101 Dalmatians the Musicals

“Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil, if she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will…“

Imagine stepping into a world where the bustling streets of London are alive with the melodies of adventure, and every corner hides a tale of bravery, loyalty, and love. The stage is set for “101 Dalmatians,” a musical that weaves the enchanting story about spotted puppies who must outsmart the villainous Cruella de Vil. 

As the curtains rise, prepare to be swept away by a spectacular blend of vibrant choreography, captivating songs, and a heartwarming narrative that celebrates the unbreakable bond between family and the triumph of good over evil.

Please note:

There are multiple different versions of “101 Dalmatians the Musical”.

The History

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956 Book)

Dodie Smith, a lover of dogs especially the dalmatian breed, came up with an idea to write a story about dalmatians when a friend of hers made a comment about some dalmatians walking by.

Smith wrote the story to be charming and rich with humor appealing to both adults and children. The story would focus on the dogs and their love for family as well as the infamous villain Cruella de Vil. The dogs would be intelligent their humans (the Dearlys) were kind and generous people, and Cruella would be a troublemaking thief. 

The novel was published in 1956 and made great success within the public. 

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961 Animated Film)

In 1957, a screenwriter named Charles Brackett read the story and immediately went to Walt Disney. Also finding the story wonderful, Disney acquired the rights to make a film about the story. 

Disney assigned story artist, Bill Peet, to develop the story. Peet wrote the story as close to Smith’s novel as possible, but took out multiple different characters or merged certain characters together. Other than that, the story was very similar to Smith’s novel besides some scenes getting cut short for running time purposes.

The film saw massive success and saved Disney’s Animation Studios.

101 Dalmatians (1996 Live Action Film)

Three decades later, the story was revisited and set to be created into a live action film. 

The film was released in 1996, and despite not seeing much critical success, the film has become a favorite in the public especially by Glenn Close’s performance as Cruella.

Musicals

Disney’s 101 Dalmatians KIDS

The Setting

The Plot

Pongo and Perdita, two loving Dalmatians, happily raise their puppies Penny, Pepper, Lucky, and Patch in a cozy home near Regent’s Park, London. Alongside their caretakers Roger, a composer, and Anita, an artist, the family enjoys watching “Thunderbolt Adventure Hour” and singing the “Kanine Krunchies” commercial jingle. However, their peaceful life is disrupted when their wealthy neighbor, Cruella De Vil, covets the puppies for her fur collection. After Roger refuses to sell them, Cruella plots with her henchmen, Horace and Jasper, to steal the puppies. Using “Kanine Krunchies” as bait, the henchmen abduct the puppies while Roger, Anita, and Nanny are distracted. Pongo and Perdita, desperate to find their pups, enlist the help of the Dogs of London through the “Twilight Bark.” The puppies, discovering other captives in Cruella’s fur vault, face the grim reality of their fate. With the resourceful cat, Sergeant Tibbs, leading the charge, the Dogs of London mount a daring rescue. Despite police presence, Cruella remains fixated on her fur coat. In the end, as the police capture Cruella and her accomplices, Roger, Anita, and Nanny look forward to a future filled with their 101 Dalmatians.

The Characters

Main

Supporting

Pongo – The puppies’ dad. He shares a similar temperament with Roger, his owner.

Perdita – The puppies’ mom. She shares a similar temperament with Anita, her owner.

Nanny – Nanny, the warm yet outspoken housekeeper for Roger and Anita.

Lucky, Patch, Penny, and Pepper – Lively, fun puppies of Pongo and Perdita.

Freckles and Spotty – Two Dalmatian puppies who were stolen by Cruella.

Minor

Chorus

The Musical Numbers

Act 1

Musical Number	Characters
Dalmatian Conga	Cruella, Roger, Anita, Company
Thunderbolt Adventure Hour	Puppies
Kanine Krunchies	Cruella, Puppies, Company
Cruella De Vil	Roger, Company
Cruella’s Scheme	Cruella, Horace, Jasper
Kanine Krunchies Reprise	Cruella, Horace, Jasper
The Fur Vault	Narrators
Twilight Bark	Dogs of London, Company
My Beautiful Coat	Cruella, Horace, Jasper, Sergeant Tibbs, Puppies
The Chase	Jasper, Horace, Cruella, Puppies
Dalmatian Plantation	Company
Finale	Company
Bow Wows	Company

101 Dalmatians (2009 Musical)

The Setting

The Plot

In 1957 London, Pongo and Missus, a pair of Dalmatians, live happily with their human owners, the Dearlys. Their joy multiplies when Missus gives birth to eight adorable puppies. Their peaceful life is disrupted by the arrival of Cruella De Vil, an old schoolmate of Mrs. Dearly, who covets the puppies for their fur. When the Dearlys refuse to sell, Cruella enlists Jasper and Jinx to kidnap the puppies, along with many other Dalmatians in the city. Determined to rescue their pups, Pongo and Missus embark on a daring journey, aided by dogs from all over the country. They locate their puppies and many others at Cruella’s mansion, and must safely navigate them home while evading Cruella and her relentless henchmen.

The Characters

Main

The Musical Numbers

Act 1

Musical Number	Characters
A Man’s Best Friend	Company
A Perfect Family	Pongo and Missus
Hot Like Me	Cruella, Jasper, Jinx, Company
There’s Always Room for One More	Mr. Dearly, Mrs. Dearly, Nanny Butler, Nanny Cook, and Pongo
World’s Greatest Dad	Pongo
One True Love	Perdita
Hail to the Chef	Cruella and Nanny Cook
Twilight Barking	Pongo, Missus, Dogs
Be a Little Bit Braver	Pongo, Missus, Dogs

Act 2

Musical Number	Characters
Break Out	Lucky, Patch, Cadpig, Roly-Poly, and puppies
Having the Crime of Our Lives	Jasper and Jinx
A Perfect Family (Reprise)	Sheepdog, Tabby Cat, Pongo, Missus, Lucky, Patch, Cadpig, Roly-Poly, and puppies
Spot-On	Gypsy Impresario, Gypsy Wife, and Company
My Sweet Child	Missus and Pongo
Cruella Always Gets Her Way	Cruella
Hot (Reprise)	Cruella
101 Dalmatians	Company

The Production

Music

After theatrical producer Luis Alvarez got the rights to produce an musical adaptation, he brought on board Jerry Zaks to direct the production and B.T. McNicholl and Dennis DeYoung created the book, music, and lyrics for the musical. In order to create the musical numbers, DeYoung read the original novel and viewed all the adaptations of the story he could find. Once he did his research and started writing the songs, he strongly felt that this musical was for children. 

Zaks and McNicholl also agreed with this focus on the musical. McNicholl wrote the script in the perspective of the dog’s point of view with the dogs having a more childlike perspective while Zaks staged the show to make the dogs feel small like children do sometimes. Which would make all the characters more endearing when they triumph over evil in the end just like the book.

To further separate the childlike, heroic dogs from the humans, DeYoung created different themes for each group, using more traditional Broadway music for the humans while the dogs have pop songs further trying to drawn children into the show.

Sets, Costumes, and Dogs!

The combination of different visual elements was a unique new thing on Broadway. From stilts to children to real life dogs in the show, there wasn’t anything like it. To continue the theme of telling this story from a dog’s perspective to appeal to children, the actors playing human characters were put in 15 inch stilts. They would be taller and bigger than the actors playing the animal characters and particularly for Cruella more villainous looking. The director, Jerry Zaks, goes further and has the set design also look big with the backdrops having been painted in odd angles. And since the actors are taller, the costumes had to be designed to fit in longer bodies. This made the outfits oversized and elaborate to create the illusion, and it was chaos for the actors resulting in the choreography having to be very limited in the show.

The director, Jerry Zaks, reported that there was a lot of planning and preparation for the stilts.

In addition with the adults on stilts, 9 children were also involved. Zaks casted a group of 9 to 10 year old children to play the Dalmatians puppies. 

The dogs, it seems, were the show stoppers. There were 15 Dalmatian dogs featured in the production all of them from various rescue groups around the United States. Joel Slaven, an animal trainer, was in charge of training and handling these rescues.

All of the dogs apparently had behavioral issues, but Slaven believed if he could figure out those issues and where they came from, he could use that to his advantage. He was able to create the show around each of the dog’s personalities. For example, if a dog had chewing issues, the dog could go on stage and chew something as the act. 

When the production ended, all of the Dalmatians were up for adoption through the sponsorship of Purina Dog Chow.

The Reviews

Unfortunately, the reviews on the musical were pretty mixed to negative. Everyone knew the musical was geared towards children, but many felt the musical wouldn’t keep a child’s attention span for all with the musical being over 2 hours long.

101 Dalmatians (2022 Musical)

The Setting

The Plot

In London, Pongo and Missis, two Dalmatian dogs, enjoy a peaceful life with their owners, the Dearlys, until their world is turned upside down when their puppies are kidnapped by the sinister Cruella de Vil, who intends to use them for a fur coat. Determined to save their pups, Pongo and Missis embark on a daring rescue mission, traversing the countryside and rallying the help of fellow dogs and animals. Their courageous journey is fraught with peril, but ultimately, they outwit Cruella and her henchmen, rescuing all the stolen puppies.

The Characters

Musical Numbers

The Production

Music

Becoming the second musical adaptation based on the book, this show went through many hurdles before it could officially debut in the UK, namely COVID-19.

Separate from the previous musical adaptations, Johnny McKnight adapted a whole new script for the story while Douglas Hodge was brought on to do the music and lyrics. Production was delayed for years, but McKnight and Hodge continued to work on the story.

Like previous composers, Hodge knew the story and music needed to be family friendly as the show was a family show. So, he made a score full of jazz, pop, and folk music in between. He created light-hearted, silly musical numbers while also having a few emotional songs scattered throughout the show to appeal to the adults. Songs like “Bury that Bone”, “Turn Round Three Times”, and “Litterbugs” were meant to gain attention from the children of the audience as they are upbeat and funny for children to enjoy. Meanwhile, songs like “Fur Fur” and “I Can Smell Puppy” would hopefully get the adults’ attention as Cruella has a few great ballads of her own to show off and claim her villainy. 

Sets, Costumes, and Puppets!

Compared to the previous show, this musical was performed outside (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), and the set reflected that. Designed by Colin Richmond, the production set was surrounded by trees and nature, and the actual stage gave a concert built vibe. The main focal point of the stage were giant letters spelling out, “101 Dalmatians” which would be used to transform into different settings throughout the show. They could be used as walls and furniture.

The stand out costumes were those, of course, worn by Cruella de Vil. Katrina Lindsay, the costume designer, gave the character everything you could think of from fur to stilettos to big wings to terrifying makeup giving her quite the cartoonish Disney villain look even though she was updated to be a modern day social media influencer.

The attention, however, goes to the puppets created by Toby Olie. Instead of real life dogs or dressing up adults and children to play Dalmatians (though in Act 2, some of the puppies change from puppets to children), Olie created impressive, one of a kind Dalmatians puppets for the show. The main Dalmatians adult dogs, Pongo and Perdi, had opposable heads, torsos, and front paws while their hind legs are attached to the actual actors of those characters who provide their voices complete with a mechanical tail. Throughout the show, it was possible for the two actors to sever themselves from the puppets though it may seem bizarre and inconsistent.

The puppies were represented by disembodied heads and tails lacking a body in Act 1, and then in Act 2, four of those puppies were changed to four young children dressed as Dalmatians puppies. Audience members have said that there were never 101 Dalmatians though. At best, viewers spotted 93 puppets. Nonetheless, the puppets were the showstoppers in the show (besides a little Dalmatian puppy that comes running at the end of the show).

The Reviews

Like the previous adaptation of this musical, the reviews were mixed though maybe not as bad as the previous one. Many enjoyed the puppets, the costumes, and the simple story. However, the music, the set, and again, the story had it’s criticisms. Many felt the music was forgettable and lackluster. The set wasn’t very interesting to some though others would disagree. And, while the story is a beautiful, memorable one, many felt the show went on way too long. Though most, if not all, agree that this show was definitely made for children, and for that, there can be some grace with the downfalls of this adaptation.

Conclusion

Whether it’s the book, the movie, the series, or any of the musical adaptations, “101 Dalmatians” captures the heart and soul of the beloved story, bringing a fresh vibrancy to the timeless tale. Each production offers a delightful experience for audiences of all ages. The enchanting journey of the Dalmatian parents and their adorable puppies against the backdrop of their thrilling escape from Cruella de Vil’s clutches is both heartwarming and exhilarating no matter what adaptation you watch. Through its masterful blend of humor, adventure, and heart, the story not only stays true to the spirit of the original narrative but also reinvigorates it with new life. Ultimately, “101 Dalmatians” on stage or otherwise reaffirms the themes of love, family, and courage, reminding us all of the extraordinary power of unity and perseverance.

Sources

The following is where I got my information from:

“101 Dalmatians” Musicals FAQ