My Disastrous Trip To See ‘Rogers: The Musical’

I am a person of little wants in this world. I find joy and happiness in almost everything I watch, and I just try and embrace those moments. So tell me who I pissed off in the universe to have them bring me a hurricane, earthquake, and cancellation of Rogers the Musical when I flew myself out to California to see it? Yes, friends and countrymen, I flew to California to go to Disneyland for the second time this year so that I could try and see Rogers. (I also had plans to try and meet Indiana Jones in the parks and that also didn’t work out in my favor, so one of the Disney gods is mad at me for some reason.)

I booked myself a ticket, flew out for the weekend, and my dreams were dashed. I love spending time in Avengers Campus, taking pictures of my favorites. In fact, I took a great one of Spider-Man trying to get some Shawarma in the park.

So imagine my dismay when I left Avengers Campus, started to walk towards the Hyperion Theater of my dreams, only to see a woman sobbing next to the door, the sign looming before me: “All performances of Rogers: the Musical are canceled for today.” Why? Technical difficulties. It is, unfortunately, part of life. Technology, like humans, sometimes just doesn’t want to do the work today.

My morning spent buying the VIP pass? A waste. My time spent returning said pass? More time wasted. Which isn’t necessarily fair given how long the wait times can be in Disney and yet, I did it all because I just had hope that Steve Rogers could still come to me. He didn’t, though. So I watched it on YouTube.

A journey to the past

The musical itself is a Disney parks attraction, meaning there are countless videos out in the world of it that you can watch and experience the magic. I am just a Broadway fan, so even when I did watch a bootleg (in high school when I had no money and wasn’t living in New York), I’d still try to see it live. Which is why I was trying to see Rogers before it closes at the end of the month.

The show itself is surprisingly emotional, especially with “End of the Line” and showing what Steve’s journey brings to the world. The park honors Sam Wilson’s Captain America while still acknowledging Steve Rogers as Cap, and the musical showing the passing of the baton is a lot to unpack. Would have loved to see it in the theater though.

I’m sure it wasn’t safe for performers and so I understand why it happened, but it is a little disappointing. I went out of my way to go because I love Marvel and musicals that much. The team was so nice about asking whether or not we were local to give us passes to attend the show again once it was back up, but seeing as I flew in, I’d be gone before it was time to see it.

What I was left with is a shield-shaped hole in my heart.

The hurriquake took my dreams away

I flew in Thursday, before Hurricane Hilary came to town, and left as she was starting to blow into Los Angeles while an earthquake happened. I don’t know what power I have when it comes to weather but I really need to learn how to control it. The weather wasn’t why Rogers was canceled and if I had money, I’d figure out seeing it still. Unfortunately, I am Kristin Wiig in Bridesmaids (help me, I’m poor).

So my hopes and dreams of ever seeing Rogers live now exists with Steve on the moon. They are a pipe dream I once had and that’s okay, I have the bootlegs and I will have to resort to being a kid again and watching musicals I love on YouTube under names like “Not that song and dance number about the Star Spangled Man with a Plan.”

At least everyone got a bit of a show in Galaxy’s Edge that day.

This one goes out to Steve Rogers. I wanted to enjoy your musical debut but the universe had other plans for me.

(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)