Disney World Casting Actors for New Hollywood Studios Villains Show Debuting in Summer 2025

Nov 01, 2024 in "Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After"

Gallery / 4 Photos
Villains Show concept art

Posted: Friday November 1, 2024 10:46am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney Live Entertainment is now accepting online submissions for actors to bring some of Disney's most iconic villains to life in a new live production set to open in summer 2025 at Walt Disney World Resort.

This new show, which will take over the Sunset Showcase at Disney's Hollywood Studios, is designed to immerse audiences in the dark, reflective world of the Magic Mirror, featuring appearances from legendary villains such as Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, and Maleficent.

Villains Show concept art

According to the casting call, Disney Live Entertainment is searching for performers with strong vocal and musicality skills to portray these infamous characters. Here's a look at the roles available:

Cruella de Vil: Seeking a female-identifying performer, 5'7" to 5'9", to embody the iconic and dramatic character known for her flair and obsession with fashion. As portrayed in the animated classic, Cruella is an eccentric socialite with an unyielding drive to get what she wants, no matter the cost.

Captain Hook: Disney is looking for a male-identifying performer, 5'11" to 6'3", with vocal and musical theater movement skills. Captain Hook, the infamous pirate of Never Land, is both dignified and vengeful, with a determined desire for revenge against Peter Pan.

Maleficent: For this role, they seek a female-identifying performer, 5'10" to 6'1", to bring the powerful mistress of evil to life. Known for her vengeful spirit and mastery of magic, Maleficent is a formidable villain who will do anything to achieve her goals.

Villains Show concept art

This new production, opening in summer 2025, will feature live numbers that bring these and other villains to the forefront, allowing fans to experience their favorite evildoers in a whole new way. With a setting inspired by the Magic Mirror's mysterious realm, audiences can expect dramatic entrances and vivid performances with Disney's most notorious villains.

This new and currently unnamed show will replace Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy, which recently closed to make way for this offering.

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Agent H1 day ago

No real reason just for fun

Disgruntled Walt1 day ago

Why are we tracking their response to this?

Agent H1 day ago

Here’s them responding to getting it wrong in the comment section of the video still no retraction on the main site

discos2 days ago

Unless equity rules have changed, Lion King would have more than 2 actors per role since they can only perform 4 shows a day with a max of 20 per week. Next week for instance there are 53 performances so that's at least 3 full casts of singers needed. There are probably 4 performers who do the role regularly plus other actors on property who sub/understudy each role for emergencies. In Beauty and the Beast & Frozen, actors can do 5 performances a day with 25 performances a week. So whether it's 4 or 5 shows per day for Villains, we'd still be looking at a minimum of 3-4 equity performers per role if they schedule shows every hour. These extra 3 equity roles will definitely help more actors on property get full-time hours, especially if some split their time between two different shows. Plus there are two more equity roles for Mermaid that are being added into the mix. It might be only 5 new equity roles but that's about 20 different performers! So lets hope both new shows run a substantial amount of performances per day.

gerarar2 days ago

I'd be surprised if they do that many. BATB has 4 Belle's and 3 Gaston's (currently) with 1 or 2 on deck each day. Lion King has 2 for each singer, which is surprising tbh. They may have stand ins but I only ever see the same 2 actors rotate. Villians would probably have at minimum 2 per role. If it is 7-9 showings, that would be nice and similar to the Frozen sing-a-long of every hour and no lunch break/gap.

discos2 days ago

I wouldn't be surprised if they go the route of Festival of the Lion King and do a show every hour. Right now Lion King does 7-9 performances a day. There would be more than enough demand for the show. This would allow for two separate sets of Equity cast per day.

Villains05012 days ago

I'm sure from past merch sales they have a firm grasp on which Villains are the most popular already, otherwise they would not have made two Maleficent films and Cruella. It's generally the same smattering of characters they use, over and over, with the female Villains generally being a little more visible than the male. I see this as possibly doing some tonal testing for what might work in the land, but more likely just a way of leveraging this IP now while they can, quickly and easily, while they concurrently prep the land. I think Disney's shown they already have a good grasp on how to play around with this IP.

Gusey2 days ago

Just noticed in this video that the Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy logo and the Cruz Ramirez meet and greet are still there

gerarar2 days ago

The most recent show Disney Live Entertainment produced was the Holidays in Hollywood show for Jollywood Nights next door at the Theater of the Stars. When it first debuted it was at 27 mins. The following year they cleaned things up and cut out fluff bringing the time down to 25 mins, which did make the show flow smoother & overall better. I'd imagine the new Villians show would be around that of 25 mins, especially since there's probably gonna be 5-6 showings per day with the equity cast. It's also probably gonna stack on top of the existing BATB and Indiana Jones shows. Currently the first show of the day for both start at the same time, but then after that IJ starts 15-30 mins after a BATB show starts. Add Villians to that mix and they will all stack and rotate to help ease and pull guests.

lazyboy97o2 days ago

That should have already been established as part of the concept design that got the project approved. They should also already have such data from all of the other things they’ve done in the past. It would be a huge problem if this something they were testing. It would mean they committed to a massive project without knowing the very basics.

Jedi142 days ago

Probably overall tone and mood for Villains land. Possibly to also decide which villains are more in the forefront of the land and which are more background.

dennis-in-ct2 days ago

Great. Now I miss Hunchback. Another show that was a must see. Why? The live singing was phenomenal. Felt like Broadway. Sooooo good. Back on Villains, can we have the Villains’s candy shop back? I broke my “Evil Queen” mug. Need another one ☕️