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Disney Takes The Hollywood Bowl Back to the 80's/90's

July 22, 2024

The Hollywood Bowl has hosted quite a few once in a lifetime Disney concerts, most recently was a celebration of 80’s 90’s era Disney movie songs (7/19 & 20) and before that was a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Lion King May 24th. When it comes to Disney animated films the “renaissance era” (89-99) could be considered the greatest era for soundtracks and in celebration of that period of time, the Hollywood Bowl hosted two nights of music from iconic 80's/90's Disney films. Oliver and Company was released in 1988 and featured Billy Joel and later icons like Randy Newman, Elton John, and Phil Collins would be part of legendary Disney soundtracks. The renaissance era would begin the following year with Little Mermaid and continued with Beauty & The Beast (91), Aladdin (92), Nightmare Before Christmas (93), Lion King (94),Goofy Movie (95), Pocahontas (95), Toy Story (95), Hunchback of Notre Dame (96), Hercules (97), Anastasia (97), A Bugs Life (98), Mulan (98), Tarzan (99), and ended with Toy Story 2 (99). However, music from Tarzan was not performed. Songs from these films were performed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra conducted by Sarah Hicks. The only music from live action films were from Newsies and Hocus Pocus and from Disney Parks was Fantasmic! The music to these films were written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, David Zippel, Elton John and Tim Rice, Danny Elfman, Matthew Wilder and David Zippel, and more. Jodi Benson reprised her role as Ariel from The Little Mermaid for “Part of Your World.”Benson was also Weebo in Flubber, Tour Guide Barbie in Toy Story 2 and Barbie in Toy Story 3 and 4. Bill Farmer, the voice of Goofy since 1987, came out to sing “On the Open Road” from A Goofy Movie,” and Susan Egan who was once Belle in Broadway’s Beauty and the Beast and voiced Meg from Hercules sang “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love).” High School Musical’s Corbin Bleu, Aisha Jackson (Snow White in Once Upon a One More Time), Arielle Jacobs (Princess Jasmine in Broadway’s Aladdin), Adam J. Levy (Broadway’s Moulin Rouge), Krysta Rodriguez (Cinderella from Broadway’s Into the Woods) and members of the LA’s DC6 Collective helped bring these beloved songs to stage with the orchestra. Unfortunately there were audio issues during “On the Open Road” and not all vocals could be heard.

The evening kicked off with a medley of songs by Menken-Ashman of “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, Prince Ali from Aladdin, and Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid. Sadly the original voices to these songs have all passed. Jerry Orbach (Lumiere), Robin Williams (Genie), Samuel E. Wright (Sebastian) were the voices to these iconic Disney characters. The most recent Disney legend to pass was Pat Carroll (Ursula) in 2022 and later in the first half “Poor Unfortunate Souls” was sung. These songs all served as homage to these legends. Not only were songs performed from Disney films, but also The Disney Afternoon Theme was performed by the DC6 Collective and the themes to Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, Duck Tales, and Darkwing Duck. There was footage from the films and shows to go with each song excluding Nightmare Before Christmas, and Hocus Pocus. The singers were dressed in outfits to fit their characters and the Bowl was lit up with colors representing the films such as red and white for Nightmare Before Christmas or orange and yellow for the Lion King. The grand finale was “I2I” from Goofy Movie originally sung by Tevin Campbell which was the perfect closer to this special evening.