Disney’s ‘World on Ice’ a Delight for Young Fans

Oh, Cruella fate!

To watch “Walt Disney’s World on Ice” and not be a spot-on Disney fan who knows the words to songs from films such as “101 Dalmatians.” Or young enough to confuse pratfalls on ice with Disney magic. Or rich enough to buy snow cones that, at $7, cost more than many people’s dinners (maybe a given at these events, but no more palatable for that). Or, perhaps most important, complacent enough not to marvel that Disney magicians’ budget couldn’t do lots better in the costume department.

Producer Kenneth Feld’s latest incarnation of the ice show--finishing up a run at the Pond of Anaheim on Sunday, then moving to the Los Angeles Sports Arena Wednesday through Jan. 12 and Long Beach Arena Jan. 15-19--is a greatest hits compilation featuring vintage slices from “Fantasia” (1940) to “The Little Mermaid” (1989). Though the live-action film now playing makes villainess Cruella De Vil topical, she harks back to 1961’s animated “One Hundred and One Dalmatians.”

Now about those costumes . . .

Dalmatian outfits resembling Holstein skeletons with hangdog faces undermine the otherwise clever idea of tripling the number of pups by lacing dummies to live skaters. A pathetic lone broom, a handle atop his head and some hardly noticeable straw-like material about the legs, might initially be mistaken for a bucket in the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” sequence. “Little Mermaid” crab Sebastian seems bug-like, “Jungle Book” tiger Shere Khan unimposing.

Costumes for minor roles such as the fantasy horses drawing Cinderella’s carriage prove more successful. In fact, the small-scale effects are some the most inspired: two skaters holding headlights suggest an approaching automobile, three skaters’ swirling skirts simulate water eddies.

But this is primarily a kid’s show, and where kids are concerned, how can you miss with giant, cold-air inflatables including Ursula the Sea Witch, whose tentacles sprang to life, and Kaa, a 75-foot python?

The event is introduced as a night of “music, magic and Mickey,” but kids might more readily identify with Goofy’s cool teenage son, Max; he provides a premise for the show by deciding to follow in uncle Mickey’s footsteps and be a sorcerer’s apprentice. Unfortunately, murky miking in the cavernous arena often sabotages speaking parts.

The cast includes a bevy of champion skaters. Cinderella (Julia Myskina opposite Viatcheslav Kouznetsov’s Prince Charming, and Perdita to his Pongo) wore a knee brace during a recent performance and, despite a tumble, made a quintessential Disney princess. Andrew Naylor as Ariel’s Prince Eric stood out for his seeming effortlessness.

Rosanna Tovi (Ariel), Stephanie LaRiviere (Cruella De Vil), Mikhail Sorotchinski (Sebastian), Axel Mederic (Magic Broom) and Cameron Medhurst (Mowgli) more than competently went through their paces and their athletics. Jason Faubert and Christopher Jarosz, both in drag as Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters, and Sorotchinski and Brian Duckworth as Cruella’s henchmen, carried out physical humor with aplomb.

Despite spectacular production numbers and sporadically rousing pyrotechnics, however, the show’s cumulative effect is soporific . . . unless you’re a very young pup.

* “Walt Disney’s World on Ice” continues through Sunday at the Pond of Anaheim, then moves to L.A. Sports Arena Jan. 8-12, and Long Beach Arena, Jan. 15-19. Tickets are $10.50-$17.50, available at Ticketmaster by phone, (213) 480-3232 or (714) 740-2000.