cstephens2

cstephens2, 13 hours ago

Several people had prior commitments and so could not be at the event but sent video messages - Alan Menken, Paige O'Hara, Susan Egan, and Jodi Benson. Jodi's tribute especially brought many of us to tears.

As expected, many songs were sung during the course of the evening.

"Part of Your World" was performed by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, who are also currently working on "Moana 2". /2

cstephens2, 13 hours ago (edited 13 hours ago)

I don't know the woman who sang "Poor Unfortunate Souls", but she's on the far right in the picture, & she was terrific. (Found her - Kerry O'Malley.) I learned tonight that they'd originally wanted Bea Arthur to voice Ursula, but that didn't work out. Charlotte Rae was also in the running, but that didn't work out either.

"Proud of Your Boy" (which was cut out of the animated film "Aladdin" but included in the stage musical) was sung by the man on the left of the picture, who I don't know. /3

cstephens2, 13 hours ago

Julie Garnyé performed "Disneyland" from the show "Smile".

Two songs from "Little Shop of Horrors" were performed, "Somewhere That's Green" and "Suddenly Seymour", with Darren Criss dueting on the latter song. /4

cstephens2, 13 hours ago

For "Beauty and the Beast", there was a clip played of a recording session for the song "Be Our Guest", from the documentary "Waking Sleeping Beauty". If you haven't seen that documentary, I highly recommend it. It's available on Disney+, and I believe it's available for rent or purchase from other platforms. /5

cstephens2, 13 hours ago

The evening ended with a rendition of the title track from "Beauty and the Beast" from Darren Criss on the piano.

Thank you to everyone involved for an incredible evening. #HowardAshman #ASCAPFoundation #TheWallis #WallisAnnenbergCenterForThePerformingArts /6 end

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cstephens2, 19 hours ago

I did have a problem with one of the IFs (IF means Imaginary Friend) in that every time a person was in front of them, it looked completely like the person was standing in front of a screen with the IF projected on it. Didn't have that problem with any of the other IFs, so it was weird and really ripped me out of the story.

There's no after-credits scene per se, but there is an acknowledgement at the very end that was nice. /2

cstephens2, 19 hours ago

I've been thinking that it seems very coincidental that two movies about imaginary friends were coming out within months of each other, taking polar opposite turns of what happens to the forgotten friends. I was interested in knowing what happened in "Imaginary" but there was no way I could watch it. #IFMovie /3 end

cstephens2, 11 hours ago

@kurtsh I love the show. It's even better if you know anything about kitchen culture, but it's not required. There's plenty that involves just family dynamics. There are some episodes in season 2 that are incredibly tense and uncomfortable. It deserves all of the accolades it's gotten. I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with season 3.

cstephens2, 3 hours ago

@kurtsh The basic story is that a chef who's well regarded and been working in fancy upscale international restaurants comes back to Chicago to help salvage the family restaurant after the death of his brother. There's a lot of family drama surrounding why he'd originally left home as well as his return. There's also the individual stories of the various people who work in the kitchen and the new, young manager as well as the older manager.

cstephens2, 2 days ago

The panel ended with a live performance by Liz Callaway, the original singing voice of Anastasia, singing "Journey to the Past", accompanied on the piano by Stephen Flaherty, as Lynn Ahrens looked on. Amazing.

Loved hearing all the development stories, especially about Carrie Fisher being hired for two weeks to punch up the dialogue in the scenes between Anya and Dimitri.

She's a Disney princess now. Hope she eventually gets her due.

cstephens2, 3 days ago

(about 7 minutes video - second of two videos) On Sunday, as I was watching two of the #BDXdroids on a training walk, one had to take a spontaneous nap. The remaining droid, among other things, got a little refresher on how to do a jump. So cute!

And, for the record, none of these droids are Wall-E.

#BlackSpireOutpost #GalaxysEdge #StarWarsGalaxysEdge #Batuu #Disneyland #StarWars

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6_0Ns9JlKr/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

cstephens2, 2 days ago

@troy I haven't watched the controllers at all because I'm too fascinated with the droids. I'll have to do that sometime.

cstephens2, 5 days ago

In the last few shows, the visuals are so well done that you're actually not paying that much attention to the fireworks, which play a secondary role anyway. In this show, the fireworks take prominence, especially with so many being fired off #SleepingBeautyCastle . 2/3

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cstephens2, 5 days ago

Also, I found the visuals to be disorganized and haphazard, with only a very thin #Pixar connection.

If it's a fireworks show you want, this is the one to see, preferably if you can see the fireworks being shot off the castle. #TogetherForever #TogetherForeverAPixarNighttimeSpectacular #PixarFest #Disneyland 3/3

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