Darren Criss to Perform on ABC's BACKSTAGE WITH DISNEY ON BROADWAY: CELEBRATING 20 YEARS

Darren Criss joins the celebration of Disney Theatrical Productions' 20 years on Broadway, the ABC Television Network will air "Backstage with Disney on Broadway: Celebrating 20 Years," SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14 at 7:00 p.m., ET. As previously announced, the special will be hosted by Broadway veteran Jesse Tyler Ferguson, star of ABC's Modern Family, and feature musical performances from Sir Elton John, Sam Palladio and Clare Bowen (ABC's "Nashville"), Ashley Brown ("Mary Poppins") and Adam Jacobs ("Aladdin"). Multi-talented entertainers and Broadways performers Toni Braxton, Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O'Donnell join the roster of all-star talent sharing memories and anecdotes from the past two decades of Disney on Broadway.

Toni Braxton (Belle, "Beauty and the Beast"): "Playing Belle in 'Beauty and the Beast' on Broadway helped broaden me to be a better performer."

Whoopi Goldberg on Julie Taymor and "The Lion King": "To watch her make magic on Broadway was heaven. I thought it was the best choice they could have ever come up with because 'The Lion King' wouldn't be this 'Lion King' without her."

Rosie O'Donnell on the power of musical theatre: "Musical theatre to me is unlike any other art form in the entertainment industry because it's different every single night and it's interactive. What you and those 600 people in the theater or 300 people or 1800 people...you're going to see something that will only be created once and will only happen that certain way, that night, for those two and half hours."

"Backstage with Disney on Broadway: Celebrating 20 Years," produced by Lincoln Square Productions, takes viewers on a journey through the creation of Disney's eight Broadway musicals: "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King," "AIDA," "Tarzan," "The Little Mermaid," "Mary Poppins," "Newsies" and "Aladdin." The one-hour special also features music from the Disney on Broadway catalog and for the first time, viewers will have unprecedented access to the fast pace and high stakes world of Broadway venturing behind the scenes of "Aladdin," a special rehearsal of "The Lion King" and opening night with the North American tour of "Newsies."

Rudy Bednar, Jeanmarie Condon and Megan Harding are the Executive Producers.

Photo by Walter McBride