Theatre Trip: Disney100: The Concert

DISNEY100: THE CONCERT

The O2

Date: 4 June 2023 (Sunday), 6:00pm

Seats: Entrance H, Section 118, Row M, Seats 134-135

(Seen with Richard!)

Notes: We have really gotten into Disney lately! I went last year to Florida and had the most amazing time, that I convinced Husby to go for a day while we were in LA and he enjoyed it too! Now he wants to go to Florida because I talked so much about it. So when we saw the ads for Disney100 the concert, we were definitely on board! I even had Disney100 merch from LA to wear!

It was a Sunday evening over at the O2, so we headed all the way over. We had planned to get there early enough to eat food there but instead one of the trains were cancelled so we had to eat on the train and made it at just the right time to head pretty much straight in. We hadn't been to the O2 in ages and hadn't realised just how many food places there were there! Next time we'll go super early and grab dinner. We headed straight into our seats, picking up a programme on the way. We were sat on one side, but reasonably close to the front. I think it was a pretty good seat for what we paid.

The concert had a full symphony orchestra, which I always appreciate, it gives the musical such a lovely full feel. The show was hosted and featured about 6 main performers but it was the music people were mostly here for. The host (Janette Manrara) did a great job, when hosting and singing and dancing - especially given she was doing it all at what looked like 8 months pregnant!

The selection of music was loosely arranged into themes and it hit all the big songs. It did lean a little too recent for our taste - lots of recent ones got more play time, and some of the choices weren't what we might have picked (they could put me in charge next time!). We got Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Hercules, Princess and the Frog, Hunchback, Frozen, Fantasia, Tarzan, Aladdin, Encanto, Star Wars, Moana, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pocahontas, Little Mermaid, Marvel, Jungle Book, Toy Story, Frozen 2, Lion King and Mary Poppins.

The performers were pretty good. One of them I had seen about a week before in Bonnie and Clyde (Cleve September), but the other were new to me (Roberta Valentini, Earl Carpenter, Bessy Ewa, Georgina Hagen, Richard-Salvador Wolff)d. It must be a European tour as some of the performers have quite extensive European resumes. My favourites were definitely Bessy and Georgina, who I would love to see again in a proper role.

It was a pretty great evening. There were a few issues it seemed with sound mixing so the sound wasn't super great at times - we could sometimes hear an echo coming back from the back even though we were quite near the front. The biggest disappointment was actually the Fantasia performance. They chose the Sorceror's Apprentice, but it was out of sync with the video! So frustrating when you hear the chopping sounds which are big chords, then 3 seconds later you see them on screen. Very frustrating, although I'm sure we were the only ones who noticed or cared.

It was a pretty nice night, although I don't think I would go again. I'll stick to theatre.