Randman's World

Last night, I attended a very interesting performance at EPCOT. The Encore! Cast Choir and Orchestra is made up of over 200 Cast Members from different departments throughout the Company and help to raise funds for a selected charity each year. This year, their performances benefited United Arts of Central Florida. My co-worker Tom Ziska was in the choir. This is also the 6th year for the group.

The cast and crew are all volunteers, but that really didn't mean anything quality wise. The performance had a 80 piece orchestra and 200 signer choir, along with soloists throughout the show. The performance feature full theatrical lighting, sound and video.

They did music from many different Broadway musicals, including everything from Mamma Mia, Spamalot, Cats, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Hairspray, and more (including, of course, The Little Mermaid and Mary Poppins).

Of course, many of the featured soloists are performers here at Disney, but some where just normal Cast Members who have amazing talents.

One of the fun points of the evening, which made it so "Disney" was the fact that they had to perfectly time the intermission to when the evening Epcot fireworks started. As soon as the fireworks were over, the show started it's second half.

For me, the scene stealing number was a song called "Taylor, The Latte Boy". I don't now where that song came from, but it was funny, and the signer, Lindsay Bethea, sold it 110%.

I'm looking forward to next years performance. It really did reinforce just how wonderful a place I work. Sure, it's still a business like any, but there are some fantastic benefits to being a Disney Cast Member!

UPDATE: Here is a video preview of the event.