Review: DISNEY…ISH, Union Theatre (Online stream)

Walt Disney certainly has a lot to answer for by making many of us fall in love with musicals from a young age. However, there are also a number of other film studios and creatives who bought us some amazing animated movie musicals, which sometimes go under the radar due to the immense success and popularity of the juggernaut that is Disney. This has been righted however by Bookend Productions who staged a concert called Disney…ish at the Union Theatre earlier this week, which is now also available to stream.

Whilst this concert perhaps hasn’t been captured to the highest possible quality, the performances themselves - delivered by a supremely talented cast - more than make up for the occasional bump in the road. We have a jam packed set list featuring musical numbers from films including Thumbelina, Quest for Camelot, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, The Swan Princess and many more. What’s nice is that whilst some numbers audiences will be familiar with, it also introduces you to new music you may not have heard before.

The piano arrangement of ‘Let Me Be Your Wings’ from Thumbelina alone during the opening credits lets everyone know that they are in for a treat over the next 1 hour 40 minutes. Michael Vinsen charismatically hosts the evening’s proceedings (complete with fabulous glittery jeans!) and gives further insight into these often underrated movie musicals, providing a nice balance of content.

There is also a lovely blend of ballads and more character driven numbers; the latter including ‘This Is My Idea’ from The Swan Princess which is the first song from the film (performed ably by Duncan Burt, Maria Coyne, Christopher GoPaul and Sinead Wall); Daniel Hall and Lee Van Geleen’s comedic turn in ‘If I Didn’t Have You’ from the 1998 Warner Bros film Quest for Camelot with pitch perfect harmonies; and The Nightmare Before Christmas section at the top of Act Two featuring ‘Kidnap the Sandy Claws’ (performed by Samuel Haughton, Josh LeClair and Sinead Wall) and West End Best Friend’s Creative Director Duncan Burt acting brilliantly through song throughout ‘What Is This’.

This concert would lend itself very well to an album as the voices across the board are sublime. Producer and performer Rebecca Gilliland shines across all of her performances, providing a consistently high level of performance in both her solo and group numbers. ‘Whatever You Imagine’ from 1990 film The Pagemaster is a particular highlight, along with the Golden Globe nominated ‘Far Longer Than Forever’ from The Swan Princess alongside Emmanuel Alba.

Other concert moments include the phenomenal vocal stylings of Matt Bateman in ‘Here I Am/I Will Always Return’ from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Kirsty Nunn and Jack Reitman singing ‘The Prayer’ (which we did not know was from Quest for Camelot!) and a knockout performance of ‘Soon’ from Thumbelina by Maria Coyne.

A nostalgic, entertaining evening fizzing with talent.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Jenny Ell

Disney…ish is available to stream until 25 August here, with a portion of the proceeds going to Help Musicians UK.