's super super fun. He's super super funny. And uh and he's a great dad. So he get he gets it. I would in fact I'd want to go with him and bring his kids. Sure. I would say you could see Adam on Haunted Mansion, maybe. That's right. I could bring him on Haunted Mansion and hope that he maybe he could see his find his wife at the dance party. Oh, it got dark there for a second. Or sweet, I should say. That's sweet. It's so funny because Carrie, of course, in the podcast, Carrie and I met years ago and what bonded us was Disney, and she's a huge Disney fan, so I'm sure that we can make that work. Yeah, she was just down there with her family because she was in the she was performing in the show at Epcot. At Festival of the Arts, yeah.

[27:49] David Alpert: So Rob, if you were to get a job at the parks, which job would you most want?

[27:53] Rob McClure: Oh. You know, I would want to be uh a performer on one of the one on one sort of experiences. You know what I mean? When you're going to meet a character or or you know, I haven't experienced any of the Star Wars stuff, but from what I hear, there's a bit of like a ceremony about like building or picking your lightsaber and all of that stuff. Those types of things. Because if you're gonna do twenty eight shows a day, but every single one of those shows is a life affirming three minutes for the person it's for. That that's the reason why I got into this in the first place. Like the that moment, being able to do that for being able to, whether it's a seven-year-old or whether it's a 50-year-old, you know, I go on TikTok all the time and I watch those videos of these like, you know, 68-year-old die hard Star Wars fans who walk in and see the Millennium Falcon and start sobbing.

Um, and the fact that they might go into a shop and that I can provide them with a no BS real life actually actually moment where I will sell to them the fact that this is really happening. You're really getting your lightsaber today, and you and we're really gonna find out the one that fits you best and what color represents who you are and what you stand for, and what I mean because they'll follow you in that atmosphere, they'll go as far as you're willing to take them. And man, as a performer, as an actor, getting to improvise a moment that's providing an audience member with a w with that special of a moment, I mean, there's nothing better.

[29:48] David Alpert: I love that you want this job where you can give a memorable moment to the guest. Have you had any times at the Disney parks where you're like, I will remember this always?

[29:59] Rob McClure: There are two that come to mind that are kind of the same moment, and one that comes to mind because I'm gonna send you a video that you can enjoy because it's of that exact moment. So when I brought Maggie to Disney World for her 30th birthday, Maggie also experienced the moment of not knowing that Tinkerbell in the fireworks show is a real person. So my 30-year-old wife, full voice, screamed the word Tinkerbell when she left out of that castle. And and sobbed and and sort of cued the rest of the people around us to start crying on her behalf because they all saw that she was having this amazing moment, right? Now that gets bookended with a video that I will send you of my three-year-old doing the exact same thing at the exact same moment, shouting the word Tinkerbell.

Um I also Sadie was uh wanted to have dinner at Bell's Castle to be our guest's dinner, because she's all into uh Beauty and the Beast at the moment. So I finally get a reservation. There's this great website called MouseWatcher.com, by the way, um, that you pay five dollars and they'll like hunt for dinner reservations for you and text you when one pops up and is available. I don't know whether you're allowed to put to share that, but it's really great. They can sponsor e-ticket to Broadway. They're so great. Um, and uh, so we got a reservation at Bell's Castle, and we walk in, and they're like, so your table is in the West Wing, and in my mind, I'm like, wait, I have a three-year-old girl. That sounds a little spooky. You do not go into the West Wing.

[31:38] David Alpert: Exactly. We have been warned.

[31:40] Rob McClure: So we go in, and of course, everything's ripped up and like all this stuff, and Sadie is sitting next to me, and there's the rose under the cloche in the corner. And the only reason I know it's called the Cloche is because of Iron Chef. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was gonna say, wow, that's a really good vocabulary for the first time. Thanks. Um, but yes, under the glass clo the crystal cloche in the corner. And um, they have the the the picture of the prince, which I learned is Prince Adam. Didn't know that his name is out. Um with the like claw mark rips across his face. So I'm sitting there with Sadie and my wife, and our backs are to that picture, but Sadie is facing that picture, and she starts freaking out and saying that the beast, it was the beast, and we turned around and it wasn't. Well, she was right.

It turns out every time the rose petal falls, there's a lightning clap, and the prince in the picture turns into the beast, and we were not seeing it, but she was. And my three-year-old daughter was like desperate for us to see it. And every time we would turn around, it will have been gone. But so I sent you a video um of her, and she when she finally says, No, listen, the prince turns into the beast. My three-year-old, unprompted, decided that she needed to provide an echo to the word beast. I would like to play this for you and see if you can hear her. Ready?

[33:13] David Alpert: If you heard that, bees, pee, speech.

[33:15] Rob McClure: She's literally providing her own echo. Look, I'm just gonna show you this.

[33:22] David Alpert: Oh, yeah, there is definitely an echo. And also, shout out for wearing Belle's winter costume in the West Wing.

[33:30] Rob McClure: Right? I know. We I think that's maybe why they put us there, but she had her little and it was also a chillier night. So it was the one night that she could wear her Belle winter costume, her little red, her little red hoodie. She's like she threw snowballs.

[33:44] David Alpert: Yeah, exactly. But but those there, you know, those three moments I will always remember as watching watching the actually actually happen. Yeah for all for for Maggie and Sadie. And even though Walt Disney always said, you know, Disneyland will never be complete, there are parts of the Disney parks that will always remain the same, and we tie it to our families and our friends and our memories. And every time you walk by that area, you will think of that. It's it's it's etched in.

[34:10] Rob McClure: Yeah, I mean, any time I any time I look up at that turret in the castle, I will think of both Sadie and Maggie shouting the word Tinkerbell, uh, with gosh, 15 years apart.

[34:26] David Alpert: Oh, shilly. We'll be right back.

[34:30] Rob McClure: Oh, what's the ball?

[34:44] David Alpert: Fast pass once.

[34:50] Rob McClure: Rob, this is fast pass answers. I'm gonna put 30 seconds on the clock.

[34:54] Rob McClure: Oh my god, do I need my genie plus? Do I need to sign up for genie plus?

[34:57] David Alpert: $15 a day. This has always been fast pass, but now it's like that's outdated already. It's always a new ticket, so we're fine.

[35:03] Rob McClure: No, it's good. It's good. It's fine. This is your lightning lane.

[35:06] David Alpert: No, I hate it.

[35:10] Rob McClure: So you've got 30 seconds to answer as many of these as you can.

[35:13] Rob McClure: Oh my god. Oh my god, yes. We are Robert Clurer. Name any Muppet.

[35:18] Rob McClure: Kermit.

[35:18] David Alpert: Name any attraction in Tomorrowland.

[35:21] Rob McClure: Space Mountain.

[35:22] David Alpert: Favorite snack in the parks.

[35:23] Rob McClure: Mickey Pretzel.

[35:24] David Alpert: Name a Disney character voice by Robin Williams.

[35:27] Rob McClure: The genie.

[35:28] David Alpert: Name any song from Sweeney Todd.

[35:30] Rob McClure: Worst Pies in London.

[35:32] David Alpert: Well, name one of the seven dwarfs.

[35:34] Rob McClure: Grumpy.

[35:35] David Alpert: Name a song from The Little Mermaid.

[35:36] Rob McClure: Part of your world.

[35:37] David Alpert: Favorite Disney villain.

[35:39] Rob McClure: Ursula.

[35:40] David Alpert: Name any Disney princess.

[35:42] Rob McClure: Aurora.

[35:43] David Alpert: Favorite ride in Fantasyland.

[35:47] Rob McClure: Dumbo.

[35:48] David Alpert: That was incredible.

[35:49] Rob McClure: Oh.

[35:50] David Alpert: I am so proud of you.

[35:51] Rob McClure: Thank you so so much.

[35:54] David Alpert: I'm I I was I was thrilled about that.

[35:57] Rob McClure: Yeah, I have no notes.

[35:59] David Alpert: I was great. I mean, like, you got the callback. I mean I'm so glad.

[36:05] Rob McClure: Okay, so Mickey Pretzel.

[36:06] David Alpert: Right.

[36:07] Rob McClure: Mickey Pretzel. Mickey Pretzel's real good.

[36:10] David Alpert: They're good.

[36:10] Rob McClure: Real good. Um, and uh what other there are some really good ones. Well, the Muppet, you went to Kermit, which is great.

[36:16] David Alpert: I went to Kermit.

[36:17] Rob McClure: Yeah, the Mupp that Space Mountain. That's impossible for me, by the way. I I like collect Muppets.

[36:22] David Alpert: Oh, this is interesting.

[36:23] Rob McClure: So when I I've always been obsessed with the Muppets my whole life. Yes. And so when I went to Disney World for the first time, and I went and saw Muppet Vision 3D, that was on the Avenue Q tour in 2007. So I come out of the Muppet Vision 3D, and there's that wonderful um Muppet gift shop right outside the Muppet Vision 3D. It has these like two giant Kermits uh at uh on the entrance to it as you come out of Muppet Vision 3D. And I was walking around and there were all these awesome Muppet stuffed animals and all these things, and behind the counter was this stunning statuette of Kermit, but the statue was actually felted, it had felt on it, and it was Kermit sitting on a log with this beautiful g um glass water underneath it, fireflies on little springs behind him, and I said, What is that statue behind you?

And they were like, Oh, uh, I don't even know. And there and the woman who was also behind her uh said, Oh, it's a music box, and she turns this little like knot of wood behind it and it plays rainbow connection. And I said, Oh my god, is that for sale? And the woman was like, No, it's just a display. And I said, Are you sure? And so she goes, Let me actually ask the manager, nobody's ever asked before. So she goes over and asks the manager, and the manager says, I I I have to be honest with you, I don't know. And she said, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna get our little binder of all the things we sell, and if it's in there, I'll sell it to you. So she goes and she looks through and she's like, Oh, here it is.

Yes, we actually have the box in the back. Yeah, yeah, you can you can buy it. So I decided in that moment that the thing that I'm going to collect in my life is Muppet stuff. And my the first item I ever bought was that music box in Muppet the gift shop after Muppet Vision 3D, and now I have this like giant Muppet collection. I could send you pictures um of uh of all kinds of things that are Muppet related, but it all started in the gift shop after Muppet Vision 3D in 2006.

[38:23] David Alpert: Incredible.

[38:24] Rob McClure: Yeah. I love that we both collect things and we, you know, I'm I collect dopeies. Dopey's my favorite.

[38:29] David Alpert: Oh, I love it. You know, it's funny, I was gonna say this earlier. There's a fan theory that Dopey grows up to be Geppetto.

[38:36] Rob McClure: Oh.

[38:37] David Alpert: Because they have the same kind of eyes. I don't really follow it, but but that's the thing.

[38:41] Rob McClure: I love that. I love that idea. I collect dopeies, and same thing. I go to the parks, and if I see a good dopey thing, I get it. So it's nice. Happy, sleepy, sneezy, grumpy, dopey, bashful, and doc.

[38:53] David Alpert: Yes, well done. Hallelujah. You got a three-year-old. I knew I liked you.

[39:05] Rob McClure: Hold on, you're thinking ears! It's trivia time!

[39:08] David Alpert: Oh boy!

[39:11] Rob McClure: Hey Rob, it's time for trivia. Here we go. Muppet Vision.

[39:15] David Alpert: Wait, what? Muppet Vision 3D at Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studio.

[39:20] Rob McClure: Yes, I as I was saying, I did script this before.

[39:22] David Alpert: That is crazy.

[39:23] Rob McClure: I know. You know me so well. It's the magic of Disney.

[39:27] David Alpert: Yep. What if I was like, in the gift shop?

[39:31] Rob McClure: Yes, there is a music box.

[39:33] David Alpert: There's a music box. What does it play?

[39:35] Rob McClure: Is it for sale?

[39:36] David Alpert: Yeah.

[39:37] Rob McClure: Yeah. Okay, Muppet Vision 3D at Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios take you directly to a perfect replica of the Muppet Theater from the classic television series, The Muppet Show. As the curtain rises, Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the whole Muppet menagerie appear in eye-popping 3D to take guests on a zany tour of their lab and show off their new movie making invention, Muppet Vision 3D. In true Muppet Fashion, things go haywire, it's fun, there's musical numbers, special effects. Everyone loves it. What makes this so special is that this collaboration between Walt Disney Imagineering and Jim Henson Productions was the last film to be released that was directed by Jim Henson himself. And the last to feature his voice as which Muppet character.

[40:20] Rob McClure: Oh gosh, as Kermit, right?

[40:24] David Alpert: It is Kermit.

[40:26] Rob McClure: Oh, I did it.

[40:27] David Alpert: Oh no, and I made you sad.

[40:30] Rob McClure: No, I love it so much. And I actually I I'm super lucky. Uh when I did Avenue Q, and since then I've gotten to work with the great Rick Lyon, who originated Nikki and Trekky Monster in Avenue Q and um uh built all the puppets.

[40:43] Rob McClure: Um, but he is one of very few puppeteers who worked on Muppet Vision 3D with Jim Henson and told me these astonishing fun facts about the filming of it. You know that whole opening sequence where Kermit's sort of walking you through um the Muppet Studios, and he's got one of my favorite lines ever, which is we reached out to uh all the top scientists of the world, and none of them showed up. So funny. And then he introduces us to Bunsen and Beaker. Um, but as he's walking through Muppet Studios, my friend Rick was like, here's what's really fun is in that whole first shot, there's only four puppeteers. So, like when the door opens and Rolf leans out the door and says something, and then he takes two steps and Zoot walks by, and then all of a sudden he goes, and Piggy's back there, and that door opens way far in the distance down the hall, and Piggy leans out, and then Sam Eagle leans out and says, a tribute to all worlds, but mostly America.

Um, there's actually all of those puppeteers are like doing Rolf under one door and then taking him off and running under the set to go do Piggy on the other one while a different puppeteer is voicing that puppet that someone else is like the magic that's happening under the camera to make that happen was astonishing. So the very first e-ticket Broadway live show that was in July of 2020 was Leslie Margarita and Andrew Barth Feldman, who also love the Muppets. And we brought on Dory Bernstein. Oh. And who's a great producer on Broadway, who worked on Muppet Vision 3. And she shared a lot of behind the scenes takes and some photos with Jim Henson. It was so fun. And what and what a wonderful twist ending that that weird inflatable 3D creature was Mickey the whole time. Sorry, spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. We can't. We're bolted to the seats. Anyone? Anybody? Statler and Waldorf. Yeah, yes. With you.

[42:50] David Alpert: Rob, we like to play fun games here on E-Ticket to Broadway, and today we actually get to play one of my favorite games. Are you excited?

[42:56] Rob McClure: I'm in.

[42:57] David Alpert: Okay, today we're playing Rob McClure or Walt Disney. So I'm gonna say a statement, and I need you to tell me if I'm talking about the Tony Award nominee Rob McClure or the non-Tony nominated Walt Disney.

[43:11] Rob McClure: I'm so mad. You ready?

[43:13] David Alpert: Yeah.

[43:14] David Alpert: Okay, number one for Rob McClure or Walt Disney. Oh my god. This man loves to put on a show, treats people with respect, and is close to his family.

[43:23] Rob McClure: Ooh. Is it Rob McClure, Walt Disney, or both?

[43:27] David Alpert: I'm gonna I'm gonna, I hope it's both.

[43:30] David Alpert: It is both.

[43:31] Rob McClure: Alright. I thought you were gonna tell me some like unknown fact that Walt Disney hated his family, which is why he why he had that apartment over the fire station. It's because he was never at home. Wait to just drop in that knowledge. Well done.

[43:45] David Alpert: It's the g the cloche, whatever.

[43:48] Rob McClure: Yes, exactly. The cloche of the crystal cloche of the enchanted rose.

[43:52] David Alpert: Oh my gosh. Okay, number two. That was a good warm-up. This man often lends his voice to fuzzy, cute characters.

[44:01] Rob McClure: Ooh. I'm gonna say me.

[44:06] Rob McClure: I don't know if Walt ever actually did voiceover.

[44:09] Rob McClure: Me.

[44:09] David Alpert: It's actually both, because Walt did voice Mickey Mouse.

[44:13] Rob McClure: Get out of town.

[44:14] David Alpert: He did.

[44:15] Rob McClure: He did. Wait, in in like the original like Silly Symphony stuff?

[44:19] David Alpert: Yeah, some of the cartoons. It was his voice.

[44:21] Rob McClure: Get out.

[44:21] David Alpert: And of course you and Avenue Q and in Mrs. Doubtfire.

[44:24] Rob McClure: That's amazing. I know. I I didn't know I didn't know that about Walt. Um when I was out in um San Francisco, I met a really incredible animator and actor as well. Uh named Michael Herrera, who is a storyboard artist uh at Pixar and and just brilliant. And uh he very sweetly was at the stage door when we were doing the tour of Something Rotten, and we sort of met and he said, uh, you know, I work at Disney if you guys are gonna go. And I said, Oh, where do you work? At Walt Disney Animation Studios, you know, the building with like the giant hat, like in there. Um, and I can bring you in, but you have to sign a non-disclosure, and if you say anything we'll kill you, and you can't go into like it that building is cordoned off into like the Frozen 2 wing and the Wreck-It Ralph breaks the internet wing, and they're not allowed to go in uh for spoilers.

You like if you're working in one pod, you can't I mean it was so legit. Um but he also brought me to the original location of Walt Disney Studios, which is in this like tiny little strip mall in LA, and it it's it's like a printing shop now, and there's like a tiny little placard in the window that's like this is the location of the original Walt Disney Animation Studios. It's so wild.

[45:36] Rob McClure: That's cool. I only got to do that with the Imagineering. I haven't been to the animation, but getting to walk the hallways of Imagineering in Burbank was oh life-changing.

[45:44] David Alpert: Yeah. Anyway, here comes number three.

[45:47] David Alpert: Okay. This person has traveled around the country bringing joy to audiences everywhere, and has even hugged Jen Calella.

[45:56] Rob McClure: That's definitely me.

[45:58] David Alpert: That is Rob McClure.

[45:59] Rob McClure: Yeah.

[46:00] David Alpert: That is Rob McClure. I've hugged Jen Calella many times.

[46:03] Rob McClure: Yes. I don't know that Walt has had that sublime privilege.

[46:06] David Alpert: I don't think so.

[46:07] David Alpert: Okay, number four, Charlie Chaplin has influenced this individual.

[46:13] Rob McClure: Ooh. I have to imagine he influenced Walt Disney. So I'm gonna say both.

[46:17] David Alpert: It is both.

[46:18] David Alpert: So Walt really admired Mr. Chaplin. He even hung out with him at times and brought some of Charlie Chaplin into the design of Mickey Mouse.

[46:26] Rob McClure: Yeah, you can when you watch some of that early stuff, and my wife and I uh we did, you know, we we were on Main Street USA, this is probably 2008, gosh, and we went into um you know, there's all the different gift shops, but every now and then you find one that has like the real legit stuff, like the like the like the crystal shop and the crystal shop and like the animation cells and like the the real stuff. And one of those shops was playing that old uh Silly Symphony, one of their first animations, which is that owl. Uh I I forget what it's called, but it's like this huge thunderstorm, and there's like an owl in a tree, and it's it's terrifying and beautiful.

[47:08] David Alpert: It's not the old mill, is it?

[47:09] Rob McClure: It might be the old mill.

[47:11] David Alpert: Yes.

[47:11] Rob McClure: I think you're right, yes.

[47:14] Rob McClure: And uh, we were just like we started to be intrigued by the history of those older animations. So we bought there was like this wonderful Blu-ray box set of all of the old Silly Symphonies and the original animation stuff. Um, and uh in a lot of that early stuff you can see the Chaplin, there's a lot of the little tramp character in a lot of the in particularly in early Mickey Mouse for sure.

[47:37] David Alpert: Well you're doing very well so far, Rob.

[47:39] Rob McClure: Oh, thank you.

[47:40] David Alpert: Here comes number five.

[47:42] David Alpert: This person has a whole theme park empire named after him.

[47:47] Rob McClure: This is where you learn about my basement.

[47:50] David Alpert: Yeah, Disney.

[47:52] Rob McClure: Yeah. It is funny because we could say Disneyland and Walt Disney World like it's a thing, but you're like, I can't imagine if there was like this is Alpertland.

[48:00] David Alpert: Yes, right. But like it's a person's last name.

[48:02] Rob McClure: Yeah, that is so funny. You do lose track of that, don't you?

[48:05] David Alpert: That is Walt for now.

[48:06] Rob McClure: Yeah, but exactly. Would it be McClure Land, McClure World?

[48:10] David Alpert: Oh my gosh, Sadie World.

[48:12] Rob McClure: It'd be Sadie.

[48:12] Rob McClure: Right now in our house, so we have uh Maggie and I when we met, we both had like all of this like either collectible stuff or as theater people, you uh you acquire these boxes of crap from every show you do, whether it be playbills or posters or props you decided to keep, sentimental things. And they sat in boxes in our basement for the first ten years of our relationship. And then uh when we got our current house, uh, there was a game room, and we were like, you know what? We're gonna let the rest of our house be a a normal adult home. And then the game room, we are going to put all of that crap where that that we wanted. So we jokingly call it theater Applebee's.

[48:57] David Alpert: Yes.

[48:58] Rob McClure: Because it feels like, you know, you walk into an Applebee's, and there's like a trombone on the wall next to a high school football plaque, likes to do something. Um, that is our third floor uh uh game room, but it's all our theater memorabilia and Muppet stuff and my Spinal Tap action figures.

[49:14] David Alpert: Oh wow, that is not on brand for this podcast.

[49:18] Rob McClure: And here's something that's on brand.

[49:20] Rob McClure: Uh, and my Lost memorabilia, because we were obsessed with the TV show Lost, which is on ABC.

[49:27] David Alpert: Yes, it is, you did it.

[49:29] Rob McClure: I do have a dopey hallway in my apartment.

[49:31] David Alpert: See?

[49:31] Rob McClure: See, you have to be you have to be like I'm always like, oh god, I don't want to have all my dopey and Disney stuff out there. So you you choose it. But when you choose it, you go hard.

[49:39] David Alpert: Okay, number six for Rob McClure and Walt Disney. This guy was involved in bringing creepy ghosts to audiences that has a huge fan following.

[49:48] Rob McClure: I'm I I see where you're headed here, and I'm gonna go both because there's Haunted Mansion and the Maitlands.

[49:55] David Alpert: That is exactly right. Isn't that funny?

[49:57] Rob McClure: I know.

[49:59] David Alpert: That's so good.

[50:00] David Alpert: So, yes, well done. That is both.

[50:02] David Alpert: Number seven, nominated for many awards for his incredible contribution to the arts. This individual was once presented with an honorary award by Shirley Temple.

[50:13] Rob McClure: Oh my gosh.

[50:15] Rob McClure: I did I'm gonna go Walt Disney because if that happened to me, I must have been really drunk.

[50:19] David Alpert: Yeah, exactly. What if I was like, that's actually Rob McClure?

[50:23] Rob McClure: Yeah.

[50:24] David Alpert: No, that is Walt Disney, and that was an honorary, it was an honorary statue with seven little statuettes for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

[50:31] Rob McClure: Oh, amazing.

[50:32] David Alpert: That's weird.

[50:33] David Alpert: Okay, number eight. This one's tough. Rob McClure or Walt Disney. This guy starred in Honeymoon in Vegas on Broadway.

[50:42] Rob McClure: The great Walt Disney.

[50:44] David Alpert: Yes, it was Walt Disney.

[50:45] Rob McClure: It was Walt Disney opposite Tony Danza.

[50:47] David Alpert: Yeah.

[50:49] Rob McClure: Walt Disney and his Broadway debut.

[50:51] David Alpert: No, that was me.

[50:52] Rob McClure: That was it. And it was some of the most fun I've ever had in my life.

[50:55] David Alpert: Yes, I can still see you on the Nederlander stage singing I Love Betsy, and it was incredible.

[51:00] Rob McClure: Oh.

[51:01] David Alpert: Okay. A friend to many, this guy is usually referred to as a shortened version of his first name.

[51:09] Rob McClure: Oh.

[51:10] Rob McClure: Is Walt short for Walter?

[51:12] David Alpert: Um I'm gonna say both.

[51:14] David Alpert: It is both.

[51:15] David Alpert: Robert.

[51:16] Rob McClure: Yes.

[51:17] David Alpert: And Walter, yeah.

[51:18] Rob McClure: Nice.

[51:19] David Alpert: That was a stretch.

[51:20] David Alpert: Walt Disney doesn't have the ring to it, does it?

[51:22] Rob McClure: Well, it's Walt Disney.

[51:24] David Alpert: Well, you really want to wear your fancy pants.

[51:27] Rob McClure: Yeah.

[51:27] Rob McClure: You put those fancy pants under a cloche.

[51:30] David Alpert: Oh no, don't.

[51:32] Rob McClure: That's really dumb.

[51:33] David Alpert: Okay. Finally, for Rob McClure, Walt Disney, a big big fan of the theater. This one has a huge personal collection of Muppets.

[51:39] Rob McClure: Me.

[51:45] David Alpert: It's actually Walt Disney.

[51:48] Rob McClure: Yeah, no, it's Walt McClure.

[51:49] David Alpert: Oh my god.

[51:50] Rob McClure: No, he loved trains, but also was a big fan of the theater.

[51:53] David Alpert: No, wait, he.

[51:53] Rob McClure: But if you count Muppet Vision 3D, it's kind of a big collection of Muppets.

[51:58] David Alpert: So maybe it's both.

[51:59] Rob McClure: I don't know. I I think I'm gonna give this one to you, but uh Rob, you did very well. We learned that you and Walt Disney not too different.

[52:06] Rob McClure: You know, I'll take it. I will take it.

[52:11] David Alpert: It's time for some tough choices. Let's play Tweedledee or Tweedledumb.

[52:18] David Alpert: This is Tweedledee or Tweedledum. I'm gonna give you two choices. Let me know which one you prefer. So if the first one for Tweedledee or Tweedledumb, Pirates of the Caribbean or The Haunted Mansion.

[52:23] Rob McClure: Pirates of the Caribbean.

[52:31] David Alpert: And uh I know this. Which park do you prefer Pirates of the Caribbean in?

[52:35] Rob McClure: LA, because it's the original World's Fair one and it's longer and more detailed.

[52:40] David Alpert: Well, that's Small World, but yeah, Walt I mean, like, uh yes, everyone on a quick break, I did share with Rob that I'm such a land boy. Um so he did say that Pirates was better at Disneyland for the record.

[52:40] Rob McClure: I did.

[52:51] David Alpert: Oh, so so wait, Pirates wasn't built for the World's Fair, that was just Small World?

[52:54] Rob McClure: That was Small World, yeah.

[52:55] David Alpert: Got it.

[52:56] Rob McClure: But but it was the original Pirates in LA.

[52:58] David Alpert: Yeah, totally.

[52:58] Rob McClure: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[52:59] David Alpert: And it's it's longer. I miss uh uh in fact w as soon as we got home from Florida I uh this past week, I was like, I I missed I I wanted to see what exactly made it longer, and there's that whole amazing section where you're traveling underneath the burning building in LA that's so amazing. It's funny, and and people listening to this, let me know. I think what in the Magic Kingdom, one of the few things that originated in Florida, Space Mountain is definitely one, but I think for most other things it starts at Disneyland.

[53:31] Rob McClure: Yeah, I mean terror was Florida, but at least for the classic stuff.

[53:35] David Alpert: Yeah, totally.

[53:35] David Alpert: Yeah, okay, number two for Tweedledee or Tweedledumb, watching the fireworks over the castle or watching a parade down Main Street.

[53:43] Rob McClure: I have to go with the fireworks because of the impact that the Tinkerbell moment has had on my life.

[53:49] David Alpert: Twiddleder, Tweedledum, I love Betsy or Ready Set, not yet.

[53:54] Rob McClure: Oh, I love Betsy.

[53:56] Rob McClure: Um it I I it was it's just such a brilliant opening number in terms of letting the audience in on what the plot is, and you you can't beat Jason Robert Brown in that on stage 18 piece band. Although I do love jumping through a hole in the floor with Carrie Butler.

[54:14] Rob McClure: Okay, Tweedledee or Tweedledum, Peter Pan or Aladdin.

[54:20] David Alpert: I have a soft spot for Peter Pan.

[54:22] Rob McClure: I do too.

[54:23] David Alpert: Um, and I um once we are off the air, I'm gonna tell you something else.

[54:28] Rob McClure: Great.

[54:30] David Alpert: And we're back.

[54:31] Rob McClure: Rob just told me he loved me.

[54:33] David Alpert: Yes, exactly.

[54:36] Rob McClure: No, I will. We'll come back. And finally, Tweedledear Tweedledum, Galaxy's Edge or Muppet Vision 3D.

[54:43] David Alpert: Oh.

[54:44] Rob McClure: Now here's the thing. I haven't gotten to fully experience Galaxy's Edge. I think Galaxy's Edge, once I do fully experience it, is going to take the cake on this one. But Muppet Vision 3D, because of my affinity for the Muppets, I'm gonna say for the time being.

[55:01] David Alpert: Now let's hear from some of you.

[55:10] Rob McClure: Robbie, put on the e ticket to Broadway Instagram. Your fans are ready to ask you about Disney questions. Here we go. Make an omelet asks, do you have a favorite villain song?

[55:21] Rob McClure: Ooh. Jeremy Iron's performance of Be Prepared is amazing. He's also one of those he's also one of those people who I get infuriated by the knowledge that they can sing. You know, when you're like, wow, that that actor is their actress is so incredible. I will be so mad if they can also sing. And he was one of them where I was like, how dare you, sir.

[55:47] David Alpert: Yeah.

[55:48] Rob McClure: Anne Boleyn's sixth finger asks, if you have a Disney dream role.

[55:56] Rob McClure: Ooh. What a great question. Like if they were to adapt a current Disney thing. We're gonna combine this because the next question is Light in the Darkness wants to know what Disney movie would you like to see live on stage?

[56:10] Rob McClure: Ooh, wowza. Um like would it be Pinocchio on stage with US Geppetto? Oh, that is such a beautiful yes. I mean, uh playing Geppetto in a stage adaptation of Pinocchio is an absolute bucket list item for me, for sure. Um, so yes, eventually one day playing Geppetto in a Pinocchio adaptation, yes. Um I would also love a swing at Captain Hook.

[56:37] David Alpert: Yeah, definitely. I love that.

[56:39] Rob McClure: Tay.stern says, what is your favorite Disney park?

[56:45] Rob McClure: Uh I'm going to say uh Magic Kingdom and particularly Fantasyland, just because it's so classic.

[56:54] David Alpert: I love that specificity.

[56:56] Rob McClure: Underscore Chloe.bailey dot 2001 underscore. Do you have a favorite song from Encanto?

[57:02] Rob McClure: Oh. Um, that uh that one kills me. Um but also, um Luisa's song, um, Surface Pressure is really amazing, and it also what uh what moves me deeply is that my three-year-old daughter's introduction to physical strength is Louisa. So s we will be walking around New York City and a construction worker will be like lifting a huge piece of lumber up to another construction worker up on top of scaffolding, and she'll say, like Louisa. Like her uh that and that song in particular, um, just for what it did for my for my little girl, you know, it's uh it's amazing. But that whole that whole score is so special. Gosh.

[57:57] Rob McClure: Alana wants to know if Mrs. Doubtfire had a favorite Disney character, who do you think it would be?

[58:03] Rob McClure: Oh dear, I think it would be Mrs. Potts, because they have a lot in common.

[58:09] David Alpert: Yes, that's exactly right. Thank you.

[58:12] Rob McClure: Nicole asks, if you could star in a movie of a Disney attraction, what would it be and who would you play?

[58:21] Rob McClure: Uh it would be the Country Bear Jamboree, and I would play Little Buford, who they don't whoop but should shoot instead.

[58:32] David Alpert: I love it. I love Rob, I love how specific you are.

[58:35] Rob McClure: No, you know what it is? It would be the Carousel of Progress, and I would play that little old man.

[58:41] David Alpert: Oh, yeah, but it would be.

[58:43] Rob McClure: I'll tell you what, the Sherman Brothers, they know how to write a song.

[58:46] David Alpert: Oh come on.

[58:47] Rob McClure: Come on. I do. Come on. I would love to put together a show that's just the Sherman Brothers music.

[58:52] David Alpert: Yes.

[58:53] Rob McClure: And finally, Spencer Adrian Boy says, What do you think should be done to improve Muppet representation in the parks?

[59:01] Rob McClure: Oh, what a great question. Um, so for a while they had that amazing um that amazing sort of patriotic show in Town Square where all of a sudden the actual puppeteers would open windows and the puppets would be there. That I think is your best shot because in the same way that you sort of say, like, oh my gosh, that's Mickey, if a window can open and a puppet, the right scale, the right puppetry done by artful puppeteers, and there and I hate to say it, there is a difference between animatronics and puppeteers. So you would need people in those windows with those Muppets on their arms for because we'll know the difference. Um as Muppet fans. Uh hire more puppeteers so that in and around the areas where the Muppets can be present, um, they pop up and can have interactions with fans because it's it's the puppets that people are thrilled to see.

And I remember when I did see those those shows in Town Square, people lost their minds. You know, Sam Eagle pops into a window and starts talking to them. But um, I also saw a really creative thing online. I didn't get to see it in person, but there is this sort of like mobile, this little like Bunsen and Beaker mobile that's been driving around Tomorrowland, which I didn't know about, but I would love I mean more stuff like that. Is great. Do you have a favorite Muppet?

[1:00:26] Rob McClure: Gosh, it's so hard. I think Robin, Kermit's nephew, Robin, because I could say another one, but Robin is the one who will make me cry every time they arrive. There's something so sweet. And Jerry Nelson who puppeteered Robin had had this incredible voice. Um it's one of the reasons why Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas makes me cry so much because Jerry Nelson's voice is all over that and and it's a similar thing that he's doing for Robin than he did for Emmett. And uh I don't know, there's there's something nostalgic about that little that little guy. And in Muppet Christmas Carol, don't get me started.

[1:01:05] David Alpert: That is a great movie.

[1:01:06] Rob McClure: Done for, yeah. Oh to answer that question, is there something that they can integrate for the holidays and Muppet Christmas Carol.

[1:01:16] David Alpert: Oh, sure.

[1:01:16] Rob McClure: That's what they should do.

[1:01:18] David Alpert: You're right.

[1:01:19] Rob McClure: They could turn all of Town Square.

[1:01:21] David Alpert: Town Square.

[1:01:22] Rob McClure: Yes. Into Muppets Christmas Carol.

[1:01:26] David Alpert: Yes, they could do like full Dickensian.

[1:01:28] Rob McClure: Yes. Oh, and they can turn the the uh London section of Epcot into like Dickensian Muppet Christmas Carol.

[1:01:37] David Alpert: I love again with the words Dickensian.

[1:01:42] Rob McClure: Well done.

[1:01:42] David Alpert: Thank you.

[1:01:43] Rob McClure: Cloche. That's what the episode's called Dickensian Cloche with Rob McClure.

[1:02:03] David Alpert: Rob, if you could describe the feelings you get when you look down Main Street and see the castle, what would you say?

[1:02:15] Rob McClure: Wonder. I mean it really is wonder. You you because you can't you can't see it without wondering how they did it. You know, i it it's crazy to imagine that there was a time where Main Street didn't exist because it feels um it feels like something with a rich history far longer ago than when it was built. They somehow have it it has this built-in nostalgia to it that makes it feel like it's always been there. Um so you I get swept up not only in just like the feeling and the music, but in wondering how the hell they pulled it off.

[1:03:00] David Alpert: I agreed. Gosh, I'm that makes me want to go back to Main Street, even just talking to you about it. Well, my final question I ask everyone. What's the first thing you're going to do the next time you go to a Disney park?

[1:03:11] Rob McClure: Oh gosh. That's such a good question, and I'm taking my time because I want to get this right. First thing I'm gonna do. I mean, I think I think I have to walk down Main Street Um directly to the Walt and Mickey statue. It's just sort of a it's it's it feels like returning to a place. It's so funny. Whenever I go there, whenever I go to Main Street or to the Walt Disney statue in Mickey and see the fireworks and all those things, it feels like such a singular event in my life. It feels like such a and maybe it's because I didn't get to go so much as kids or or maybe everyone feels this way, but it feels like such landmark moments in my life that I'm getting to go there that I kind of refuse to believe that it happens every day when I'm not there.

It feels crazy to me that that sort of life moment could be occurring for other people ever 365 days a year in that space. Because it feels too money it feels too momentous to me for it to be a daily occurrence. Um and and that's what strikes me every time I go there. I go, they do this every day. They provide this feeling every day.

[1:04:39] Rob McClure: It's uh I kind of refuse to believe it in an effort to keep it singularly special for myself. I'll tell you what though, I worked there, I worked in Disneyland in 2005 for the 50th on the Octopian to guest control of the fireworks.

[1:04:53] David Alpert: Oh wow.

[1:04:54] Rob McClure: Saw it every day, and the magic was the same. It doesn't matter. Because especially during the fireworks, kind of what you're talking about. To watch the fireworks is incredible, but to watch the faces is even more special.

[1:05:07] David Alpert: Yeah, and and there are times one of the other m things that happens down there is that it's kind of impossible to be let down. Like I I there are so many times where plans have fallen through, or I can't get to the place I want to go, or someone you're there with doesn't want to do the thing you want to do, or you end up in a place where you didn't think you were gonna be. Some you will be surprised. Like I remember my wife and I we went down and for the first time we were like, let's splurge and go to the Grand Floridian. We had never stayed on a Disney property. We're like, let's do it. And we couldn't get in to Magic Kingdom that night, and I so wanted to go. Um, so we ended up just looking for dinner reservations, and we got dinner reservations at a seafood restaurant at the Grand Floridian.

Well, they have this like atrium with all glass windows that looks across the water at Magic Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom that night was doing their Halloween fireworks, which I will stand by as the most impressive fireworks display I have ever seen in my life from a distance. I can't even im I don't even know that it's possible for people in the park to fully appreciate the expanse of those fireworks being underneath them. Because at that restaurant I was looking out those windows going like that looks like there are fireworks for thirty miles. Like I don't understand how there are so many fireworks. Um and of course they were they were pumping in the the audio, the synced audio to those fireworks into the restaurant, so we could fully appreciate, you know, Oogie Boogie singing uh from Nightmare Before Christmas, which I had just done Little Shop at the Muni, and Ken Page was the voice of my of the plant for me.

So getting to learn that Ken Page is the voice of Oogie Boogie and hearing him in the restaurant watching those fireworks. But again, it was a m it was a moment where I thought, oh damn, I didn't get to do the thing I was hoping to do at Disney. But Disney found me and provided the moment. And I that's happened countless times where like if you show up, they'll find you and provide the magical moment regardless of uh where you happen to be.

[1:07:09] David Alpert: Yeah. Rob, this has been delightful. Thank you for joining me on E-Ticket and for sharing your love of Geppetto, Country Bear Jamboree, the Tiki Room, the Lion King soundtrack, Muppet Vision 3D. I'm so grateful that you love the parks and that you share that with us. So thank you.

[1:07:24] Rob McClure: I love you for giving me the chance to talk about it.

[1:07:26] David Alpert: Of course.

[1:07:27] Rob McClure: And we'll see you at the parks.

[1:07:44] David Alpert: Please, I'm having so much fun.