Senior Joshua Condon Conducts Concert of Favorite Disney Movie Songs at Ithaca College

2014 Feb 20

Joshua Condon, a senior jazz major in the Ithaca College School of Music, brought Disney to life directing his fellow music students in his senior project production of "Disney in Concert: Tale as Old as Time," held on Feb. 15 in the James J. Whalen Center for Music.

"I knew that, for a senior project, I wanted to do something kind of big," Condon said. He thought a Disney concert would be a fun change of pace from the classical repertoire he and his fellow music students are used to performing.

Condon took a cue from Walt Disney himself, who said, "The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing." He researched Disney shows and came across "Tale as Old as Time," which is a 90-minute production the Disney Concert Library rents to symphony orchestras.

The score includes music from classics such as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Cinderella," films of the 1990s Disney Renaissance like "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin" and even recent successes such as "Enchanted."

To help make the production happen, Condon launched an Indiegogo.com campaign last summer, which raised $3,000 toward the down payment for performance rights and base marketing budget. He was also able to save money by giving only one performance, which sold out more than a week in advance of the show.

Condon's concert featured 19 soloists, 2 choirs and a 72-piece symphony orchestra. The VOICES Multicultural Chorus also joined the students for the special performance.

During the production, Condon played multiple roles: director, conductor, pianist, synthesizer player and soloist, singing the part of Zazu in "I Just Can't Wait to be King" from his favorite Disney film, "The Lion King." For some of the pieces, he passed off the conductor's baton to seniors Michael Samson '14, conductor of the Ithaca College Gamer Symphony Orchestra, and Ben Van de Water '14, conductor of Ithacappella.

The multisensory production included video clips and images from throughout the vast history of the Disney franchise. Walt Disney president and CEO Bob Iger made an appearance in a special video message recorded for the event. A 1973 graduate of Ithaca College, Iger was named in 2005 as the sixth CEO in the company's history. He has served on the Ithaca College Board of trustees and is currently an honorary member.