A MOUSE CLUBHOUSE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
BRUCE HEALEY
talks about his job and
"Jack Sparrow's Swashbuckling Adventure"

by Scott Wolf

From my earliest days going to Disneyland, I've always loved the music throughout the park. And while I love the attractions, for me there's something electrifying about sitting in the audience for the shows and parades.

Naturally, it was exciting for me to interview Bruce Healey. Bruce is a wonderfully kind person who has been responsible for the music for every show and parade at Disneyland since 1986, and he is often involved in the music for other parks as well.

Certainly not as well-known as some of the "Disney Legends" you will see on this website, I can't imagine that anybody would deny that his work is legendary and I can testify that his background and stories are equally as fascinating.

I'm sure you will enjoy learning about Bruce's musical life as much as I have.

On this particularly day, I was asking Bruce about his day to day job , and it just happened to be a day that a brand new Pirates of the Caribbean-based show was debuting at Disneyland, complete with a musical underscore.

Scott Wolf: Do you get out there and hear the audience? After a great show or a great firework show and the audience just bursts into applause afterwards, do you ever get to hear that?

Bruce Healey: Sometimes, yes. I certainly am out there for sound checks before the show opens and I direct sound checks for every major show and parade in the park.

SW: So what types of things do you do in a typical day, what are you doing today for example?

BH: Well, today (May 25th, 2007) I went out because we just opened “Jack Sparrow’s Swashbuckling Adventure” which is the pirate stunt show on Tom Sawyer Island, so I was out there this morning for the first and second show listening to audio with a full house. Then we decided to make some adjustments to that so I’m going back out at 3:25 today for the next show and listen to the adjustments that were made.

SW: How often is that show going on?

BH: It’s five shows a day with one “meet and greet” in the middle of the day. It’s an interesting combination of things. There’s our Bootstrappers band which is a three piece pirate band that does a little atmosphere set that leads into our stunt show.

SW: They are great. I saw them performing in New Orleans Square.

BH: Well, now they’re all on the south end of Tom Sawyer Island on the stage there, and it’s a fun stunt show with Jack Sparrow and three other pirates and the Bootstrapper thing leads into it and I’ll leave it for you to see it. I don’t want to give it away for you, but we’ve taken and produced our own underscore to the stunt show that is based on “Pirates of the Caribbean” themes and we have some sword fighting and other good stuff.

SW: Did you arrange the underscore?

BH: I produced the recording, I didn’t arrange it, but oversaw all of that and I did all the production work on it to install it in the venue and make sure that it sounds good and it plays well, and I go out and review and do sound checks to integrate the live performers with the recording.

SW: And the point of the sound check is to have the levels set for good?

BH: They’re supposed to be (chuckles), yes.

SW: So you have to do this because it’s the first day?

BH: Yes.

SW: Do work at night as well?

BH: When we were doing this, for example, it was two weeks ago, because last week we were down for the install of the pirates (movie) premiere (on Tom Sawyer Island), but the week before that we were doing three nights in a row from about 11:00 at night until eight in the morning (when there are no guests in the park) doing our onsite mix and stage rehearsals for that show, so it all depends on what’s needed.

Next week I’ve got, on Saturday the 9th, I’ve got a rehearsal from 4am ‘til 8am for the press event for the Nemo Submarines opening. Then on Monday the 11th I’ve got a 17 piece big band that I’m conducting for the press event, so that’ll be rehearsing early, early in that morning and I’m arranging something for that.

So it just depends on what’s going on and what the needs are. Sometimes I’m in the office doing office work and organizational things and my job and my department’s area is responsible for not only producing and implementing music for these various things, it’s also taking on the responsibility of making sure all the legal clearances are done and that all of those issues are addressed. We don’t do them ourselves, we have attorneys for that, but somebody else will communicate the right information and coordinate that communicate back and forth between the attorneys and the team. That’s one of the less fun parts of my job, but it’s essential.

It’s rewarding when you’re able to do something that’s a challenge from a legal standpoint and be able to pull it off.

Just a lot of things like that… sometimes I work at home and do my writing at home and preparation for things at home. Sometimes I’m working in a recording studio. I might be conducting a musical group in a recording studio one day, and singers the next day, and then mixing it the day after that, and then the next week installing it into a venue and doing our onsite mix for something like that.

SW: Is your job still fun for you?

BH: Oh yeah, absolutely. Who’s got a better job than that?

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in the interviews are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mouse Clubhouse. Mouse Clubhouse accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed within.