Disney in Concert with the Utah Symphony at Sandy Amphitheater

I really enjoy Sandy Amphitheater as an outdoor venue so I always like to see a few shows there each summer.  Last night I went to see Disney in Concert featuring the Utah Symphony under the baton of guest conductor Ron Spigelman and Broadway stars Lissa deGuzman (known for playing Jasmine in Aladdin and Elphaba in Wicked), Nasia Thomas (known for paying Anna of Cleves in SIX), Susan Egan (the original Belle in Beauty and the Beast and the voice of Meg in the movie Hercules), Noah J. Ricketts (the original Kristoff in Frozen and Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby), and Adam J. Levy (known for Moulin Rouge) in a program celebrating the music from the Disney and Pixar movies released in the 1980s and 1990s.  The concert began with a fun medley featuring "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast, "Prince Ali" from Aladdin, and "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid with all of the vocalists.  Thomas and Ricketts continued with "Reflection" and "I'll Make a Man Out of You," respectively, from Mulan and then Egan performed "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)" from Hercules with Thomas and deGuzman as the Muses.  The orchestra played a medley from A Bug's Life then Ricketts and Levy returned to the stage for "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story.  Tucker sang "God Help the Outcasts" then Levy sang "Out There" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and both were incredibly powerful.  All of the vocalists performed a medley from The Disney Afternoon featuring songs from the TV shows DuckTales, Goof Troop, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, and Darkwing Duck. This was followed by "Part of Your World" and then Egan continued with a hilarious version of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from The Little Mermaid.  The first set ended with "Santa Fe" and "Seize the Day" from Newsies (these were crowd favorites).  After the intermission, the orchestra performed a medley called "Mickey's Imagination" and then Ricketts and Thomas thrilled the crowd with renditions of "Go the Distance" and "Zero to Hero," respectively, from Hercules.  My favorite moment came next when deGuzman sang "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas because it was so beautiful.  Thomas, deGuzman, and Egan sang "I Put a Spell on You" as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus and then were joined by Levy for "Once Upon a Time in New York City" from Oliver & Company.  Egan gave an incredibly moving rendition of "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2 and then the other vocalists performed a romantic mash-up of "Beauty and the Beast" from Beauty and the Beast and "A Whole New World" from Aladdin.  The second set ended with "Circle of Life" from The Lion King and then Ricketts sang "Stand Out" from A Goofy Movie (Thomas told the crowd that this is her favorite movie of all time) as an encore.  I loved hearing all of these unbelievably talented Broadway stars perform and it was a lot of fun to see the movies referenced in the songs shown on the screen above the orchestra.  It was the perfect temperature for an outdoor concert and I am really looking to a few more this summer (go here for the remaining concerts in the Deer Valley Music Festival and here for the line up at Sandy Amphitheater).

Note:  There were a lot of kids in the audience (most of whom were in costume) but they were all really bored and their parents were oblivious because they were singing along to the nostalgic favorites from their childhoods!