Columbus hosts concert starring Broadway’s original Disney princesses

Samantha Wilson
Wed, 10 Oct 2018 01:19:43 +0000
Arts & Life, News, Aladdin, beauty and the beast, Belle, Benjamin Rauhala, broadway, cinderella, Columbus, Columbus Funny Bone, concert series, featured, Jasmine, Princess Party

Courtney Reed, Susan Egan, and Laura Osnes sing together during a Broadway Princess Party. Credit: Micheal Hull

The actresses who originally brought Cinderella, Belle and Jasmine to the Broadway stage are coming to Columbus Oct. 14 to host Broadway Princess Party at the Columbus Funny Bone.

The Broadway Princess Party, a nationwide concert series featuring the original Broadway stars of Disney musicals singing classic songs, was created by Laura Osnes, who played Cinderella in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella on Broadway, and prolific musical director Benjamin Rauhala, who has worked on numerous Broadway shows.

The show also features Susan Egan, who played Belle in the production of “Beauty and the Beast,” and Courtney Reed, who played Jasmine in “Aladdin.”

Adam Levy, who has performed in shows such as “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Hairspray” and “The Way We Get By” will serve as the evening’s prince.

“I’m inspired every day and in every concert by the talent that’s on the stage,” Osnes said. “I feel like [Broadway Princess Party] reaches this really vast audience in a really cool way that hasn’t really been done before.”

The show aims to tap into the “inner princess” of everyone, and to bring people together through their shared love of Disney, Broadway and princesses, Reed said.

“Your inner princess is what I feel every girl should feel — beautiful and strong and their own,” Reed said. “That’s what’s beautiful about the princesses you watch growing up. All of them are do-gooders. It’s not about wearing tiaras and acting ‘like a princess,’ like you’re entitled. It’s about being a good person and being able to spread that.”

Audiences are encouraged to dress up as princesses themselves, as Egan, Osnes and Reed will all be dressed up in their own princess outfits.

“It’s adding something positive out there,” Egan said. “We all have stuff going on in our lives. And I don’t know what’s going on in the details of our audiences’ lives, but I know from what they tell me after the show and seeing them during the show that they’re getting to travel to a place that makes them feel really good.”

The show will include songs from the musicals the women have starred in as well as songs from other shows, such as “The Greatest Showman.” Rauhala, who is both the show’s musical director and “fairy godfairy,” will provide live musical accompaniment, and the three princesses will share stories of their experiences working on Broadway.

“[These songs] are all about life having infinite possibilities and believing in yourself,” Rauhala said. “I think people leave feeling filled up because that person is still inside all of us, that believes that anything is still possible.”

The show is being held at the Funny Bone in Columbus starting at 6 p.m. on Oct. 14. Tickets are $45 and VIP tickets, which allow guests to meet the princesses after the show, are $90.