by Beth Keating
News
DisneyBizJournal.com
April 10, 2020
(Note: The date and time for the livestream of “Celebrating 25 Magical Years of Disney on Broadway" has been moved to 7:00 PM EST on April 17th.)
(Note: The date and time for the livestream of “Celebrating 25 Magical Years of Disney on Broadway" has been moved to 7:00 PM EST on April 17th.)
Last month, as the Covid-19 pandemic grew in scale, and it became obvious that things were not going to slow down anytime soon, movie theatres, sports arenas, and other public venues began shutting down. On March 12th, New York City’s Broadway theatres also announced closures, hoping to retake the stage April 12. As New York became the leading pandemic hotspot in the nation, however, Governor Andrew Cuomo extended the stay-at-home directives until April 29, with a nod toward re-evaluating that order after April 29th.
Given the seriousness of the situation, The Broadway League has announced that all shows will remain dark until June 7th.. Current Disney Productions of Aladdin (New Amsterdam Theatre), Frozen (St. James Theatre), and The Lion King (Minskoff Theatre) are among those shows.
“Our top priority continues to be the health and well-being of Broadway theatregoers and the thousands of people who work in the theatre industry every day, including actors, musicians, stagehands, ushers, and many other dedicated professionals,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of the Broadway League. “Broadway will always be at the very heart of the Big Apple, and we join with artists, theatre professionals, and fans in looking forward to the time when we can once again experience live theatre together.”
Even if theatres do reopen June 7th - and that’s still anyone’s guess as to whether that will be a possibility – Broadway employees will have been without paychecks for nearly three months by then. To raise money for the Broadway Cares/COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund, Broadway Cares will livestream last fall’s benefit performance of “Celebrating 25 Magical Years of Disney on Broadway.”
The livestream will take place at 7 pm (EST) on Monday, April 13, and can be viewed at www.broadwaycares.org, on the Broadway Cares' YouTube or Facebook channels, as well as on www.Playbill.com, www.abc7ny.com and some ABC-owned television stations around the country.
The livestream will take place at 7 pm (EST) on Monday, April 13, and can be viewed at www.broadwaycares.org, on the Broadway Cares' YouTube or Facebook channels, as well as on www.Playbill.com, www.abc7ny.com and some ABC-owned television stations around the country.
The April 13th livestream will be hosted from his home by Frozen’s Ryan McCartan (Hans), and will be interspersed with interviews from Disney on Broadway stars, who will also be signing on from their homes. McCartan appeared on Good Morning America this morning (April 9) to talk about the live stream.
The original, one night only, sold out show took place November 4, 2019, at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The show featured a cast of 79 performers and a 15-piece orchestra, with performances by many current and former Disney Broadway veterans. Fan favorites such as Kissy Simmons (Nala in The Lion King), Kara Lindsay (Newsies), Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins), Syndee Winters (The Lion King), Michael James Scott (Aladdin), Adam Jacobs (Aladdin), and Alton Fitzgerald White (Mufasa in The Lion King), who all performed during January and February’s Disney on Broadway series at the America Gardens Theatre at the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, are among the evening’s guest stars.
Additional Disney production stars including Bradley Gibson (The Lion King), Jelani Alladin (Hercules), Sierra Boggess (The Little Mermaid), Christian Borle (Mary Poppins), Kerry Butler (Beauty and the Beast), Lauryn Ciardullo (Aladdin), Merle Dandridge (Tarzan), Lindiwe Dlamini (The Lion King), Bongi Duma (The Lion King), Susan Egan (Beauty and the Beast), April Holloway (Aladdin), James Monroe Iglehart (Aladdin), Ramona Keller (Hercules), Nina Lafarga (Frozen), Tamika Lawrence (Hercules), Norm Lewis (The Little Mermaid), Tshidi Manye (The Lion King), Sbusiso Ngema (The Lion King), Krysta Rodriguez (Hercules), Sherie Rene Scott (The Little Mermaid), Katie Terza (Aladdin), Marisha Wallace (Aladdin), and Rema Webb (Hercules, The Lion King) will also appear during the evening.
The Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund offers help for health and financial hardships for onstage, backstage and behind the scenes staff impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Help is also coming in the form of matching dollar-for-dollar donations in a $1 million challenge from more than 20 Broadway producers.
Incidentally, while not a Disney production, if you are interested in musical theatre, Andrew Lloyd Webber is involved in a project called “The Shows Must Go On.” Each week for the next seven weeks, a different Andrew Lloyd Webber musical will be livestreamed, beginning at 7 p.m. (BST) on Friday, and will be available only for 48 hours, so you’ll have to hop on it quickly.
The first show was Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat featuring Donny Osmond on the weekend of April 3, and Jesus Christ Superstar will air this coming weekend for Easter, beginning April 10. The productions are available on “The Shows Must Go On” YouTube channel, with new shows announced each week. Webber is also working on a musical version of Cinderella, hopefully to open in London in October. (He is anticipating showing off one of the songs from the show on his “composer in isolation” segment on his website andrewlloydwebber.com sometime soon.)
Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.
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