Apparently, mice can skate

Is Seoul feeling more and more like a steamroom every day? Wondering what to do with the kids that won’t leave them covered in melted ice cream? How about watching your favorite Disney characters come to life on skates, as they glide over the ice to the sound of popular tunes?
Fifty-four Disney animated characters, including Mickey Mouse, Donald and Goofy, will perform at the Olympic Gymnastics Hall in southeastern Seoul starting today. The ice ballet, titled “Disney on Ice: 100 Years of Disney Magical Moments,” was produced in 2001 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Walt Disney.
The stint in Seoul is the last stop on the show’s international tour. It’s a combination musical and ice ballet, and features the largest cast ever among all its “Disney on Ice” peers.
Major characters from Disney animations will appear in the show, which is divided into 13 episodes, with an intermission between the seventh and the eighth.
The performance features adapted highlights from seven Disney animations: “Beauty and the Beast,” “Mulan,” “Aladdin,” “Toy Story,” “Pinocchio,” “The Lion King” and “A Bug’s Life.”
Professional figure skaters from around the world will don glittering outfits and show their stuff.
The show’s choreographer is Sarah Kawahara, who created figure skating programs for a number of Olympic gold medalists, including Scott Hamilton.
The musical backdrop to all the lutzing and axling will be familiar Disney songs. Some of the favorites you can expect to hear: “When You Wish Upon a Star,” from “Pinocchio”; the title song from “Beauty and the Beast”; “A Whole New World,” from “Aladdin;” “Hakuna Matana,” “Circle of Life” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” from “The Lion King,” and “Part of Your World” from “The Little Mermaid.”
Shows at 11 a.m. on Saturdays will feature English songs with Korean subtitles, while all other shows will have songs dubbed in Korean by the same singers who record songs for Korean-dubbed Disney animations.
The two-hour show will continue until Aug. 22. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Ticket prices range from 33,000 won ($29) to 88,000 won. To get to Olympic Gymnastics Hall, take subway line No. 5 to Olympic Park station and take exit 3.

by Limb Jae-un

For more information, visit www.disenyonice.co.kr or call 1588-7890.