‘Disney in Concert – Tale as Old as Time’ Concert Review

On December 3rd and 4th, the San Francisco Symphony put on the third in a series called Disney in Concert. The first two were in 2011 and 2013 and this year, it was on the symphony’s roster along with Pixar in Concert and a live conducting of pieces from Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. It’s been a good year to be a Disney fan at the San Francisco Symphony. For 2014, the title of the concert was Tale as Old as Time.

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Arriving at the Davies Symphony Hall, with picturesque views of City Hall from its many windows in the curved atrium, it was hard to not notice the onslaught of Disney Store products for sale. The presence of Anna and Elsa dolls gave me my first indication that Frozen would be heavily featured in this performance. The audience makeup was more varied than a typical evening at the symphony, with many little ones dressed like little orphan Annie ready for a night in N.Y.C. with Daddy Warbucks.

Scanning the program, I was initially surprised that there would be a quartet of singers involved in this show. As the symphony slowly took their seats on stage, I knew it was almost time. Conductor Sarah Hicks took her place and the show kicked off with a medley of classic Disney themes from Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, Bambi and Fantasia. The giant screen overhead played scenes from these films mostly in synch with the conducting.

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You hear this time and time again: “Disney is about storytelling.” That’s why the symphony decided to have each of its singers speak to the audience before certain sections. The writer of these interludes harkened fond memories of the films chosen for this concert and the deliveries were often funny. The first selection was songs from Tangled. “When Will My Life Begin” was sung as a solo by Whitney Claire Kaufman, with “I See the Light” as a duet by Juliana Hansen and Andrew Johnson, but the highlight of the section was “I’ve Got a Dream.” Most of the thug voices were by Aaron Phillips, who proved throughout the show that there are few limitations to what he can do, both aurally and physically.

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Following Tangled, Whitney took the stage again to perform “Reflection” from Mulan, one of the few songs in the show to take place outside of a bigger set. However, rather than staying true to the Lea Solanga version sung by the character, which lends itself well to a symphonic setting, they decided to attempt to pop version made famous by Christina Aguilera. It created a bizarre mix of classic sounds, pop drums, and few singers have the chops to come close to Aguilera’s belt. They would have been better off settling for a compromise, similar to how the song was performed in On the Record (staying true to the film version while using extra lyrics from the pop version and adding a few contemporary flavors to the vocals).  actor_12465 Next came the “Enchanted Helpers Medley,” which started with “Friend Like Me” by Aaron. He was able to make all of the voices Robin Williams made seem effortless in Aladdin, while still making the song his own. As he sang, he sprang from each side of the wide stage. When I saw the Broadway version of Aladdin, James Monroe Igelhart practically passed out after the song and received a standing ovation. The symphony didn’t pause after the song to give him the applause he deserved at this performance. Next was “Under the Sea” by Andrew. I assumed the next song would be lead by someone else, but Aaron returned to lead “Be Our Guest” with a perfect Lumiere voice. The rest of the trio sang bits of the song in addition to the chorus and the movement was fun, including a kickline. “Villains Medley” came next, starting with “Trust in Me” from The Jungle Book. Andrew made the song his own while staying true to the Sterling Holloway “S”‘s. Whitney followed with “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid and anyone familiar with the Original Broadway Cast Recording could tell she was channeling Sherrie Rene Scott instead of Pat Carroll. Aaron finished the set with “Be Prepared” from The Lion King.

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The final set before intermission was the “Hercules Gospel Melody.” I’m a big fan of the music from Hercules. This quartet wasn’t as soulful as the three songs deserve (“Gospel Truth,” “Zero to Hero” and “A Star is Born”), but they did their best. It was the male voices that added the most soul to the mix and they routinely had solos, even though the songs are in a female’s range. After intermission, they returned with a medley from The Princess and the Frog. The three selections were “Down in New Orleans,” “Friends on the Other Side,” and “Almost There.” I was surprised that they performed all of “Friends on the Other Side,” which has a big valley where little is happening musically when Dr. Facilier is singing about his cards. Andrew picked on a specific audience member during the song to make it less awkward. My favorite songs from the film, “Dig a Little Deeper” and “Ma Belle Evangalene,” would have made better choices for the medley than the villain song. Next came a section called “They Finally Meet.” It began with “Kiss the Girl” and progressed into “Beauty and the Beast,” a duet between Andrew and Juliana. When it began, I was worried because it was clearly the Celine Dione/Peabo Bryson version. Again, big voices that are hard to top. I still didn’t dig the mix of pop drums with a full symphony in this setting, but both Andrew and Juliana made the song their own rather than trying to match the vocal stylings of the pop icons that made the song a radio hit back in 1992. I really enjoyed their performance. The medley ended with “So This is Love,” which began as an orchestration accompanied by Cinderella and Prince Charming meeting on the screen before the full song was sung by Juliana and Aaron (after singing like an evil lion, angry thugs, a gospel muse and the Genie, was able to sing perfectly like Prince Charming).

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The singers took a break while the symphony played the battle between Maleficent and Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. This was more in line with what I expected this concert to be like and it was fun to watch. Conductor Sarah Hicks had a video monitor in front of her to keep time with the action on screen. It was fantastic!

The singers returned for the final medley singing “Na na na hey yah nah.” Every kid in the audience sat forward in their seats as they heard the familiar opening to Frozen‘s “Vuelie.” Also most people in the audience made “Oooh” faces at their neighbors as they got just as excited for this set. Juliana took the part of Anna and sang “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” and “For the First Time in Forever” back-to-back. Aaron came out for an amazing rendition of “In Summer,” somehow hitting the high note at the end with perfection (most singers would be vocally tired after changing vocal gears so many times over the course of one show). It ended with “Let It Go,” lead by Whitney. However this version was arranged as a quartet with harmonies and parts of “Vuelie” mashed in. It was wonderful. The singers took bows, the conductor bowed, the orchestra bowed, we kept clapping, they all bowed again, they walked off stage…

…We kept clapping and they all came back. Sarah held up one finger to indicate they would do one more song. Andrew burst into Swahili as he belted “Nants ingonyama bagithi baba” and the audience went “Ooooh!” “Circle of Life” ended up being mostly a solo for Andrew, who did an amazing job with it. But it had plenty of backup harmonies written for this version that the other singers performed. It really moved me and is the best version of this song I’ve ever heard. Yes, better than the movie. Better than the Broadway version. Even better than in The Festival of the Lion King. I wish they would have recorded it so I could listen to it over and over. Disney in Concert –

Tale as Old as Time was a fun evening at the symphony. Having seen On the Record years ago, it’s hard to not compare a show like this to that one, but that’s an unfair comparison. This was only meant to exist for two nights. It had pacing issues and the singers often got ahead of the music because they put them in front of the conductor. I was surprised they didn’t place Sarah Hicks in front of the singers in a place where everybody could see her. But I enjoyed it and recommend any Disney fan in the greater San Francisco Bay Area take a trip to see this the next time the symphony performs it.

Alex Reif
Alex joined the Laughing Place team in 2014 and has been a lifelong Disney fan. His main beats for LP are Disney-branded movies, TV shows, books, music and toys. He recently became a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA).