Fantasia\2000

It's my verypleasantduty

to welcomeyouhere...

onbehalfofall the otherartists

andmusicians whose combinedtalents...

wentinto the creation ofthis new

form ofentertainment, Fantasia.

Whatyou willsee

on thescreen...

is apicture

ofthe various abstractimages...

thatmightpass throughyourmind...

ifyousatin a concerthall

listening to this music.

Now, there are threekinds ofmusic

on this Fantasia program.

First there's thekind

that tells a definitestory.

Then there's thekindthat,

while ithas nospecificplot...

doespaintaseries

ofmore orless definitepictures.

Then there's a thirdkind--

music thatexists

simply forits own sake.

Thenumberthatopens

our Fantasia program...

is music ofthis thirdkind.

You know, what's amazing

is that many ofthese musicians...

are playing for the very fi rst 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 fi lm they titled

The ConcertFeature.

I thinkwe're all glad

that they changed the name to Fantasia.

You know, Fantasia was meant to be

a perpetual work in progress.

Every timeyou went to see it,

you'd experience some new pieces...

along with some

old familiar favorites.

But that idea fell by the wayside

until now.

So let me turn things over

to the great ltzhak Perlman...

who, I havejust been informed,

plays the violin.

Well, so do l. Big deal.

Could I have myviolin, please?

Ah, thankyou.

All right, boys, let's--

Oh, sorry. Could I have

another stick thingy, please?

Oh, and camera back on me.

Camera back on me.

When you hear a title like

" Pines of Rome"...

you might think oftree-lined streets

and romantic ruins.

But when the Disney animators

heard this music...

they thought ofsomething

completely different.

Here is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

conducted by maestroJames Levine...

performing Ottorino Respighi's

" Pines of Rome."

Beautiful, Ralph.

Hi. Next, we're gonna takeyou

to the streets of New York City...

for a piece that's inspired by

a couple ofmy favorite artists.

First there's the illustrator

AI Hirschfeld...

who's been drawing celebrities

and Broadway stars...

for most ofthe 20th century.

And then there's

composer/songwriter George Gershwin...

who tookjazz off the streets,

dressed her up...

and took her to the concert hall.

My friend Ralph Grierson

plays piano on this next number.

And it all starts with a single

slinky note on a clarinet...

and a simple line

on a piece ofpaper.

Ladies and gentlemen,

" Rhapsody ln Blue."

Hi. You may not know this,

but over theyears...

the Disney artists have cooked up dozens

ofideas for new Fantasia segments.

Some ofthem made it

to the big screen this time...

but others--

Iots ofothers--

how can I put this politely--

didn't.

For example, the Danish illustrator

Kay Nielsen drew these sketches...

for a segment inspired

byWagner's " Ride ofthe 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 considered

a sequence inspired by...

The Polka and The Fugue...

from Weinberger's

"Schwanda the Bagpiper."

But fi nally, a success.

The Disney artists

wanted to create a short fi lm...

based on Hans Christian Andersen's

wonderful fairy tale...

TheSteadfast Tin Soldier...

but they could never fi nd

the perfect musical match until now.

Here is Yefi m Bronfman...

playing the Shostakovich

" Piano Concerto Number 2"...

and TheSteadfast Tin Soldier.

These drawing boards

have been the birthplace...

ofsome ofthe most beloved

animal characters ofall time.

So it's no surprise that the artists

chose for our next segment...

"The Carnival ofthe Animals"

by Camille Saint-Sans.

Here, the sensitive strains

ofimpressionistic music...

combine with the subtle artistry

ofthe animator...

to fi nally answer

that age-old question:

What is man's

relationship to nature?

Oh, sorry.

That age-old question:

What would happen ifyou gave

a yo-yo to a flock offlamingos?

Who wrote this?

Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like

to take a moment, ifwe may...

to talk about a little something

we like to refer to as magic.

Uh, picture this. You're at home,

hosting a birthday party...

foryour daughter, and you've

just shelled out 50 bucks...

so some pathetic loser can pull

a mangy rabbit out ofa flea market hat.

At fi rst,

you might wonder toyourself...

" How did he do that?"

But then you would probably

just dismiss it as some sort ofa trick.

And you know something?

You'd be right! It'sjust a trick.

It's an example ofwhat 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, lyin'. All ofit.

Sleight ofhand-- Iies.

Transformations-- fraud.

Dismemberment-- rip-off!.

Fake! All are illusions.

What we're here to talk about

is real magic.

We're gonna bring on a guy now who's

the real deal, the genuine article.

In fact, he taught us

everything we know.

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