Review: Disney Princess - The Concert
Update: I just received confirmation from Christy Altomare (Wow!) that she will be attending the fall leg of the Disney Princess concert tour and was unable to attend the first few months because she is performing in a new musical at the Paper Mill Playhouse and that Anneliese has always been part of the concert. If you attend this concert in the fall, you will have the good fortunate of seeing her live!
I've been pretty vocal about my issues with Disney over the past few years, and their recent revamp of the Broadway Princess Party showcases many of those frustrations. They've been hard at work remaking all of their old movies instead of coming up with as many original animated titles as they used to, and now they are also taking an intimate independent show that already had a successful tour and marketing it under the Disney name. This show is very similar to the Broadway Princess Party aside from a few tweaks that make it feel corporate and overproduced. I bought the lowest tier VIP ticket, which granted early access to merchandise and a weird goody bag that included a cheap fiber-optic light stick, a sleep mask, stickers containing just the princess's names (no pictures), and a fanny pack. The early access shopping experience turned out to be a single table of overpriced t-shirts and a magnet with a logo of the show. There wasn't even an official program!. Though the attendants at the concert hall were extremely friendly and helpful, there were no decorations or activities set up to keep us entertained while we were waiting for the theater to open. The higher-tier ticket supposedly included some pre-show activities, but I have no idea where they were located.
As nice as the theater was, it used the same projection technology that I've grown to dislike in recent years after seeing how it watered down the Anastasia musical and the Frozen stage show at Disneyland. A giant movie screen towered over the actresses displaying larger-than-life images from the movies that they were singing to. There were only one or two times that the images on the screen were used to enhance their performances in a creative way. The rest of the time, they served as an enormous distraction from the actors. The D23 Expo uses this technology during panels to help people sitting in the back see the faces of the performers, which I feel would have been a better use for it. Still, I enjoyed the opening performance of the new Disney Princess anthem, "Starting Now," which you can watch below. It was the only performance that use minimalist lighting techniques to draw attention toward instead of away from the singers. Benjamin Rauhala, the "fairy godfairy" co-founder of the Broadway Princess Party with Laura Osnes, maintained his role as the host and pianist as he introduced the show and accompanied the four princesses on the piano.
Despite the corporate undertones, Disney Princess - The Concert is still an entertaining evening for princesses of all ages. Just like at the original Broadway Princess Party, each actress shared an anecdote about how she got the role that made her famous in the Disney history books. However, there was an element missing when they were sharing these stories to a big auditorium and addressing the audience as a single unit instead of regaling their tales to a group of invested onlookers in an intimate restaurant setting. Many of the attendees dressed in costumes, but I found it even less worthwhile to do so this time since no special attention was given to them, and they more or less blended into the crowd once the show got rolling. I'd recommend saving your fanciest gown for the next D23 Expo. Since it's an official Disney show now, there were of course far more children in the audience, and they had less appreciation for references to Disney names and events that happened before their time, which gave Susan Egan fuel to make a few jokes about her age. I felt my own age showing when I was the only person in the entire theater who cheered at the mention of Disney legends Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.
The show ran for two hours with a 15-minute intermission. It covered most songs from the Disney Princess roster and had a single costume change during the intermission in which the princesses swapped out their short casual dresses for floor-length evening gowns. Anneliese van der Pol covered most of the non-Disney on Broadway songs, including a medley of the original three princesses' songs, both of Rapunzel's songs, and "Journey to the Past" from Anastasia, which was likely meant to be sung by Christy Altomare before she was cut. Susan Egan reprised her greatest hits as both Megara and Belle. Arielle Jacobs covered some songs from Mulan, Moana, and the Broadway and live-action versions of Aladdin, and Syndee Winters sang "Shadowland," "Love's an Open Door," and "Almost There." The song "Soon" from Thumbelina was not included in this version of the show even though it was in the original Broadway Princess Party and is currently owned by Disney, nor was any of the music from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, which was covered in the Broadway Princess Party by co-founder Laura Osnes. This version was more scripted and did not include a surprise guest star, which was a fun staple of the original show that kept it fresh and exciting at every performance.
Disney Princess - The Concert is a perfectly fine show for princess fans who want to hear their favorite Disney songs performed by professionals. It is lacking in comparison to the intimate night that the Broadway Princess Party originally represented, which allowed fans to get up close and personal with some of their favorite performers and listen to their stories as peers. One of my favorite parts of the original show was being able to line up to meet the three actresses afterward without needing to buy a special pass like the new version requires. Disney Princess - The Concert still met my expectations as I figured they were going to project Disney movies to the audience in a way that made it feel more like a commercial than an up-close and personal experience. The thing that probably disappointed me the most was the pre-show experience with the useless goody bag and overpriced t-shirts made me feel less hyped by the time I was finally seated. It would have been great if they produced some exclusive dolls or tiaras for the event, but I would have settled for a souvenir program at the very least.
Comments
The show began with the director telling his story of how he was different and that becoming a Fairy God Fairy was his dream. He made several remarks about homosexuality and how he loved Flaming Queens and how he loved playing with Princess Dolls. None of this had anything to do with the marketing of a Disney Princess Concert. The performers, all of whom sung beautifully never appeared on stage as a princess. My grand-daughter asked several times throughout the performance continually asked when the princesses would arrive. It was a complete let down and I feel Disney has lost the magic. Do not attend until Disney brings the magic back!
I do not work for or represent Disney or the Broadway Princess Party, but I think I can help shed some light on a few of your comments.
First of all, you made me very glad that I didn't sign up for one of the higher tier VIP packages. I got the lowest tier that did not include the "party" and was still asked to come 90 minutes to two hours prior to the event. I was also extremely disappointed by the limited amount of ugly overpriced merchandise and the lack of things to do or look at prior to the concert. In fact, I have submitted a complaint to the venue about it even though I'm not sure if it's actually their fault.
As far as the lack of princesses and the "Fairy Godfairy" (whose name is Benjamin Rauhala, by the way), all of that is because Disney didn't actually produce this concert. They acquired it from Benjamin Rauhala and Laura Osnes, a Broadway actress who is no longer part of the show. (See https://www.theprincessblog.org/2021/08/did-disney-just-kick-laura-osnes-out-of.html for reference.) The concert was originally titled the Broadway Princess Party (see http://www.theprincessblog.org/2017/12/review-broadway-princess-party.html for reference) and had a successful tour for roughly five years before Disney renamed and changed almost nothing about the show.
The Broadway Princess Party was not made for children and rarely had any kids in the audience because it was held in nightclubs and smaller bar/restaurant settings usually on weeknights. It was a fantastic show for what it was because it allowed older princess fans and Broadway aficionados to come together and learn about the experiences that the actresses had getting these roles and being on stage. Many people in attendance were aspiring actresses themselves who hoped to land a princess role on Broadway one day. However, by paying off Laura and Benjamin and changing the name to "Disney Princess - The Concert," Disney made the show appear to be an event for children, and as such, there were significantly more children in attendance who were likely expecting to see princess characters on stage.
Since this show was not produced for children and barely altered from its original form, I can understand why your granddaughter must have been disappointed. Disney did a horrible job marketing it and put virtually no effort into it since all they had to do was tell Benjamin to run it the way he already did for five years before it became an "official" Disney show. I think the original version was far superior because it did not pretend to be something it wasn't, and I do agree that Disney has lost a lot of its magic.
Thank you for visiting my blog, and feel free to comment on any post with more of your thoughts. Have a great day!
There is also diversity of opinion on many topics, as it pointed out in a comment is bad that a show insinuates that you are not kind or a princess if you don't think a certain way.