The details for Animaniacs Live are still in the development stage (the website isn’t up yet, and the actual cities and dates are still to be determined), but what we do know is that this won’t just be a mere singalong. “This is going to be very interactive,” said Jess Harnell, who voiced Wakko, “It’ll be like hanging out with us in your living room.”
Assuming your living room is big enough to hold an 87-piece orchestra that is.
Harnell was joined by Rob Paulsen (Yakko), Tress MacNeille (Dot), and the man responsible for those songs you still find yourself singing two decades later, composer Randy Rogel, at Comic-Con to promote the tour. They capped their panel with a performance for all in attendance.
And just like you have your own favorite song, so do they. MacNeille said she’s most looking forward to performing “I’m Mad,” Harnell named “Wakko’s America” as his (don’t worry, I reminded him not to forget to phrase the song in the form of a question, since I’m a huge dork—and so are you if you get that joke), and Paulsen and Rogel both listed “Yakko’s World” as the one they have at the top of their lists. “It’s the one that just gets people so excited,” said Paulsen, who doesn’t have to re-learn the lyrics to that one since people ask him to sing it all the time.
They have done a live show before, in San Francisco where they did about 20 songs, and it was so well-received that Warner Bros. said maybe they should do a whole tour, which will inevitably be filled with the show’s audience all grown up with children of their own.
“It’s kind of mind-blowing, but it is really, really gratifying for us,” said Paulsen.
As it will be for audience members that grew up loving the show, who will get to hear and experience the songs like they never have before. Not to mention some of us really need a few new geography lessons.