Tales from the Laughing Place was exclusively invited to cover the rehearsals for the show. The photographs featured here are from the afternoon rehearsal prior to the evening’s performance. Complete coverage of this event features in Issue 14 of Tales from the Laughing Place and includes interviews with performers Ashley Brown, Kerry Butler, Heather Headley and Disney’s music maestro Chris Montan along with photographs from three rehearsal sessions.
However for one night only on Monday December 8 2008, the stage concealing the majestic Pride Rock played host to the 74-piece BBC Concert Orchestra for a unique recording of BBC Radio 2’s legendary Friday Night Is Music Night entitled BBC Radio 2 Celebrates The Music Of Disney.
To accompany the orchestra, conducted by Larry Blank, a wealth of Broadway and West End talents came together to perform some of the most memorable Disney songs in front of a live audience for a recording to be aired on BBC Radio 2 on December 26 2008.
It’s Monday evening and the animals are silent - for The Lion King is dark tonight - now in it’s tenth year at the Lyceum Theatre, London...
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS © LINDSAY CAVE (except where marked otherwise)
The show was hosted by the Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter Josh Groban. Groban would bring the evening to a close with a fully orchestrated version of When You Wish Upon A Star that has never been performed in public and was played for the first time since being recorded for Walt Disney’s Pinocchio.
After the Overture hinted at the songs to come Groban introduced the first performance – fittingly The Circle of Life by the London cast of The Lion King led by the stunning vocals of “Rafiki” - Brown Lindiwe Mkhize. As Josh began to recite the story of Walt Disney he introduced Kerry Butler to the stage for Snow White’s Someday My Prince Will Come. Butler was last seen on Broadway in Xanadu and Little Shop of Horrors but her Disney credentials include Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Ariel in the first workshop of Disney’s The Little Mermaid and the release of her first solo album – a collection of Disney songs: Faith Trust & Pixie Dust. Continuing with fairy tales Butler performed a duet with Matt Rawle for Sleeping Beauty’s Once Upon a Dream. Rawle is currently performing in the West End in the title role of the Gypsy King’s musical Zorro and previously held the role of Che in the recent London revival of Evita.
Brown Lindiwe Mkhize rehearsing The Circle Of Life
Kerry Butler rehearses Someday My Prince Will Come
Kerry Butler and Matt Rawle rehearse Once Upon A Dream and Tituss Burgess performs Under The Sea
Headley and Pascal would return each with a solo from Tarzan, You’ll Be in My Heart and Strangers Like Me respectively.
The choice of Disney songs performed was not restricted to theatrical productions or animated/studio output. Groban showed a degree of hesitancy to mention where this next song originated and prior to uttering the words High School Musical his fingers were inserted into his ears to block out the resulting squeals from the younger audience members. With a solo and somewhat different performance of the Troy/Gabriella duet When There Was Me & You, Drew Sarich didn’t disappoint the crowd.
However the next performance bought the loudest applause as Ashley Brown and Kerry Butler – the two Belles – with the Lady and the Tramp classic He’s a Tramp. This particular arrangement was plucked from On the Record – the musical revue that Disney Theatrical premiered as a touring production in 2005. Brown was an original member of the cast for the production but took the opposing vocal for this version.
With a curious reference and link to the size of Walt’s family farm – being 45 acres – Groban re-introduced Matt Rawle to sing another tune that fits into the lesser known category – Menken and Glenn Slater’s Will The Sun Ever Shine Again from the “45th” Disney animated feature Home on the Range. Rawle delivered a lounge-style version of the Bonnie Raitt song.
Subsequently the vocalists were provided a break as the BBC Concert Orchestra performed the Golden Age Medley featuring songs from Snow White, Bambi and Pinocchio that Groban believed would test the musical knowledge of the Disney aficionado. There was little to test though with Maria Friedman’s second song being the iconic Academy Award-winning Beauty and the Beast from eponymous feature which was proceeded by Ashley Brown’s A Change In Me - the emotional ballad that was added in 1998 to Broadway’s production of the same musical written specifically by Alan Menken and Sir Tim Rice for Toni Braxton’s portrayal of Belle.
Heather Headley would return to her role as Nala for a Can You Feel The Love Tonight? duet with Pascal and the pair would remain for the first ever performance on the British stage of Aida’s most recognized song Written In The Stars.
Then Groban told the story of Walt’s desire to animate The Little Mermaid but was unresolved in how to present Hans Christian Anderson’s darkest of tales so the project was shelved for many years until directors Musker and Clements conceived a workable narrative that dealt with the relationship of the young mermaid and her father and bought forth the Broadway talents of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.
Three songs would follow from The Little Mermaid including the first performance on the British stage of a song from Broadway’s The Little Mermaid: If Only. First out was Tituss Burgess with Under The Sea, fresh from his final performance as Sebastian in the Broadway show (the day before!). Butler returned to the stage for a show-stopping Part of Your World and was subsequently joined by Burgess, Adam Pascal and Drew Sarich for If Only. Pascal is most noted for originating the role of Roger in Rent but also founded the role of Radames in Elton John and Tim Rice’s AIDA for Disney Theatrical. Pascal was last seen on the London stage with Josh Groban in May of 2008 for the concert version of the Andersson/Ulvaeus/Rice production Chess. Drew Sarich also originated a role for Disney Theatrical as Quasimodo in the Berlin production Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and was last seen on a West End stage as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.
Kerry Butler, Adam Pascal, Tituss Burgess (below) and Drew Sarich (right) rehearse If Only
The next act was one of Disney’s lesser known songs described by Groban as amongst his favorites: Candle on the Water. The Pete’s Dragon – Helen Reddy ballad was performed by West End favorite Maria Friedman who currently stars in her own solo production: Maria Friedman Re-arranged and was seen in The Woman in White and The Witches of Eastwick.
Maria Friedman (left) performs Candle on The Water
The mood moved upbeat and a little jungle flavor was added to the stage with Tituss Burgess delivering the tongue twisting The Bare Necessities before Mary Poppins herself was introduced to the audience to sing two songs from the most recent of Menken’s Disney output – Enchanted. Ashley Brown is no stranger to singing the odd Disney song or two with her role as Belle in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast and originating the title role in Mary Poppins on the US stage. Brown sang True Love’s Kiss and That’s How You Know after arriving in London from Florida the day before where she had taped a segment as Mary for the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade for ABC Television the previous day.
Ashley Brown gets all “Enchanted”
Only one performer was left to be introduced - another star of the Broadway Disney stage: TONY Award-winning Heather Headley. As the creator of The Lion King’s Nala role this show would also see Headley reunited with Pascal, her co-star in Aida. With a guitar for accompaniment, Headley performed a remarkable stripped down heart-felt version of When She Loved Me (Toy Story 2) prior to being joined on stage by Pascal for a duet of Aladdin’s A Whole New World.
Heather Headley (above) rehearses the haunting When She Loved Me and joins Adam Pascal (left) for three duets.
Drew Sarich closed out the first Act with Hunchback’s Out There to tumultuous applause from the appreciative audience.
As if it was an ordinary working night at the Lyceum The Lion King cast would open Act II and the auditorium was filled with performers and avian puppets for Lebo M’s signature number One By One.
Groban himself was unsure on how you could follow that opener and also noted how important the addition of the visual spectacle was a bonus for the audience.
It would be a duet that would bring the penultimate performances of the evening to the stage and rousing interpretations of the original songs (not stage versions) from Mary Poppins bought stellar vocals from Ashley Brown and Matt Rawle – who – it has to be said – would make a great Bert.
Groban closed the show with the goose-bumps-on-your-arm When You Wish Upon A Star and one of the most remarkable and entertaining presentations of Disney music was at an end...
...well, that is until the show airs on BBC Radio 2.
BBC Radio 2 Celebrates The Music Of Disney - (Friday Night is Disney Night)
was broadcast on December 26 2008
Story by Lindsay Cave ©TFTLP 2008
The Curtain Call:
Matt Rawle, Josh Groban, Ashley Brown, Tituss Burgess, Kerry Butler, Maria Friedman, Drew Sarich, Heather Headley and Adam Pascal
Photograph © Dan Wooller
courtesy of Disney Theatrical Productions (UK)
Tales from the Laughing Place Magazine is a high-quality quarterly publication dedicated to the creativity of the Walt Disney Company. Tales magazine is currently 52-pages with no advertising and printed on quality paperstock to preserve each issue for years to come. Tales magazine is currently offering new 4-issue subscriptions from Issue 14 for $40 with free shipping in the continental United States. However international shipping is available. Issues 2 to 13 inclusive are also available as back issues.
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This article is a special preview for a feature in Issue 14 of Tales from the Laughing Place magazine and includes interviews with performers Ashley Brown, Kerry Butler, Heather Headley and Disney’s music maestro Chris Montan.
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