Finding Nemo - The Musical

GET RESERVED SEATING AT FINDING NEMO: THE MUSICAL
Guests who have an Advanced Dining Reservation at Animal Kingdom's Tusker House restaurant for dining during select times will receive a ticket for reserved seating at the performance of "Finding Nemo the Musical." It is asked that you arrive 30 minutes prior to the performance.

Seating at Tusker House from 1:00-1:40 will be eligible for the 3:15 performance.

Seating at Tusker House from 1:50-2:45 will be eligible for the 4:45 performance.

Finding Nemo – The Musical captures the heart, humor, characters and story from the Disney·Pixar animated film Finding Nemo and adapts them into a mesmerizing 30-minute Broadway-style musical stage show. The performance is for audiences of all ages in the air-conditioned Theater in the Wild in the DinoLand U.S.A. area at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park.

It's a big, blue beautiful world, but not without its dangers, as the overprotective clownfish father, Marlin, his curious son, Nemo, and their friend, Dory, find out in this big fish story—complete with new musical numbers that take their cue from lines from the movie, including "Just Keep Swimming" and "Go with the Flow."

The innovative lighting, sound, special effects and stunning theatrical puppets—some as large as cars—make Finding Nemo – The Musical a must "sea" production.

Through the use of puppetry, acrobats, dancers performing against an animated backdrop, "Finding Nemo" comes to life with new songs written by Tony Award-winning Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, would "combine puppets, dancers, acrobats and animated backdrops" and open in late 2006. Tony Award-winning director Peter Brosius signed on to direct the show, with Michael Curry (puppet designer), who designed puppets for Disney's successful stage version of The Lion King, serving as leading puppet and production designer.

Anderson-Lopez said that the couple agreed to write the adaptation of "one of their favorite movies of all time" after considering "The idea of people coming in [to see the musical] at 4, 5 or 6 and saying, 'I want to do that'....So we want to take it as seriously as we would a Broadway show." To condense the feature-length film to thirty minutes, she said she and Lopez focused on a single theme from the movie, the idea that "The world's dangerous and beautiful."

The forty-minute show (which is performed five times daily) opened on January 2, 2007. Several musical numbers took direct inspiration from lines in the film, including "(In The) Big Blue World," "Fish Are Friends, Not Food," "Just Keep Swimming," and "Go With the Flow." In January 2007, a New York studio recording of the show was released on iTunes, with Lopez and Anderson-Lopez providing the voices for Marlin and Dory, respectively. Avenue Q star Stephanie D'Abruzzo also appeared on the recording, as Sheldon/Deb.

Nemo was the first non-musical animated film to which Disney added songs to produce a stage musical. In 2009 Finding Nemo - The Musical was honored with a Thea award for Best Live Show from the Themed Entertainment Association.