Magical Music: Disney in Concert at Wolf Trap
Disney In Concert welcomes fans big and small to enjoy the studio's magical music
“I don’t know what it is about that song, it sticks in my head,” says Jon Heely. “Oftentimes I’ll be humming a bassline or a harmony to a song and after a while I’ll think, you know that’s from ‘Part of Your World.'”
As Disney’s director of music publishing and concert licensing, Heely has been immersed in the incredible songs of the studio’s animation department for a quarter of a century. It seems appropriate that Ariel’s ballad from The Little Mermaid should be Heely’s favorite track. That film, released in 1989, ushered in Disney’s resurgence, which led to Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aladdin and more. It reintroduced the Disney magic to a new generation of youngsters, reinvigorating public affection for Disney’s back catalogue of films — and the music that scored them.
It’s that musical brilliance that Disney will celebrate at Wolf Trap this Friday. Disney in Concert will feature “singers, orchestra and clips from Disney animated films.” Stripping out music from The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Frozen and others, the National Symphony Orchestra will instead provide live renditions to accompany scenes from each film. Of course, with 90 years of history to choose from, the problem for Heely and his team is deciding which songs to perform. “We have such a great catalogue to choose from that it makes it a little difficult to decide,” he laughs.
It’s hard to please everyone and fans are sure to question why classics such as Cinderella aren’t included in Wolf Trap’s program. “‘A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes’ is a really short song,” Heely concedes. “I think if you sing the song it’s about a minute and a half long.” Particularly in its earlier days, Disney’s music “has always been in service of the story,” which demanded a shorter length. It wasn’t until the Alan Menken-driven Renaissance that Disney started producing the lengthy, Broadway-inspired classics we know and love — their grand nature makes them much more apt to a concert setting.
Is there a secret recipe to Disney’s aural success? Apparently, yes. “Chris Montan, who produced most of those recordings in the ’90s, answered this a few months ago,” Heely notes. “He said ‘They look for composers who write great melodies.’ And it seems like a simplistic answer, but I think he’s really serious about it.
“You look for people who write melodic and memorable tunes, like underscore composers Bruce Broughton or Alan Silvestri,” Heely continues. “But the same would be true of Alan Menken. I mean goodness gracious, the melodies this guy wrote — ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ‘A Whole New World,’ ‘Colors of the Wind’ — all of these are memorable.”
Disney in Concert: Magical Moments from the Movies is Friday, Aug. 21, at The Filene Center at Wolf Trap, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. Tickets are $25 to $60. Children are encouraged to dress up and participate in a parade prior to the show — big kids are also allowed to dress up. Call 877-WOLFTRAP or visit wolftrap.org.
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