Based more on the Dr. Suess book and the animated television special than the non-musical, big-budget film, the park's Grinch character will nonetheless look like the Jim Carrey version of the mean one. According to Michael Roddy, manager of show development at Universal Orlando and director of the Grinch production, the park wanted to add music to its annual Grinchmas show and approached Chip Davis of Mannheim Steamroller to develop the tunes. The oddly named ensemble is well known for its light rock, new agey interpretations of Christmas tunes such as its synthesizer-heavy adaptation of "Deck the Halls." "[Davis] jumped on board like a little kid on Christmas morning," Roddy says.
Six Mannheim Steamroller songs, including "Welcome Christmas," and, of course, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," are featured in the ambitious 30-minute production. Roddy, who also serves as the creative director of Universal Orlando's annual Halloween Horror Nights, is something of a horror maven and appreciates the Boris Karloff/Grinch connection. In fact, he insists that the actors who narrate the live the story and portray the Grinch watch the animated classic and listen carefully to Karloff's iconic voice work. "His take on the Grinch sticks with us," Roddy says. "It's an indelible piece of popular culture, and we need to take our cues from it."
Roddy believes that the Seuss story itself is a treasure. "The Europeans have Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," he says. "The Grinch is America's traditional Christmas story." And like Dickens' morality tale, Roddy says that Grinch "is a story of redemption. No matter how many mistakes we make in our lives, we all have the ability to change. There is always hope."
Mannheim Rolls into Universal Studios Florida
Spreading his own holiday cheer and hope, Chip Davis was so pleased with the Grinch songs, he featured them on Mannheim Steamroller's 2008 album, "Christmasville." Davis and his band will perform selections from the CD with a live performance at the resort's other park, Universal Studios Florida, on December 5. In between the performances, the park will debut its 2009 version of the Macy's Holiday parade. The parade will be presented daily throughout the holiday season as well.Universal will feature actual floats and balloons from Macy's New York City Thanksgiving Day parade. While the park can't accommodate Underdog, Snoopy, or the Manhattan original's other ginormous inflatables, the smaller (but still enormous) Cat in the Hat, Curious George, and the Macy's toy soldier will be among the dozen balloons flying high over the Florida parade. In a nod to New York, the parade will even include a Rockettes-style kick-line.
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