SPOTLIGHT ON THE 2011 TONY AWARDS: DAY 20 - Disney On Broadway

As a super-special Spring extension of BroadwayWorld's SOUND OFF column, every day until the Tony Awards on June 12 we will be presenting a spectacular new entry in the SPOTLIGHT ON THE 2011 TONY AWARDS series featuring a particularly entertaining, interesting, relevant and exciting Tony Awards-related clip from the last sixty-three years of the ceremonies (and subsequent seasons on Broadway) with a rundown and commentary on the sights, sounds and showmanship on display in each carefully chosen selection - all, of course, coming in anticipation of Broadway's biggest night, which will be broadcast on CBS this year, as always. Once again this year, BroadwayWorld is the official home of the 2011 Tony Awards and we will also be featuring exclusive interviews, articles, photos, video content, interactive features and more in the coming days and weeks leading up to the event so be sure to check back daily for your theatre fix!

Few new veritable Broadway dynasties have been achieved on Broadway of late. Way back when, first, there was Ziegfeld. There was David Merrick. There was Rodgers & Hammerstein. There was Alexander Cohen - particularly applicable to the Tony Awards sides of things, as it were. But, in this new age, post-1970s, who is there on Broadway who really can say they have a house of hits? Cameron Mackintosh once had many shows on Broadway, but now PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and MARY POPPINS remain as his last two currently running, sure hits though they are. Speaking of MARY POPPINS: there is one house above all other houses as far as Broadway in the twenty-first century is concerned and that is the House of Mouse. And, in news of the day, Alan Menken spoke to me in an extensive, exclusive interview last year and broke the news to BroadwayWorld that ALADDIN would be coming to the stage and just today it was confirmed that it will premiere at the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle with a complete confirmed cast. So, this new development begs the question: could ALADDIN be the next Disney show on Broadway? Will we be talking about ALADDIN's Tony Award prospects in 2013 or thereabouts? If we were only granted three wishes in the real world…

Broadway & The Mouse

Since BEAUTY & THE BEAST in 1994, Disney has dominated many a Broadway season with a string of stunning successes beginning back then in the 1990s and into the early 00s that started with that first animated-film-to-stage transfer - of an Oscar-nominated Best Picture, no less (the first time such a nomination had happened) - and continued on with perhaps their finest stage musical to date, Julie Taymor's re-imagining of THE LION KING live onstage - art in motion. Next came AIDA, for which Disney re-teamed LION KING composer Elton John with multi-Tony-winner Tim Rice (he won two for EVITA alone) to create a modern retelling of the classic story of the Egyptian princess and Nubian queen - with John and Rice taking home 2000 Tony Award for Best Score for their work on the rock-heavy score. In the intervening years since then, Disney has contributed a number of other shows to the Great White Way - TARZAN and THE LITTLE MERMAID included - yet, it is their co-production with Cameron Mackintosh on MARY POPPINS that has cemented their first smash hit production on Broadway since AIDA that is destined to be a Broadway classic - as BEAUTY & THE BEAST now is, more than fifteen years after its debut. Time flies - and so does Mary!

So, come and take a look at the sights and the sounds of Disney on Broadway as featured on the Tony Awards over the last sixteen years or so - plus, a special surprise or two!

First, here is the original Broadway cast of BEAUTY & THE BEAST led by Terrance Mann, Gary Beach and Susan Egan singing a medley of songs from the show including the Prologue and the showstopper "Be Our Guest", as introduced and narrated by Sir Anthony Hopkins at that year's Tony Awards.

Now, check out the spine-tingling "The Circle Of Life" from THE LION KING from the 52nd Tony Awards, briefly introduced by Rosie O'Donnell.

Next, here is a montage of clips from AIDA.

Finally, here is a look at MARY POPPINS from the 2007 Tony Awards with a performance led by Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee and the rest of the original Broadway cast of the screen-to-stage hit. By the way, Ashley Brown is back in the show so you can now catch the original Mary if you missed her back then!

As a special bonus, here is Whoopi Goldberg as Mary Poppins on the 2008 Tony Awards.

Whew! What a slew of shows! What will ALADDIN conjur and will he ever fly his carpet to Manhattan? Disney claims that this stage mounting of the show is for licensing purposes only, so, would you like to see ALADDIN try his luck on the Great White Way, anyway?

That's all for today. Be sure to stay tuned to BroadwayWorld for all things Tony Awards and subscribe to this column to be the very first to check out the clips, commentary and take part in the conversation in our deluxe toast to the one and only Antoinette Perry every day until June 12 - and, especially, on that day! Until then…