We Could Watch Rogers: The Musical All Day

What started as a single musical parody song about the Battle of New York from the Hawkeye show on Disney+ has now become a fully-fledged Captain America stage show at Disneyland Adventure California Park in Anaheim, CA. We were among the first to watch Rogers: The Musical live at Disney’s Hyperion Theater in Hollywood Land, so check out our description of what to expect, view the photo gallery, and hear what we thought of the show now that it’s open to the public.

What Is Rogers: The Musical?

Rogers: The Musical is a 30 minute, one-act live musical telling the story of Marvel’s very own Steve Rogers. Basically, what we saw a glimpse of on the Hawkeye show has been blown out into a proper musical squarely focused on Captain America. 

The story starts with the events of Captain America: The First Avenger and goes all the way through to Avengers: Endgame. The show is only 30 minutes, so, as you would expect, quite a bit of material is glossed over. It’s mainly the highlights of Steve Rogers’ life put to song and dance, with an intimate focus on his romance with Agent Peggy Carter. Many familiar Marvel Cinematic Universe characters appear, such as Nick Fury and the Avengers, and there are numerous references to the events of the MCU, yet the story is laser-focused on the unique story of a Man Out of Time and the cost of becoming a hero.

The show features two songs familiar to Marvel fans. The song from Hawkeye, “Save The City,” which is a big show-stopping number featuring the Avengers, with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, the same duo that brought you the musical movies Hairspray and Mary Poppins Returns. There’s also “Star Spangled Man” from the movie Captain America: The First Avenger, with music by Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast) and lyrics by David Zippel (Mulan, Hercules). Additionally, there are five new songs to flesh out the rest of Cap’s story, with music by Christopher Lennertz (Alvin and the Chipmunks, Medal of Honor) and lyrics by Jordan Peterson, Christopher Lennertz and Alex Karukas.

Check out Disney’s website for Rogers: The Musical for more details on how to attend the show during your visit to the park.

What Did We Think of Rogers: The Musical?

Rogers: The Musical was a great time. This 30-minute show does a wonderful job of highlighting the unique drama and tragedy of Steve Rogers’ life while also including a healthy amount of self-aware humor and catchy songs. We could watch it all day.

Steve and Peggy’s wayward romance across time is what the entire show revolves around, but it never forgets it’s telling an MCU story. There are all sorts of references and jokes about the many heroes and events of the MCU, the best of which comes when Nick Fury sings about everything Steve missed while he was a Cap-sicle. You read that right: Nick Fury sings! And honestly, he’s one of the highlights of the show. 

Keep in mind that while this musical is an account of Steve’s life, it’s told from the point of view of people in the MCU who didn’t necessarily have the full story, so there are some “creative liberties” taken to represent that, such as Ant-Man participating in the Battle of New York.

Much like Cap’s life, the songs span the style of music from the ‘40s all the way to present day. There’s everything from fun raps to dramatic ballads, giving the show a “something for everyone” appeal. The standout number is, of course, “Save The Day” with its catchy hook (“I can do this all daaaay!”) and lively dancing Avengers ensemble, complete with a leaping and twirling Hulk.

As you might guess, young and scrawny Steve is played by one performer, and then during the Super Soldier transformation sequence he’s swapped out for a tall and buff guy. They both do an excellent job of channeling Steve’s effortless earnestness and heroic attitude so the transition works quite well. But the best little surprise of the show came towards the end when (spoiler alert!) Steve becomes disillusioned by his endless superheroics and is visited by his older self as seen in Endgame, played by the original Steve actor in aged makeup, and we watch as Steve performs a heartfelt duet with himself that cuts to the core of his Man Out of Time character. It’s a frankly ridiculous moment, but it’s so very Marvel and is used to such great effect that it hits you in the feels nonetheless. That’s the true strength of this mini-musical – it full-well knows it’s a parody yet that never stops it from delivering emotional moments right alongside the humorous ones.

Having also seen Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark back in 2011, I can safely say that this is the best Marvel musical ever put to stage. In fact, Rogers: The Musical was so fun, emotional, and entertaining that I wouldn’t be surprised if this small show was scaled up and became a big Broadway blockbuster one day. It did a great job of using the language of comics to tell its story by recreating iconic Captain America covers, it embraced the MCU’s winning sense of humor and showed off its many colorful superhero costumes, and it embraced the beating, human heart at the core of Steve’s character to give the songs an affecting emotional appeal. It really goes to show that despite what happened with that cursed Spider-Man musical, the world of Marvel actually has a lot of elements that work quite well in the world of musical theater, and this show knows exactly how to use them.

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