In creating their organization’s 2025 production, designers from The Academy saw an opportunity to do something unique with the corps’ identity.
Many programs of the past, for the Arizona corps, have featured a distinguished look in terms of costuming. For the better part of the 2010s, many of The Academy’s uniforms featured some combination of a necktie, a tophat, and other “high-class” accoutrements.
So, for 2025, the corps’ design team decided to take audiences to a place where they might find some of these aesthetic choices in everyday life — the foggy streets of old London.
The Academy’s 2025 production, “London Fog,” will immerse audiences in a visually driven exploration of Victorian London’s mysterious atmosphere, using fog, rain, and evolving color palettes to create an eerie yet ultimately uplifting journey.
The Academy is proud to announce their 25th anniversary program… London Fog 💨 With musical excerpts from Edward Elgar,...
Posted by The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps on Monday, April 28, 2025
“We’re using a little bit of the Academy image over the last decade or so as inspiration — a little bit of a throwback while still moving forward in a new and fresh direction,” program coordinator Brian Murphy said. “We just thought that was an interesting concept, to see how we could really explore fog throughout the entire show.”
And according to Murphy, while many of the Arizona corps’ productions in recent years have developed a specific story, “London Fog,” is more of an exploration of a setting.
“It’s definitely a visual theme,” he said, “not really a storyline, not with characters.”
Instead, The Academy’s production will be broken down into five distinct sections, exploring different aspects of the foggy London landscape. These movements are titled, “The Fog Rolls In,” “Life beneath the Mist, “The Fog Around Us,” “Sinister Shadows,” and “Dawn’s Embrace.”
In order to capture the visual scenery in question, The Academy will use dark fabrics, umbrellas, and more to help create a mysterious setting, while also allowing for stark contrast with various brighter colors.
“It starts off dark, like you would see fog in London, with somewhat of a Victorian feel,” Murphy said. “We’re going to be using lots of umbrellas and a lot of fabric to represent the fog and create that eerie landscape. Our goal is to use fabric in different variations and textures to create that airy feel about fog.”
“We actually have fog material crafted into all the costumes,” he added, “a sheer material that looks like fog. It’s a little twist in the costuming.”
While the visual side of the equation is certainly the focal point in design for this specific production, The Academy will perform a wide range of musical selections.
On a recognizable note for drum corps fans, The Academy will perform sections of Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” as featured in many performances across DCI history including the 2010 Carolina Crown and 2013 Phantom Regiment.
WATCH: Who Did It Best? | Nimrod – Enigma Variations
In order to capture a more eerie feeling in the show’s opening movements, The Academy will also dip into cinematic music, featuring “Can’t Fight City Hall” from the 2022 film, “The Batman,” and “TVA” from the hit Marvel series, “Loki.”
“They’re combined and crafted together to create that suspenseful, eerie beginning of the program,” Murphy said, referring to the two cinematic pieces in the corps’ repertoire.
“The members were really digging the sound at camp,” The Academy executive director Josh Thye added. “There’s good energy from that, and it really captures the darker, eerie mood we’re going for.”
According to Thye, the corps’ music selections weren’t the only cause for excitement among The Academy’s 2025 performers. Throughout the corps’ offseason rehearsals, as he noted, there’s been a growing anticipation for the 2025 DCI Tour.
And when describing The Academy’s 2025 corps as a whole, Thye depicted an organization that has taken the next step across the entire scope of drum corps operations, whether it be audition interest, member and staff retention, or organizational growth.
“In almost every metric, we are doing better than last year. It’s in the 1% better category, but I’m really big on that 1% better mindset. It’s refreshing to have our caption heads in place for their second year, and you can really see the professionalism and growth from the inside out.”
View The Academy's 2025 DCI Tour Schedule