Disney’s festival to come for Turks

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Walt Disney’s Music Festival, which wil be locally produced for Turkish audiences, will be on stage starting on April 23. The festival was launched at a press conference held yesterday at Istanbul’s Swissotel and attended by the producers of the festival.

The Walt Disney Corporation’s stage show “Disney Live! Mickey’s Music Festival,” produced by Feld Entertainment, will be tailored to a local audience for the first time by the Istanbul Children’s Theater (ICT), and staged in nine cities throughout Turkey.

ICT has been working to bring shows like this one to Turkey since their establishment three years ago, and Walt Disney is the biggest brand in the sector, ICT Executive Board Chairman Keal Gürkaynak said at a press conference yesterday. He said that the previous version of “Disney Live!” was seen by 290,000 people in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir.

Gürkaynak said “Disney Live! Mickey’s Music Festival” would be prepared for local audiences and will be staged in Turkey starting April 23, with a Turkish cast. This is the first time in the history of Disney Live! that a show will be locally produced, Gürkaynak said: “The show will be staged with a local cast and director. It is very important that this is happening in Turkey for the first time in the world. We will have to be responsible for all of the show’s technical infrastructure. Walt Disney places great importance on Turkey. With its strong and dynamic economy, Turkey is a big opportunity for the company.”

The show will be rewritten to include some Turkish cultural features and will be staged in Bursa, Ankara, İzmir, Adana, Gaziantep, Kayseri, Samsun and Antakya after completing its run in Istanbul. Ticket prices will range between 30 and 50 Turkish Liras. Forty-five people will work on the production, which will cost nearly $4.5 million to stage. The goal is to reach 220,000 people with 620 shows within a year. Fifteen dancers and musicians will perform in the show, in which a total of 299 costumes will be used.