Genevieve McCarthy chats DISNEY 100: THE CONCERT

Starting a production company is a difficult feat, let alone during a pandemic. What has been a challenge you have faced in setting up MM Creative?

Gen: I think some companies like to do a slow build… I don’t take that approach. We started with one tiny show in the middle of the pandemic, and then a much larger show still kind of in the middle of the pandemic. Then we went, “let’s do a small Australian tour starting at the Opera House, let’s just go there.” There’s been like a whole raft of challenges – I think maybe the most challenging thing straight out the gate was that we aren’t producers, we don’t have any experience in producing musical theatre outside of being in musicals. I think a lot of times as the actor you’re sheltered from that side of the process. There was a lot to learn this right out of the gate. We also didn’t have contacts, we didn’t really have a network at all within that space, so everything was from the ground up. And by the ground up I literally mean cold calling Disney and cold calling venues [laughs]. We really struggled from the start to get anybody to trust us. We called multiple venues in Perth and people just said no before we even said dates, times, anything. It took a little while for us to build trust in us as an organisation.

Do you have a favourite Disney character?

Gen: I actually can’t pick! [laughs] but I feel like it’s a tie between Simba and Mulan. I don’t see part of myself in Simba, that’s just ultra nostalgic for me. Growing up, me and my sister were really early morning people and in primary school, my dad put the VHS of The Lion King on at 5 a.m… So I think I’ve seen The Lion King six or seven hundred times, I just love it. And Mulan because she’s incredible. What a brave, strong, powerful, resilient, courageous woman.

The cast is stacked with some of Australia’s best Music Theatre talent, it must be so exciting to work with them!

Gen: Our cast is insanely talented, we are really lucky to have them. When we called these people, they were willing to drop everything to be in the show. It’s singing with an orchestra, singing Disney singing at the Opera House… I mean, everyone else seems to be just as excited as we are, which I think is going to make the company feel really alive and happy, and we’ll put on a good show because of that energy. And then to top it off, it’s with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, which is quite arguably Australia’s best orchestra, if not one of the world’s finest orchestras. Like holy moly, this is going to be cool!

With the concert celebrating 100 years of Disney, why do you think the magic still lives on?

Gen: There’s so many different connection points with Disney. For me personally, I connect through the music, the scores. They just pull on my heartstrings and I think I can connect to those scores in my most joyous and some of my saddest moments. I can connect to their music, and some people connect to the beautiful imagery of these characters. Then it’s the way the characters themselves are portrayed. There’s so many different ends with Disney. The nostalgia is 100 percent linked to that music. Everyone has their own Disney stories from growing up, and with these newer generations we’re just going to keep seeing that going forward. There’s something so universal about these movies.

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Header photo by Stef King