Like Hakuna Matata, Disney in Concert might take your worries away for anyone who hasn’t visited that wonderful Disney phase lately.
The Columbus Symphony Orchestra will present “Disney in Concert: Magical Music from the Movies” at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Ohio Theatre.
Conductor Albert-George Schram and four leading vocalists hope to bring an enchanted evening to the audience through their own rendition of songs from various Disney musicals.
Whitney Kaufman, 27, from Los Angeles, is one of the four main vocalists at Saturday’s performance and said the show was designed to appeal to a wide range of listeners.
“I think it’s something that everyone can appreciate,” Kaufman said. “All generations have loved Disney movies, so I think that it’s very marketable and a lot of fun for different audiences.”
In an attempt to appeal to audience members of differing ages, the song choices will hit on various decades, ranging anywhere from, “The Little Mermaid” to “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
Songs will be performed from some of the most well-known Disney favorites such as “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King” and “Mary Poppins.”
Kaufman’s featured number will be “Colors of the Wind” from “Pocahontas,” along with many group numbers with the other main performers, Candice Safstrom, Andrew Johnson and Aaron Phillips.
The quartet started rehearsing in 2009 and has since been traveling to various orchestras, performing one to five shows at each location.
The show has been touring nationwide, from Washington D.C., to San Francisco, and has also made its way overseas to countries such as Australia and Taiwan.
Each piece of music is accompanied by video-projected clips or still pictures from the movies.
“Our show’s really special because we have a lot of original storyboard drawings from the original Disney productions,” Kaufman said.
Schram said “Disney in Concert” is the type of the performance he’d love to take his children to.
“Disney is in our DNA and everybody’s DNA, whether we are adults or whether we are kids, so to have a concert of the great music that the Disney studios have created over the years is really fun,” Schram said.
The orchestra and the four singers will only have one set practice together before the curtain rises Saturday, Schram said. Everyone is responsible for their parts individually, but the practice will allow them to coordinate together as a whole.
“Disney in Concert” is part of the Pop Series, which typically consists of about four to five concerts each year, Schram said. This Saturday will be the last concert of this series before the symphony prepares for the summer season, which starts in June.
Lily Lash, a first-year in exploration, said she thinks this production would be something Ohio State students would be interested in attending.
“I’d definitely be interested in going because I really like Disney,” Lash said. “It’s something I grew up with and I know all the music, so it’d be really cool.”
Kaufman said he thinks people will leave the show happy.
“It’s a chance to tap back into the inner child and just have a big smile on your face when you leave,” Kaufman said.
Tickets range in price from $23 to $68 and can be purchased at the Ohio Theatre Ticket Office, located at 39 E. State St., and at all Ticketmaster outlets.
