|
|
World Children’s Choir™ - Singing with Julie Andrews |
|
The World
Children's Choir was invited to perform at the Summit by James
"Jay" Rasulo, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Mr. Rasulo is the national chair of the Travel Industry Association of
America. Dame Andrews has performed in several Disney productions, including Mary Poppins, for which she won an Academy Ward for Best Actress in
1964. She has delighted younger generations of Disney fans as Queen Clarisse Renaldi in the Princess Diaries
movies.
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo (left), presented Anne-Marie Grey, chief of UNICEF's Private Sector Division (center), with an "it's a small world" doll surrounded by members of the World Children's Choir. The Walt Disney Company Foundation donated $1 million to UNICEF at a gala dinner in Washington, DC. (Photo: Lauren Victoria Burke)
Sun Gazette Newspapers |
| McLean• Vienna • Oakton • Great Falls > News: |
|
World Children's Choir Shares Stage With Julie Andrews, Disney Characters
On April 11, the choir performed at the Global Travel and Tourism Summit Gala, held at the National Building Museum in Washington. The choir was invited to perform at the Summit by James "Jay" Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and national chairman of the Travel Industry Association of America. He also had invited Andrews, who has performed in several Disney productions - nabbing an Academy Award for best actress in 1964's"Mary Poppins" and delighting a new generation in Disney's "Princess Diaries" movies. The stage was very colorful - with the choir singers each in dress from their countries of origin, sharing the stage with the Disney characters Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald Duck, Chip and Dale. Andrews appeared in shimmering silver. The performance began with only 10 children on stage, as Andrews talk-sang the words to “It's a Small World After All” to the singers seated on the steps in front of her. Then, as those singers moved to the front of the stage, the rest of the choir began marching on stage as they joined in the song the song. As the 60-some-strong singers marched onstage from both sides and the rear of the stage, dressed in native costumes, the audience burst into spontaneous applause The children's costumes came from a variety of sources. Some children owned their own. For example, Ana Alvarez, the daughter of the ambassador of Venezuela, was able to provide her own native attire. Similarly, the three Dennis children - Efua, Araba and Bredow - who moved to Northern Virginia from Ghana just a few years ago, had their own native dresses to perform in. Others were able to borrow costumes. Robin Hinson, who lives in McLean, but spent the first year of her life in Murmansk, Russia, was loaned a dress from the Russian Embassy, which had gotten to know her when Hinson sang with the World Children's Choir for former Soviet President Gorbachev five years ago. Other singers rented their attire. The choir's costumer, Denise Kloeden, made many trips to an off-the-beaten-path costume store to find quality costumes from the childrens' countries of origin. The choir ended the show with the song “One,” which ended in a burst of colorful confetti - the finale to the performance, and to the evening's show.
|
The McLean-based World Children's Choir has performed in a variety of venues. But they'd never shared the bill with both Mickey Mouse and Dame Julie Andrews - until now.