This coming weekend, the whole cast of the Enchanted Forest of ABC's Once Upon A Time breaks into song for their musical episode, titled 'The Song In Your Heart'.
So how does this happen? Someone makes a wish, of course. (Or is it a curse? We'll have to wait and find out!)
In flashback, Snow and Charming make a special wish that Emma will be protected. The result of their wish has the whole kingdom bursting into song which infuriates the Evil Queen. ... (The) wish to help save their family from her. "I wish we have magic to keep them all stay happy," (Snow) wishes. (In the promo the Evil Queen can be heard lamenting) "They cast a spell so everyone breaks into song."
Meanwhile in Storybrooke, the Black Fairy announces her plans to unleash another curse on the town while Emma and Hook prepare for their wedding, on "Once Upon a Time". (aceshowbiz)
Here's the promotional trailer to get a taste of all the singing and dancing to come:
Many of the cast apparently have musical theater backgrounds and all are reported as saying they love musical theater so were keen to do an episode as a 'fairytale musical'.
It seems the idea appealed, not only to fans but to the Disney legacy this show has continued and paid homage to ever since it began. The creators clearly have a typical idea of what a fairy tale is: magic, sparkles, happy endings, villains and heroes and also, as it turns out, musicals as being a 'natural fit' with fairy tales. It's definitely a Disney-driven POV on fairy tales, but being an American production, and with Disney as ABC's parent company, that makes complete sense. Staying close to this popular idea of fairy tales, and playing with the tropes, is what keeps fans coming back - they get their 'grown-up Disney fairy tale', and a little more too. Clearly, the tactic works!
The US used to be known as 'the land of the musical', the place where you could walk down the street and not be surprised to find yourself in the middle of a spontaneous musical number, and Disney's fairy tales haven't ever been without songs, so it's inevitable OUAT would delve into this territory, though perhaps using more originality than fans might have expected.
No doubt there will be many Easter eggs and call backs to earlier OUAT moments, throughout the episode, so this is expected to be a real treat for Oncers in particular.
There will be eight songs whose titles might be considered somewhat spoiler-y, so consider yourself warned before reading the list in the blue box to the right. (Click to enlarge for reading.)
As a bonus, you can see an extended featurette in which the cast and crew talk about preparing for the episode - how it came about, how they prepared and what it was like to approach Once Upon A Time from this perspective, HERE. From all reports, the cast had a lot of fun, so chances are high this will be enjoyable to watch too.
It seems the idea appealed, not only to fans but to the Disney legacy this show has continued and paid homage to ever since it began. The creators clearly have a typical idea of what a fairy tale is: magic, sparkles, happy endings, villains and heroes and also, as it turns out, musicals as being a 'natural fit' with fairy tales. It's definitely a Disney-driven POV on fairy tales, but being an American production, and with Disney as ABC's parent company, that makes complete sense. Staying close to this popular idea of fairy tales, and playing with the tropes, is what keeps fans coming back - they get their 'grown-up Disney fairy tale', and a little more too. Clearly, the tactic works!The US used to be known as 'the land of the musical', the place where you could walk down the street and not be surprised to find yourself in the middle of a spontaneous musical number, and Disney's fairy tales haven't ever been without songs, so it's inevitable OUAT would delve into this territory, though perhaps using more originality than fans might have expected.
Although at least one cast member assumed that if this day came, Once Upon a Time would recycle famous Disney tunes, that was never the plan. Instead, series creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis last summer sat down with songwriters (and Once fans) Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner to hash out the grand plan, which would lead to seven original tunes being penned. “After we let the cast know [about the musical episode],” says Horowitz, “they got together with the composers, to tailor all the songs to each actor and their character specifically.” (TVline)Right now, by employing a little 'google-fu', you can hear snippets of some of the songs and Oh My Disney released most of the Evil Queen's 'rock song' 'Love Doesn't Stand A Chance', (we'll let you track those down if you're keen) which has some nice touches, such as her observation of other inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest singing happily in their homes (and stories), and there are definitely Disney homages in the lyrics, the set-ups, some of the phrases and other places to find - always great for fans (and drinking games!).
No doubt there will be many Easter eggs and call backs to earlier OUAT moments, throughout the episode, so this is expected to be a real treat for Oncers in particular.
There will be eight songs whose titles might be considered somewhat spoiler-y, so consider yourself warned before reading the list in the blue box to the right. (Click to enlarge for reading.)As a bonus, you can see an extended featurette in which the cast and crew talk about preparing for the episode - how it came about, how they prepared and what it was like to approach Once Upon A Time from this perspective, HERE. From all reports, the cast had a lot of fun, so chances are high this will be enjoyable to watch too.
Musicals are definitely in vogue right now, so the timing for this double whammy (wedding + musical) is perfect for the show and should very much boost its recently lagging ratings. While we don't expect it will have the wit and musical dexterity of Galavant, we're sure there will be memorable moments.
The Once Upon A Time musical episode airs on May 7th at 8/7c, on ABC.
I'm really looking forward to that episode. OUAT has become mostly an eye-roller for me; I just keep watching because I'm so attached to the characters and can't not know what happens to them. But this episode looks like it could get back to the sheer fun of it all, at least for this one time. (And I didn't realise Colin O'Donoghue usually talks with an Irish brogue! I wonder why they didn't keep that for the show.)
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