Original subtitles

My very pleasant duty to welcome you here on behalf of all the other artists

musicians whose combined talents went into the creation of this new form of

entertainment, Fantasia.

What you will see on the screen is a picture of the various abstract images

might pass through your mind if you sat in a concert hall listening to this

music.

Now, there are three kinds of music on this Fantasia program.

First, there's the kind that tells a definite story.

Then there's the kind that, while it has no specific plot, does paint a series

of more or less definite pictures.

Then there's a third kind, music that exists simply for its own sake.

Now, the number that opens our Fantasia program is music of this third kind.

You know, what's amazing is that many of these musicians are playing for the

very first time.

Thanks to Steve Martin's two -week Master Musician Home Study course.

More about that later.

Hello and welcome to Fantasia 2000.

It's been more than 60 years since Walt Disney and his artists teamed up with

maestro Leopold Stokowski to create a film they titled The Concert Feature.

I think we're all glad that they changed the name to Fantasia.

You know, Fantasia was meant to be a perpetual work in progress.

Every time you went to see it, you'd experience some new pieces along with

old familiar favorites.

But that idea fell by the wayside until now.

So let me turn things over to the great Itzhak Perlman, who, I have just been

informed, plays the violin.

Well, so do I. Big deal. Could I have my violin, please?

Ah, thank you.

All right, boys.

Ho! Oh, sorry. Could I have another stick thingy, please? Oh, and camera

me.

Camera back on me.

Am I done?

When you hear a title like Pines of Rome, you might think of tree -lined

and romantic ruins.

But when the Disney animators heard this music, they thought of something

completely different.

Here is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maestro James Levine.

performing Ottorino Respighi's Pines of Rome.

Hi.

Next, we're going to take you to the streets of New York City for a piece

inspired by a couple of my favorite artists.

First, there's the illustrator, Al Hirschfeld, who's been drawing

and Broadway stars for most of the 20th century.

And then there's composer -songwriter George Gershwin, who took jazz off the

streets, dressed her up, and took it to the concert hall.

My friend Ralph Gerson plays piano on this next number.

And it all starts with a single slinky note on the clarinet and a simple line

a piece of paper.

Ladies and gentlemen, Rhapsody in Blue.

Thank you.

Hi. You may not know this, but over the years, the Disney artists have cooked up

dozens of ideas for new Fantasia segments.

Some of them made it to the big screen this time, but others, lots of others,

how can I put this politely, didn't.

For example, the Danish illustrator Kai Nielsen drew these sketches for a

segment inspired by Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.

Here they are, and there they go.

Now, Salvador Dali, you know, the limp watches guy, he got into the act with an

idea that featured baseball as a metaphor for life.

How come that didn't work? Makes perfect sense to me.

Let's see.

Then we had a bug ballet and a baby ballet, and for a time, they even

a sequence inspired by the polka and the fugue from Weinberger's Schwanda the

Bagpiper. But finally, a success.

The Disney artists wanted to create a short film based on Hans Christian

Andersen's wonderful fairy tale, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, but they could

find the perfect musical match until now.

Here is Yefim Bronfman playing the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 and

Steadfast Tin Soldier.

These drawing boards have been the birthplace of some of the most beloved

characters of all time.

So it's no surprise that the artist chose for our next segment, The Carnival

the Animals by Camille Saint -Saëns.

Here, the sensitive strains of impressionistic music combine with the

artistry of the animator to finally answer that age -old question, what is

relationship to nature?

Oh, sorry.

That age -old question.

What would happen if you gave a yo -yo to a flock of flamingos?

Who wrote this?

Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to take a moment, if we may, to talk about a

little something we like to refer to as magic.

Picture this. You're at home hosting a birthday party for your daughter, and

you've just shelled out 50 bucks so some pathetic loser can pull a mangy rabbit

out of a flea market hat.

At first, you might wonder to yourself, how did he do that?

But then you would probably just dismiss it as some sort of a trick.

And you know something?

You'd be right!

It's just a trick. It's an example of what we laughingly refer to as stage

magic. We're here to tell you that all stage magic is a fraud, a hoax, a sham.

It's all based on deception and, yep, lying.

All of it. Sleight of hand.

Lies.

Transformations. Fraud.

Dismemberment.

Ripoff. Fake.

All are illusions.

What we're here to talk about is real magic.

We're going to bring out a guy now who is the real deal, the genuine article.

fact, he taught us everything we know.

And he is featured prominently in the next sequence from the original

The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

You know, come to think of it, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a little guy

never speaks and just kind of messes everything up.

And now... And now...

And now, the Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Thank you.

Congratulations to you, Mickey.

Thanks, Mickey.

When...

When we hear Sir Edward Elgar's pomp and circumstance, we think of a graduation

ceremony.

Actually, Elgar composed it for many kinds of solemn events.

This march inspired the Disney artists to recreate the age -old story of

Noah's Ark with one slight twist.

Ladies and gentlemen, Pomp and Circumstance, starring Donald Duck.

Walt Disney described the art of animation as a voyage of discovery into

realms of color, sound, and motion.

The music from Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird inspires such a voyage.

And so we conclude this version of Fantasia with a mythical story of life,

death, and renewal.

Camera back on me.

Camera back on me, please.

Anyone? Hello?

Hello?

Could someone give me a ride home?