Artists’ impression of the ship, sailing in the ocean at night. — Royal Caribbean
What will be the world’s largest cruise ship will have a version of The Wizard Of Oz on the main stage when Royal Caribbean’s Icon Of The Seas begins sailing out of Miami, Florida in the United States in January.
Rumours it would be the main theatrical offering have been around since the cruise line put out a casting call for the show in March. Recently, Nick Weir, the senior vice president for Royal Entertainment, confirmed it during a cruise line call with travel agents led by Vicki Freed, Royal’s senior vice president of sales.
“Word got out very quickly, because we hadn’t even sent out a press release but the show is going to be The Wizard Of Oz,” Freed said. “How much more family friendly can you get than The Wizard Of Oz? So it’s a perfect fit for our ship.”
Weir said the version coming to the ship won’t be a rehash of the 1939 MGM film production or the Broadway version adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams, but something unique to the ship.
“I think everyone knows that I’m a future-forward type of creator. I like to look to the horizon,” Weir said.
“The Wizard Of Oz? That’s a classic from from the early 1900s. But here’s the thing, though. We’re going to do something to The Wizard Of Oz that’s never been done. We’re going to take the best elements that have ever been created from the stage performances, the stage shows, and we’re going to take the best, iconic moments from the movie and we’re going to meld them together and it’s going to be a version of The Wizard Of Oz that no one has ever even imagined.”
He teased the new show will have something akin to one of the more iconic moments Royal Caribbean has ever produced citing how a version of the Wright Flyer air plane flies out over the audience in their original production Flight: Dare To Dream on board Symphony Of The Seas.
“You know that moment? So can you imagine how you’re going to feel when Dorothy in her four-poster bed flies out over the audience with the Wicked Witch hot on her tail,” he said.
He also revealed the title for the main show coming to the AquaTheatre in its top-deck home within the ship’s new neighbourhood AquaDome, which gives the 20-deck, 250,800 gross ton cruise ship its signature look.
An aerial view taken at the end of May showing the construction site of the Royal Caribbean’s new ship, Icon Of The Seas, at the Turku shipyard in Finland. — Photos: AFP
“Aqua Action!” will continue the aquatic performance mainstays of diving, fountains, slackline and aerialist performances, but bring in new elements such as skateboarders.
“I have for a long time considered these shows to be extreme sport shows anyway. So we’re adding all sorts of new elements,” Weir said.
Traditionally located at the aft of the ship and outdoors on Oasis-class vessels, the AquaTheatre’s new residence lies within a 363-ton dome with 673 glass and 712 aluminium panels. The theatre becomes the space’s central feature, which will include a 17m waterfall that runs during the day.
Weir said he really wanted to make the show embrace its role as perhaps the most iconic feature on the aptly named ship.
“Obviously we hope to have many Icon class in the future, but for the first one because the venue is so spectacular, we just thought why not make the venue the star,” Weir said discussing the logo for the show during the presentation.
“You can see in that in that logo that we’re really celebrating all of the amazing technology.”
That includes four robotic arms that will be integral to the performance, he said.
“We’re going to be using robots to construct scenery. so it’s going to be the biggest ‘wow’ anyone’s ever seen,” he said, noting he means that across all theatrical venues, not just at sea, promising it wasn’t just hyperbole.
Weir said he’d been working on entertainment ideas for Icon Of The Seas since 2017 including the aquatic show, and noted how the approach is different than previous performance spaces.
“Normally, creative people like me and my team are handed a theatre, and then we find a way to put the show in the theatre and that’s how it’s happened, you know, time immemorial,” he said. But for Icon’s show, “... we have built the theatre around the idea. That never happens. That is really taking live theatre into the movie business.
“This is how you create a movie – you come up with an idea and then you build sets. In this case, we have come up with an idea for a show and we have built an entire theatre around it.”
More details about the spate of entertainment on board including the ice-skating show and other main stage productions will be revealed on Oct 25.
Icon Of The Seas remains under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, but will be making its transatlantic voyage on Dec 23 ahead of its series of preview sailings in January.
Its first sailing with normal customers will be on Jan 28, 2024 as it begins seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean voyages from PortMiami. – dpa
Workers at the construction site on a deck of the new ship.
Cruise control
Here are the 10 largest cruise ships in the world that are currently in service.
1. Wonder Of The Seas
Cruise line: Royal Caribbean (RC)
Overall length: 362.04m
2. Symphony Of The Seas
Cruise line: RC
Overall length: 361.011m
3. Harmony Of The Seas
Cruise line: RC
Overall length: 362.12m
4. Oasis Of The Seas
Cruise line: Royal Caribbean
Overall length: 360m
5. Allure Of The Seas
Cruise line: RC
Overall length: 360m
6. MSC World Europa
Cruise line: MSC Cruises
Overall length: 333.3m
7. Costa Smeralda
Cruise line: Costa Cruises
Overall length: 337m
8. Costa Toscana
Cruise line: Costa Cruises
Overall length: 337m
9. Arvia
Cruise line: P&O Cruises
Overall length: 344.5m
10. Iona
Cruise line: P&O Cruises
Overall length: 344.5m
