Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, is singing and swinging his way into South Miami.
The character has been a staple of pop culture since 1914, when Edgar Rice Burroughs published the first of 24 novels about an orphaned British boy raised by apes in the jungles of Africa. Many movies about Tarzan followed, including a 1999 animated feature from Disney, which became the basis of a Broadway musical with a book by David Henry Hwang and music and lyrics by Phil Collins.
Area Stage, located in the Shops at Sunset, has had great success with its productions of other Disney musicals, including “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast.” Much of the inventiveness is through the vision of director Giancarlo Rodaz.
Rodaz pushes the boundaries of the way the musicals have traditionally been staged. For “The Little Mermaid,” audiences sat on benches, immersed in the under-the-sea realm of Ariel, while the story sprung to life around them. For “Beauty and the Beast,” the company’s black box space was transformed into the Beast’s castle, and the audience sat at long banquet tables as the characters sang and danced in the aisles and on tabletops.
The director’s cohesive, immersive experience extends to every detail, including the show’s program. A scroll unfurled to reveal a treasure map for “The Little Mermaid” and for “Beauty and the Beast,” the playbill was fashioned as an elegant, oversized menu reminiscent of one presented at a fancy restaurant.
Rodaz says he’s received feedback from audiences who have been entranced by their immersion in the musicals.
“It makes them very happy to escape the world for a little bit and be able to go out . . . with the whole family,” says Rodaz. “And then there are adults that come and step back into their childhoods.”
Not a theater kid
Despite growing up in a theater family, Rodaz was not a theater kid.
“I'm the biggest tale of ‘force your kids to do things they don't want to do’ because I wanted to stay home with my video games when I was a kid.”
He says when his parents, John Rodaz and Maria Banda-Rodaz, launched the theater and a theater school, their coaxing led him to discover theater.
“Like all the best things, the conservatory comes from a place of, what would I do for my own child? What would be the thing that I would make for my child? And my dad said, ‘This is what you’re doing this summer. We're opening this conservatory and you’re going to be part of it.’ I think arts programs like the conservatory genuinely wake up something in kids.”
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A summer at the conservatory at Area Stage changed everything for Rodaz, who was 13 years old and caught the theater bug. He played Motel Kamzoil, the tailor, in “Fiddler on the Roof,” but decided he’d rather use his talents behind the scenes and direct. He helped out at the theater, taking time to learn all the jobs needed to produce a show.
“I always tell people who want to start directing that you should at least have done every job once to fully understand the scope of what you're asking the people to do,” he advises.
Rodaz directed his first show when he was 15, a production of “Winnie the Pooh Jr.,” which he said he took very seriously. Years later, his focus is still on family entertainment, which has become his oeuvre.
“I really love doing those types of stories,” says Rodaz. “I feel like not many people take those stories super seriously or try to do what Walt Disney himself tried to do, which is not make stories for children, but make stories for everybody. That's very valuable, and that's something that fuels a lot of what I do.”
Rodaz grew up watching the animated film “Disney’s Tarzan” and has wanted to produce the musical for some time.
“It’s such a fun Disney story to do because it's not a fairy tale,” says the director. “It’s got fairy-tale elements, but it’s really rooted in the old kind of pulp, serialized fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs stories. I really love that aesthetic and I haven't done anything like that before.”
He says that his production of “Disney’s Tarzan” is a bit more “intimate” than the last two immersive musicals he’s helmed for Area Stage.
“It’s very up close and personal. “For ‘The Little Mermaid’ and other Disney shows, we always aimed for this massive scale of things. But we have a small cast to make the show very intimate and brought the story back to a more personal place, so it’s a good fit.”
Rodaz, a big Disney fan, says he used the Disney World theme parks as part of his inspiration for the current summer show.
“This show is fun because it’s digging into that Adventureland aesthetic,” he says. “We have all the expedition equipment. It's very inspired by Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room. That's a lot of the stuff that we looked at for the show.”
‘Tarzan’ dreams
For Coby Oram, playing Tarzan is a dream come true.
“ Tarzan has been a dream role of mine for a while,” said Oram. “I saw it when I was a kid at Tuacahn Center for the Arts in Utah, which is a beautiful, gorgeous, gigantic, outdoor theater space. I saw the regional debut of ‘Tarzan’ with a great family friend playing the titular role. I thought it was amazing. I’ve been keeping an eye out for it ever since I was 12.”
The actor who played Tarzan in the production that captivated Oram was James Royce Edwards, who encouraged Oram toward his theater dreams. When Oram booked the lead at Area Stage, he texted his old friend.
“The first thing he said was, ‘Man, I’m so proud of you. You’re going to crush it and you’re going to sing it better than I ever did.’ I don’t know if that’s true, but it was nice of him to say,” said Oram.
Oram was in Kansas City, alternating the lead role of Frankie Valli in “Jersey Boys” with his twin brother, Chris, when he was cast in Area Stage’s production of “Disney’s Tarzan.” Oram never auditioned for Rodaz in person; he was cast through video auditions and callbacks. Oram performed his final show as Frankie Valli and 90 minutes later he was on a plane headed for Miami. He joined the “Disney’s Tarzan” cast, who had already been rehearsing for a week, at 10 a.m. the next morning.
Much like Rodaz, Oram grew up immersed in the arts. He loved theater and performing but was dissuaded from making it his career. He studied engineering in college but dropped out because his true passion was for the arts. He and his brother moved to New York from their native Utah in 2022 and he soon booked his “Jersey Boys” contract.
Before rehearsals, Oram knew Area Stage by their reputation only and had heard about the immersive stagings of other Disney shows.
“When I started seeing the word ‘immersive’ thrown around, I wasn't quite sure what to expect,” says the actor. “I was very intrigued. And since I've gotten here, it's been such a privilege to see what that all means. The audience is up close. They're just as up close as we are on stage because they're sharing space with us.”
Oram says he’s drawn to challenging roles, and Tarzan presents unique role requirements.
“It’s very physically demanding. Rolling all over the floor, jumping up and down, climbing up and down steps, swinging, and doing all that in a loincloth,” he admits.
Rodaz and Oram each have ideas about what they would like audiences to take away from “Disney’s Tarzan.”
“Tarzan’ is a beautiful show that has a beautiful message,” says Oram. “Sometimes people are different. Sometimes people look different, or they act different, or their brains seem to develop in different ways, like a human growing up in a jungle. And the beautiful thing to me in this script is that regardless of how different Tarzan is, he’s family. He’s not just accepted, but he’s loved he's given a place, and he's allowed to grow into the person he is rather than forced to become someone who fits.”
Rodaz sees “Disney’s Tarzan” as the next step in his journey of getting people excited about theater and entertaining them for a while.
“Kids come up to me, and they tell me it was their first show ever. They're like, ‘I didn't know it was gonna be this cool.’ And that's what makes me want to keep doing it.”
IF YOU GO
What: “Disney’s Tarzan”
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Previews, July 17 and 18, then July 19 through Aug. 10.
Where: Area Stage at Sunset Place, 5701 Sunset Dr., Suite 286, South Miami
Cost: $88.75, general admission; $124.75, premium seating. $52.75, general admission for children and students with ID, $83.75. premium seating. Lap seating permitted for children under 3.
Information: 305-666-2078 or areastage.org
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