Los Angeles Time - 08.08.2019

E4 THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019 LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR

known in Disney circles for
bringing to life Genie from
“Aladdin.”
Goldberg studied the
work of Wednesday and Lyd-
ia architects Charles Ad-
dams and Tim Burton, and
said he initially went dark
with Marie but had to gradu-
ally bring her back to the
light. This is, after all, a 20-
some-minute water-based
projection show at a theme
park.
“The nice thing about
Shelley is she’s also a carica-
ture,” Goldberg says after a
“Villainous!” rehearsal last
week in a nearly empty Cali-
fornia Adventure near 1 a.m.
The show premieres Sept. 17
as part of an up-charge event
that will run through Hal-
loween and is currently near-
ing completion. Though
Marie won’t speak, Disney is
planning to add some vocal
inflections to her exag-
gerated facial expressions —
a roll of the eyes, for in-
stance, when a villain tries to
spook her.
“She has the vulnerabil-
ities of a little girl, but she’s
got this side to her,” Gold-
berg says, alluding to her in-
terest in the darker, weirder
aspects of culture. “I think
characters like that are very
interesting. It puts me in the
mind of Lilo from ‘Lilo &
Stich.’ She’s an adorable
character but can’t help her-
self from acting out. Shelley
is like that. She doesn’t do
anything wantonly evil, but

she has this thing pulsing in

her DNA.”

Goldberg worked closely

with Steve Davison, who in

nearly four decades with the

company has helped lead

numerous evening shows,

including the original

“World of Color,” and was

also instrumental in cre-

ating the holiday season

makeover of the Haunted

Mansion themed to “The

Nightmare Before Christ-

mas.”

“It was originally called

‘Terribly Twisted Tales,’ ”

says Davison of the evolu-

tion of the new show, “and it

was this very avant-garde

piece and it was too

weighted in a genre that

didn’t work.”

Although California Ad-

venture is considered a bit

more grown-up compared to

its next-door neighbor Dis-

neyland, in part, no doubt,

due to the presence of alco-

hol and the gastro pub

Lamplight Lounge, it took

Davison and his team a long

time to make sure the show

wasn’t too frightening. “The

original ending was very

scary,” Davison says. “We

had this big battle song and

we showed it to the execu-

tives and they said, ‘My child

would be terrified right

now.’ ”

The end result is a heavily

stylized, fast-moving show,

which, though it may con-

tain hidden references to evil

Disney characters through-

out the ages, doesn’t shy

from pure silliness, such as

the tiny “poor unfortunate

souls” from “The Little Mer-

maid” being turned into a

choir of singing creatures

who belt lyrics in accelerated

falsettos. Animators were

given some freedom as well,

such as occasionally pre-

senting villains as neon-like

apparitions, giving it a

nightlife feel that comple-

ments that upbeat, dance-

focused soundtrack.

Davison says working

with Goldberg has been a

“master class” in creating a

character such as Shelley

Marie. “We want her to be ac-

cessible and funny and [de-

vious] — all that stuff little

kids can be,” he says. “But

accessible is the baseline. I

always talk about the goth

kid at school. Well, what do

they feel? They always get

alienated. Everyone’s the

same.”

At first glance, it may

seem there’s something

slightly backward about

needing a show themed to

Halloween, a holiday known

for its ritual of pretending to

be someone else, for Disney

to unwrap themes of not

only being true to your core,

but being unafraid to show

that to the world. “Villain-

ous!” ultimately becomes a

quest for Shelley Marie to

find her Halloween costume,

and in perhaps the show’s

biggest surprise, she decides

that what she wants to wear

isn’t something that Disney

is already selling — at least

not yet.

Yet there are lessons,

Goldberg says, in Hallow-

een, namely in better under-

standing what aspects of our

personalities we’re sup-

pressing or embracing.

“I think you could say

that Halloween is a way of

showing that you can be

something different; you can

be something off the beaten

track, and it’s fine,” Gold-

berg says. “In fact, celebrate

it. All kids have social pres-

sures them. ‘Everyone is

wearing this sneaker; I bet-

ter buy some.’ To have a

character say, ‘OK, I have all

that stuff around me but I’m

still going to be who I am,’

that is really cool.”

Though “Villainous!” is

currently slated to run only

20 nights, as part of the tick-

eted, after-hours Oogie Boo-

gie Bash — A Disney Hallow-

een Party (which replaces

the Mickey’s Halloween

Party previously held next

door at Disneyland), it gave

Davison the opportunity to

construct a brand-new nar-

rative not specifically tied to

a known franchise. Such

shows are an endangered

theme park species in this

era of massive properties.

Past “World of Color”

programs have largely been

clip-based, aiming to cap-

ture an emotion by remixing

recognizable scenes from

Disney classics. This has be-

come the norm at Disney,

with few remaining excep-

tions, such as the still mostly

ballet-like “Rivers of Light”

at Florida’s Animal King-

dom. Perhaps that’s why Da-

vison speaks of the project

as if it’s something of a favor-

ite child among his many

projects.

“I spent a lot of time on

this show just because I

loved it. Sometimes they’d

be like, ‘Why are you spend-

ing so much time on a Hal-

loween show?’ Because it

has to be right.”

It was also an opportuni-

ty for Davison to briefly re-

visit poignant themes that

maybe get overlooked.

“There’s a really great

line, and I had forgotten

about it,” Davison says. “It’s

in ‘The Princess and the

Frog,’ and it’s where

[Tiana’s] dad says that

wishing on a star is only part

of it. You have to do some

work too. There’s a differ-

ence between a wish and the

dream. The wish is, ‘Oh, I

hope,’ but the dream you

have to make a reality.”

IN NEON-LIKEoutline, Maleficent from “Sleeping Beauty” materializes before Shelley Marie, the young heroine of the “Villainous!” show at California Adventure.

Joshua SudockDisneyland Resort

Disney’s new heroine is unafraid

[Disneyland, from E1]

MONSTERSrise to try to scare the heroine of “Villainous!” She shrugs them off.

Richard HarbaughDisneyland Resort

around, encore screenings of
“Toni Morrison: The Pieces I
Am” are being held Aug. 16 at
the Laemmle Music Hall in
Beverly Hills and Aug. 17 and
18 at Laemmle’s Claremont 5
in Claremont and Playhouse
7 in Pasadena.
Here are some of Green-
field-Sanders’ memories
from his decades-long
friendship with the Nobel
Prize winner.

Describe the type of friend-
ship you had with Toni
Morrison. What was it like?
I first met Toni Morrison
38 years ago, in the winter of
1981, when she came to my
East Village studio for a
Soho Weekly News cover
portrait. She wore a dark
suit with a white blouse and
smoked a pipe. (Many years
later she told me that An-
gela Davis had gotten her
“into pipes.”) I was a young
photographer and Toni had
just finished her fourth
novel, “Tar Baby.”
I was impressed by her
confidence on the set. Toni
liked my work and we be-
came friends ... and I even-
tually became her photogra-
pher of choice, for book
jackets, publicity photos

and the like. Her trust in me

began way back then.

Can you share something

that most people don’t

know about her?

Did you know Toni

makes the world’s greatest

carrot cake? Ask anyone

who has tasted one of her

carrot cakes and they will

tell you. In the film, author

Paula Giddings shares that

during her early days work-

ing in the secretarial pool at

Random House, Toni asked

her to do some typing for

her first novel, “The Bluest

Eye.” As a thank you, Toni

baked her a carrot cake.

What is the most profound

or useful thing you learned

from her over the course of

your friendship?

Toni had a way of looking

at the big picture. Even in

dark times she managed to

be philosophical.

Talk a little about the

things you filmed during

your documentary inter-

view that didn’t make the

cut.

In creating “Toni Morri-

son: The Pieces I Am,” the

most difficult challenge was

cutting it down to a two-

hour film.

We had to edit out a

riveting section about Mor-

rison on Shakespeare and

her play “Desdemona,”

wonderful insights into her

father and his influence on

her, and an emotional piece

about the death of writer

Toni Cade Bambara. When

Bambara died with an

unfinished book, Toni [Mor-

rison] devoted a year to

finishing it so it could be

published posthumously for

her dear friend.

What did you learn about

her legacy in researching

the film?

At the beginning of the

film, Toni remarks that she

learned early on in life that

“words have power.” As

we’ve taken the film out, I’ve

been able to see the depth of

gratitude for her words. Her

writing has empowered and

nourished so many around

the world ... to heal, to imag-

ine, to develop their own

voices. Toni was a pioneer —

taking her hard-earned

place alongside the white

men who had dominated

the publishing establish-

ment. Her ascent to the

literary canon was a signifi-

cant breakthrough that

allowed other women and

African Americans to be

seen and heard.

Some people don’t like to

have their picture taken.

What was it like to photo-

graph her? How was it the

same as or different from

filming her?

Toni’s strength and

confidence were part of her

DNA, and both were par-

ticularly evident when she

was in front of the camera. I

think she had a profound

understanding of por-

traiture and her image in

the world. Our photo ses-

sions were not only quite fun

over the years but also

resulted in big ideas for my

own career.

It was during a lunch

break in 2005 that Toni

proposed a book on “Black

Divas”... we were shooting

portraits for her opera,

“Margaret Garner.” That

idea morphed into my film

series on identity, starting

with “The Black List: Vol-

ume 1,” focusing on the

African American commu-

nity. Toni was the first to sit

for that film.

Did she make you laugh?

Toni had a world-class

sense of humor. Being with

Toni was a lot of fun. Many

people who only know her

through her books and

interviews don’t realize how

much Toni loved to laugh.

She was wickedly funny in

addition to being such a

profound, philosophical and

visionary thinker.

Beloved friend’s Morrison memories

[Morrison,from E1]

THE AUTHORin “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am,”

directed by her friend Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

Timothy Greenfield-SandersMagnolia Pictures