Julie Madden

This is Julie Madden (Jen Goodwin’s sister) replying from Minneapolis. Unfortunately I won’t make this bittersweet and fabulous event, but you will all be in my thoughts as you close the show. I’ll never forget that when I came in from San Francisco in 1989 (I think), we had to put on hard hats to tour the Island for the first time as it wasn’t completely finished (and I remember freaking out that Disney’s $40 million investment was somehow resting on the shoulders of a bunch of actors). I also remember the night we performed the first version of “Forbidden Disney” at the Warehouse for Michael Eisner and a test audience. The show then proceeded to go through 8000 rewrites striving for God only knows what kind of balance between edgy, funny and completely respectful of the Disney mythology. Oh, how stressed we were. But I have to say I drank the Koolaid: Main Street USA, the sappy movie at the American Pavilion and seeing Cinderella’s castle from the monorail made me weep like an overtired toddler every single time.Ah, it is good to be an alumnus.