How Walt Disney World Is Celebrating 30 Years of Disney on Broadway

Close your eyes. Think back to the first piece of art you can remember having an impact on you. The first song, film, or book that you can remember catching your eye and holding your fascination.

Chances are, if you grew up in the United States, you just thought of something produced by, or in connection with, The Walt Disney Company.

The media giant, which is the only entertainment company to rank in the top of the Fortune 500, is one of the largest generative corporations in the world. Since its founding 102 years ago, Disney has worked its way into the everyday lives of just about every person in the United States, from nature lovers (National Geographic) to sports fans (ESPN), and of course, to the legion of arts aficionados who have embraced Disney's vast output in just about every artistic discipline known to man. From performance art to pottery, Disney has tried their hand at it all.

Since 2017, Disney has celebrated this array of artistry with the Festival of the Arts: held at the beginning of each year in Walt Disney Worlds EPCOT park, the festival mirrors EPCOT's mission of cultural exchange by presenting just how many artistic disciplines can thrive together under the Disney umbrella. From animation classes with Disney artists to a massive group paint-by-numbers mural to exclusively curated culinary delights in the different country pavilions, every day of the festival has something new and enriching on offer.

The 2025 Festival, which runs through February 24, is paying special attention toward the theatre arts. Last spring, Disney Theatricals turned 30 years young, making this year's festival the first soireé since the anniversary. In celebration, a large new exhibition has been unveiled at EPCOT, allowing fans a chance to get up close and personal with The Lion King's puppet-making process, Aladdin's costume fabrication, and a variety of special items from Frozen, Tarzan, Newsies, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aida, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

EPCOT's 2025 International Festival of the Arts Olga Thompson

But wait, there's more! Never to do something halfway, Disney World also has an exclusive-to-Disney Cirque du Soleil show called Drawn to Life (which highlights the importance of imagination), and the Disney on Broadway concert series, which brings Disney Theatricals stars back to the stage for limited concert runs.

This year, the Disney on Broadway concert series includes Patti Murin (Frozen) and John Riddle (Frozen), who are performing together January 23, 25, 27, and 28; Caissie Levy (Frozen) and Jelani Remy (The Lion King), who are performing together January 22, 24, 26, 29, and 30; Adam Jacobs (Aladdin) and Josh Strickland (Tarzan), who are performing together January 31, February 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, and 11; Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins) and Alton Fitzgerald White (The Lion King), who are performing together February 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 13; Michael James Scott (Aladdin) and Kissy Simmons (The Lion King), who are performing together February 14, 16, 17, 20, and 23; and Rodney Ingram (Aladdin) and Kara Lindsay (Newsies), who will be performing together February 15, 18, 19, 21, and 22. Additionally, there will be a special final performance featuring Ingram, Lindsay, Scott, and Simmons February 24.

In celebration, Playbill checked in with a handful of Disney on Broadway vets to learn about their formative Mouse memories, what makes Disney Theatricals different from any other Broadway producer, and to get their top tips for any theatre fans visiting the parks for the Festival of the Arts.

Michael James Scott in *Aladdin* Deen van Meer

**Michael James Scott (The Genie, Aladdin)**

Do you remember the first piece of art produced by Disney that moved you as a child?
My mom would put on Winnie the Pooh when I was a kid, and I would just be enamored. That was my entryway into Disney and into what the art of animation can do. Winnie the Pooh is really what started it all for me.

What is different about working for Disney Theatricals than any other Broadway producer?
There really is such a thing as Disney magic. You can't even really describe it, but there is a special energy shift that you feel when you are working with this company. The producers, the creative teams, the leadership, the whole team have all been so, so good to me, and working with them always feels like home. It's always felt like such a beautiful, safe place to just be me, where I can be the artist that I am, and do my thing on so many levels, beautifully.

If someone is visiting Disney World for the first time to experience the Festival, what should they make sure to do while in the parks?
Oh, you've gotta do Pandora! The Avatar ride. It is such a good example of what Disney does when creating the world of a story. From the foundation up, they think of everything. Pandora is like going into a whole new world, the music, the story, the smells, the sights, what you're feeling, the emotion, it is just incredible.

**Caissie Levy (Elsa, Frozen)**

Do you remember the first piece of art produced by Disney that moved you as a child?
For me, it was Belle in Beauty and the Beast. It was the first show I did at summer camp, I was nine years old, and I played Belle, and it was what made me say "theatre is it for me." I just loved that she was this bookish princess, and I love the message of Beauty and the Beast. But also The Little Mermaid and Ariel, that was the first Disney movie I saw in the movie theatres, and I was just blown away.

What is different about working for Disney Theatricals than any other Broadway producer?
Disney is truly like a family. They treat you so beautifully, they want to hear from you in the process. Especially when I was creating Elsa on Broadway, both Patti and I got to voice our thoughts about these women and have our voices and opinions heard. And that's something we never took for granted. And then, once you're in the family, you're in for life. It's such an honor to come back again and again.

If someone is visiting Disney World for the first time to experience the Festival, what should they make sure to do while in the parks?
Guardians of the Galaxy! I feel like I'm flying on that ride, and I just can't wipe a smile off my face. It's like pure joy. It's exhilarating. I think it's perfect.

**Jelani Remy (Simba, The Lion King)**

Do you remember the first piece of art produced by Disney that moved you as a child?
Sebastian the Crab [from The Little Mermaid]. My parents are Caribbean, and so Caribbean cultures were in the house, the music, the dialect. Sebastian was the first thing that sounded like my family. So I would imitate that, as a kid, because he sounded like my Grandpa. That representation was everything to me.

What is different about working for Disney Theatricals than any other Broadway producer?
I think that they just do an incredible job of magical care. There's just a magic to the care that they have with these shows, in bringing these iconic characters to life. And there's a certain level of beauty that's behind these shows, that is just so infectious. There's always something to see, if you see it more than once, you'll catch something else. There's such amazing detail in everything they do, and always something for everyone.

If someone is visiting Disney World for the first time to experience the Festival, what should they make sure to do while in the parks?
I second Caissie 100 percent, I love Guardians of the Galaxy!

**Patti Murin (Anna, Frozen)**

Do you remember the first piece of art produced by Disney that moved you as a child?
Snow White! Which is fascinating now, because the original movies are so different from the animated movies that they have today. They're just not the same pacing. When I go to show my daughter, it just doesn't move her the same way it moved me. But when I was a kid, I just loved Snow White and her spirit. I wanted all of the animals to come to me!

What is different about working for Disney Theatricals than any other Broadway producer?
They make it such a real family. Once you are in, they take you into the fold, and you are part of their family for life. Disney is one umbrella for all these different things—the parks, the shows, the movies, the music—but they're all connected through this family, and they take very, very, very good care of you. Even when your show closes, you are still a part of that.

All the people from the other shows, we all get to mingle, and we all know each other because we've done these things for Disney, all these special events that they do, and you have such an immediate bond with with anybody else who has worked for them. We're all Disney, and that means we are all connected

If someone is visiting Disney World for the first time to experience the Festival, what should they make sure to do while in the parks?
I think everyone should make sure to go to the Magic Kingdom, and really spend time in the original park that was here. All the other ones are so fun, and it's amazing how they add rides, attractions, and shows as their catalog expands. But that original park, with the castle, is special. Walking in and seeing Main Street... I think nothing is better than that feeling.

Patti Murin and John Riddle Deen van Meer

**John Riddle (Hans, Frozen)**

Do you remember the first piece of art produced by Disney that moved you as a child?
Somebody showed me Mary Poppins when I was little, and I was addicted. It was my entire personality growing up. But my other favorite was Sleeping Beauty. Every frame is a painting, I love watching that one, still.

What is different about working for Disney Theatricals than any other Broadway producer?
There's something to how they can be a constant. When a new show comes to Broadway, it is sort of its own entity that lives for a moment in time and then goes into the ether of Broadway history after it closes, and everyone disperses. But when something is in the Disney canon, like Frozen, it never really goes away. This is a story that existed before we were there, but once we added our stamp onto it, we became a part of this whole thing, of what Frozen is moving forward under the Disney umbrella. There's something lasting about it in a different way. Like these concerts! Normally when you close a show, you put it in the mental filing cabinet, but this show keeps on living in new ways for me.

If someone is visiting Disney World for the first time to experience the Festival, what should they make sure to do while in the parks?
The fireworks at Magic Kingdom. I can't wait to take my three year old nephew, it's one of the most magical things I've ever seen. I mean come on, who doesn't love Tinkerbell?!