“A Night of Disney" at the Spotlight Theatre -- September 4 and 5.
Friday, September 4, and Saturday, September 5
The Spotlight Theatre, 1800 Seventh Avenue, Moline IL
Performing an evening of beloved song classics both under the stars and “Under the Sea,” local talents will fill the parking lot of Moine's Spotlight Theatre in the September 4 and 5 presentation A Night of Disney, with some of your favorite area talents lending their theatrical gifts to much-adored repertoires ranging from The Little Mermaid to The Lion King to Beauty & the Beast.
Including the studio's cinematic collaborations with Pixar, Disney has found 35 tunes from its vast collection of animated (or live-action-with-animation) features nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Thirteen of them went on to win Oscars: “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio; “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from Song of the South; “Chim Chim Cher-ee” from Mary Poppins; “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid; the title number from Beauty & the Beast; “A Whole New World” from Aladdin; “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King; “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas; “You'll Be in My Heart” from Tarzan; “If I Didn't Have You” from Monsters Inc.; “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3; “Let It Go” from Frozen; and “Remember Me” from Coco. In the cases of Beauty & the Beast and The Lion King, they accounted for no less than three of their year's five Best Original Song nominees.
Twenty-one of Disney's and Disney/Pixar's original scores, meanwhile, earned Academy Award nominations, with those titles including additional movie touchstones such as Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille. Eight of these animated features wound up winning the Oscar: Pinocchio, Dumbo, The Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, and Disney/Pixar's Up.
Scheduled to perform in the Spotlight Theatre's A Night of Disney are the theatre's co-owners and founders Brent and Sara Tubbs, the former performing “If I Didn't Have You” alongside Ian Sodawasser, and the latter singing “Mother Knows Best” and the Oscar-winning “You'll Be in My Heart.” Joining the pair and Sodawasser (who will also sing “I'll Make a Man Out of You”) are more than a dozen additional area performers and Spotlight veterans: Chase Austin (“Lost in the Woods”), Taylor Bley (“Oogie Boogie Man”), Lily Blouin (“Perfect Isn't Easy”). Amelia Fischer (“When Will My Life Begin”), Chloe Knobloch (“How Far I'll Go”), Liam Knobloch (“This Will All Make Sense”), Adam Sanders (“Out There”), Bethany Sanders (“Happy Working Song”), Taylor Tubbs (“I Think I Kinda Ya Know”), Megan Warren (“I Just Can't Wait to Be King”), and Luke Woodruff (“Evermore”).
The 7 p.m. A Night of Disney performances on September 4 and 5 will be held outdoors in the venue's parking lot with patrons (a maximum of 50) asked to bring lawn chairs, social-distancing measures implemented, and masks required. In the case of inclement weather, performances will be moved indoors, with all ticket-holders notified about changes in locale the week of the event. Tickets are $20 online and $25 at the door, and more information and reservations are available by calling (309)912-7647 or visiting TheSpotlightTheatreQC.com.
