Today, animated films have the most complex, sophisticated and rich soundtracks of them all. So how do you bring that animated style into three-dimensional reality, without losing the magic?
Step in Vasile Sirli, the resident musical director of Disneyland Resort Paris and the man behind some of the most memorable, magical Disney theme park soundtracks in history. When work began on transferring Disney’s 1999 blockbuster animation Tarzan to a live-action show, how did the sound of jungle transfer from the pictures to the park?
Jérémie Noyer talks to the legend himself…
How was the production of the music for The Tarzan Encounter™ initiated?
When the film was released, about 10 years ago, the idea came up to produce shows based on that material in different Disney theme parks. Disney’s Animal Kingdom imagined one with an energetic rock band playing live. As far as I was concerned, I thought that, since our show at Disneyland Resort Paris should last for several years, it would be tricky to maintain the same level of musical quality all the way through with a live band playing several times a day during a long period of time.
In fact, I was really pleased that Phil Collins recorded his own songs in five different languages, French, English, German, Spanish and Italian. What could be more European than that for our show? That was unique. He had never done that before. So, I proposed to Jay Smith, then Vice President in charge of Entertainment, to try to get the original recordings of the film so that we could have Phil Collins’ voice in several languages. That would allow us to produce a great showtape for our production essentially based on choreography. So, I did a demo from the cd, to see if it was possible to adapt the songs to our show, to its specific needs.
The cue I worked on more particularly was Trashin’ the Camp since it was short and needed to be developed in order to make this number more interactive. I did that on my laptop in order to present it to the American crew of the film, composer Mark Mancina and his partners. Because my idea was not only to get the rights to use the original tapes, with Phil Collins’ voice in different languages, but at the same time to be in the same vein as the production of the film in making use of the very same talents — orchestrators, arrangers, orchestra, conductor, engineer — as for the original movie, in order to get the same colour and have our new material seamlessly weaved into the original score.
How was your meeting with the music crew?
First, I had an appointment with Chris Montan, the head of Disney music and producer of the Tarzan movie soundtrack. He listened to my demo and was seduced by the idea. He immediately set up a meeting with Mark Mancina in Los Angeles. So, I went to his studio there. I showed him my demo, too, and just a few minutes later (really!), we had the rights to use the original tapes in our show.
I have wonderful memories of this collaboration because everything came out naturally, with great energy and enthusiasm. That was unexpected since it was the first time in Disney theme parks history that we collaborated that way with the Studios, using that kind of original recordings, directly taken from the film. So, we recorded our showtape in Los Angeles with exactly the same team as in the film: conductor Don Harper, engineer Frank Wolf, who works on all Hollywood greatest productions, etc. Even the copyists were the same! All that to keep the colour of the original.
Then, we brought the tapes to Paris and did our own mixing, thanks to Michael Obst, here at Le Studio, adapted to our material and to the place. The result was warmly welcomed, by the public and by composer Phil Collins. It was the beginning of a strong professional friendship. We’ve been keeping in touch since then. For example, we reunited with Don Harper on The Legend of the Lion King at Videopolis.
Mark Mancina is well-known for the impressive collection of musical instruments he has at his studio. Did you happen to see it?
When you enter his studio in Los Angeles, you’re surrounded by so many instruments, percussion and string instruments! It’s a kind of a Cave of Wonders where state-of-the-art technology meets all sorts of traditional instruments come from all over the world. You just feel like, if you’re inspired by something, you just have to take an instrument and play.
Microphones and recording machines are there. All is set for creation! It’s a wonderful working environment! Now, you can understand all the unusual and fine associations of instruments that you find in his score and in our showtape.
How was the overall show conceived?
Our show is true to the film without being the film. Some people in the audience might think it’s just a stage version of it, but it’s not. It’s a scenic rendering of the music of the movie. So much that I can tell you that Phil Collins attended The Tarzan Encounter™ several times and that he was so excited about it that it became a source of inspiration for him when he was working on the Tarzan Broadway show.
In fact, our show was written by director and choreographer — now artistic director at Walt Disney World — Reed Jones, who had worked before on Tarzan Rocks! at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and who brought some of the same energy to The Chaparral Theater. We worked together in starting from the basic structure of the movie.
That said, Reed knew exactly what he wanted on stage in terms of transitions and developments. In order to work specifically on that aspect, I collaborated with Don Harper to make sure that all the dramatic articulations proposed by Reed Jones are totally integrated into the showtape from the musical point of view. We really worked on each note, each bar, in the same spirit as Phil Collins and Mark Mancina, in order to adapt ourselves to the reality of the stage and of the acting of the performers.
It was a tough job, a lot of work, yet so exciting!
– With great thanks and appreciation to Vasile Sirli.
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