Rogers: The Musical
Rogers: The Musical is a fictional Broadway musical in the Marvel Cinematic Universe media franchise, centered on the life of Steve Rogers / Captain America. The musical was conceived for the 2021 Marvel Studios Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye by head writer Jonathan Igla. Only the musical number "Save the City", written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, is seen in the series. The song, which drew mixed responses from viewers, was released as a digital single on November 24, 2021, and performed live at the 2022 D23 Expo. Billboards and posters for the musical have appeared as Easter eggs in several later MCU properties.
A one-act, half-hour version of the musical ran at Disney California Adventure from June through August 2023. Created and directed by Jordan Peterson for Disney Live Entertainment, it had a book by Hunter Bell and five new songs by Christopher Lennertz, Peterson, and Alex Karukas. It was praised for its story and new songs, particularly "What You Missed", and was likened to an actual Broadway musical rather than a theme park show. An original cast album of the Disney California Adventure performance was released on September 15, 2023.
Premise
Rogers: The Musical chronicles the life of Steve Rogers / Captain America from his origins in the 1940s until the events of the film Avengers: Endgame, based on information known to the public in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It contains intentional plot inaccuracies such as the presence of Scott Lang / Ant-Man during the Battle of New York.The Starkettes introduce the story of Steve Rogers, which is "about superheroes, romance, and time travel". Rogers wants to enlist in the U.S. Army for World War II, but is medically unfit to. Dr. Abraham Erskine and SSR Agent Peggy Carter recognize Rogers' good and noble heart, and recruit him for their super soldier program, which transforms Rogers into Captain America. Rogers is viewed as the army's mascot and gets sent out on a USO war bond tour rather than heading to the front lines. Carter informs Rogers that the regiment of his friend Bucky Barnes has been captured, with Rogers heading to Germany to battle the Nazis and Hydra. As Rogers attempts to stop a plane with explosives from heading toward the United States, he and Carter promise to go dancing together as they have become close. Rogers gets frozen in the Arctic and is awoken 70 years later by S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, who fills Rogers in on the events he missed out on and recruits him to lead the Avengers. The Avengers are called into action to stop attacks all over the globe across a number of years, with Rogers questioning after the fight against Thanos if he can continue fighting and protecting the planet. His older, time traveler self appears after using the Time Stone to speak to the younger Rogers to remind him about what he has done in his life and encourages him to embrace his chance to be with Carter. The younger Rogers then uses the Time Stone to travel back in time to have his dance with Carter and spend his life with her. The Starkettes then return to conclude and recap Rogers' story.
''Hawkeye'' (2021)
Background
A real-life Broadway musical based on the Marvel Comics character Captain America had been in development in 1985, but never came to fruition. Jonathan Igla, the head writer of the Marvel Studios Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye, conceived the idea for a fictional musical centered on Rogers after noticing a billboard for the Broadway musical Hamilton. Igla imagined what it would feel like to live in the MCU, where people would feel inspired by Rogers to create a musical based on him to inspire and entertain audiences. He sought to use the musical to introduce emotional and psychological information—Clint Barton / Hawkeye's grief and guilt over Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow's death—through something disguised as funny, exciting, and surprising. Director Rhys Thomas then pitched the idea as a joke to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who quickly gave the go-ahead."Save the City"
Feige, who had met composer Marc Shaiman at an event promoting Mary Poppins Returns for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, enlisted him for Hawkeye because of his Broadway credentials. Shaiman and Scott Wittman wrote "Save the City", envisioning it as the final number of the fictional musical's first act. At Marvel's suggestion, the song was set during the Battle of New York, as depicted in the film The Avengers, which the composers agreed was a good moment to finish a musical's first act. Both immediately had the idea of New Yorkers requesting the Avengers' help, and wrote a verse and a chorus. While Shaiman normally sings while recording demos for his songs, he thought the difficult notes of "Save the City" would not allow him to do so, so he reached out to Broadway performer Adam Pascal to sing on the demo; Ty Taylor was also included as the other main singer, with Rory Donovan singing Captain America's part. Wittman said the song tried to reflect New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic, "this kind of wishing that maybe the Avengers would come and take COVID away". He also added that it had to serve two purposes: be entertaining and make Barton feel uncomfortable. "Save the City" was recorded before the stage performance was filmed in Atlanta, as COVID restrictions prevented the performers other than Pascal and Taylor from traveling to be a part of the filming.A portion of "Save the City" is shown in "Never Meet Your Heroes", the first episode of Hawkeye. After numerous references to Rogers: The Musical in subsequent episodes, "Save the City" is shown in full during the mid-credits scene of "So This Is Christmas?", the series finale. Thomas had been unaware of the full performance's inclusion, since it was not the initial plan to include it, and was "slightly conflicted about" its inclusion given he had felt the credits slot was being reserved for a scene to tease another MCU project, but understood it ended up being "a fun release at the end, and a nice way to send people off". Hollywood Records and Marvel Music released "Save the City" as a digital single on November 24, 2021, the day of the series' premiere, with it also included on the Hawkeye: Vol. 2 album that released on December 22, 2021.
The cast of the performance includes Pascal and Taylor as the two leads, Tom Feeney as Rogers, Aaron Nedrick as Tony Stark / Iron Man, Jason Scott McDonald as Thor, Harris Turner as Bruce Banner / Hulk, Meghan Manning as Romanoff, Avery Gillham as Barton, Jordan Chin as Loki, Nico DeJesus as Lang, and several extras as Chitauri warriors. Other performers include Rory Donovan, Derek Klena, Bonnie Milligan, Christopher Sieber, and Shayna Steele. Fra Fee, who portrays Kazimierz "Kazi" Kazimierczak in the series, was disappointed that he could not participate in the musical's production.
Reception
Dais Johnston of Inverse enjoyed seeing the MCU from the perspective of its citizens, praising Rogers: The Musical use of "meta-commentary". Jenelle Riley at Variety felt despite the small amount shown, Rogers: The Musical "achieves something sublime: It's silly but self-aware; a hilarious commentary on consumerism airing on a network owned by Disney; and, perhaps most important, a genuinely clever and catchy number." Rachel Leishman of The Mary Sue wrote that the musical scene in Hawkeye was "so bad it's good", highlighting Barton's reaction to seeing Romanoff's portrayal. Vulture Jackson McHenry hoped that a potential second season of Hawkeye would answer his questions about the musical. Brady Langmann of Esquire predicted that Rogers: The Musical would lead to an MCU musical film. Mashable Alexis Nedd envisioned a full-length version of the musical as opening with a flashback of a young Rogers and ending with him embarking on a new mission.Upon the release of the trailer for Hawkeye, viewers were drawn to the fictional musical, with many noting its similarities to Hamilton. "Save the City" generated over 1 million on-demand official streams in the U.S., according to Luminate. Some viewers expressed disappointment at "Save the City" being the mid-credits scene of "So This Is Christmas?", a response Shaiman described as "bittersweet".
2022 D23 Expo
"Save the City" was performed live at Marvel Studios' D23 Expo panel on September 10, 2022, featuring 22 performers and a six-piece rhythm section led by Shaiman.Disney California Adventure
Development
Shortly after Hawkeye release, executive producer Trinh Tran expressed interest in a real-life version of Rogers: The Musical, while Shaiman and Wittman expressed interest in writing a full-length version of the musical. Disney Live Entertainment began inquiring with Marvel Studios about creating a full version of the musical following the D23 performance of "Save the City".In February 2023, it was announced that a one-act stage show version of Rogers: The Musical would be performed at the Hyperion Theater in Hollywood Land at Disney California Adventure for a limited time, created and directed by Jordan Peterson for Disney Live Entertainment. It features a book by Hunter Bell along with the songs "Save the City", "Star Spangled Man" by Alan Menken and David Zippel from the film Captain America: The First Avenger, and five original songs with music by Christopher Lennertz and lyrics by Peterson, Lennertz, and Alex Karukas. Lennertz also served as conductor and arranger for Rogers: The Musical, with Karukas also arranging the music. Orchestrations for the musical were done by Michael Starobin, Charlie Rosen, Macy Schmidt, and Andrew Kinney. Lennertz previously composed the music for the Agent Carter One-Shot and television series.