By Beth Deitchman
If you’ve been struggling to come up with a Mother’s Day plan for that special mom in your life, ABC has got you covered—and Disney fans everywhere get to join in the fun! This Sunday, at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT, the network airs The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II, a can’t-miss Disney Magic Moment that builds upon last month’s inaugural special, which found nearly 13 million people belting out their favorite Disney tunes from their homes, alongside celebrities performing in theirs.
“We really want this one to wow audiences in the way the first one did and bring joy and bring surprises, like the first one,” says executive producer Katy Mullan, who talked to D23 by phone as her team put the finishing touches on Sunday night’s special. For the second installment, they’re raising the bar and upping the production values, and they’ve also lined up a star-studded roster of performers that includes Katy Perry, John Legend, Idina Menzel, Ben Platt, Shakira, Halsey, and The Muppets.
While staying completely remote, Mullan and her fellow magic makers worked closely with the stars to bring together the musical moments we’ll see Sunday night. Each performance begins with the song, Mullan explains, and then The Disney Family Singalong team develops a concept with the stars through video chats and phone calls. “Some of [the stars] are fantastic with technology and are really self-sufficient,” Mullan says, adding that some are quarantining with partners or family members who are also technically savvy and help with filming. In some instances, the producers were able to safely deliver sanitized recording kits and then, through video conferences, walk the stars through the entire process, from setting up equipment all the way through setting up specific shots and recording their performances.
Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert, who created a breathtaking dance sequence to “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast for the first special (which featured an appearance by Derek’s sister Julianne Hough from her home), definitely fall into that “self-sufficient” category—and then some. The trio returns for The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II, which will find them dancing to “Step in Time” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Mary Poppins. “Derek and Hayley edited the whole piece themselves,” Mullan says, detailing the dancers’ process, which allowed them to set up shots, review them immediately, build an edit, and take care of any reshoots that proved necessary as they went. “They really put in the hours and they really put in the passion to get the performances, and I think people are going to love them,” Mullan shares.
In the case of Sunday evening’s other highly anticipated dance number, Emmy®-winning choreographer Mandy Moore found herself in a very different situation than Hough and Erbert, who live together. For a special performance of “Zero to Hero” from Hercules, sung by Keke Palmer, Moore created a number with Dancing with the Stars pros Lindsay Arnold, Alan Bersten, Witney Carson, Val Chmerkovskiy, Jenna Johnson, Sasha Farber, and Emma Slater that was filmed in five different homes—Chmerkovskiy and Johnson are married, as are Farber and Slater—but comes together as a wonderfully cohesive performance.
We talked to Moore and discovered the truly “Herculean” effort behind the dance number. “Once I assigned different parts of the song to different cast members, I got on FaceTime with them individually and went through their houses to discuss the best place to shoot the sections,” she tells D23. After brainstorming with each of them about the overall idea and layout, the dancers went off to make up their steps. “They then sent me the sections and I cut them together into a pre-viz that we used as the template for the shoot day,” Moore says, and all of the dancers were safely sent the same technology to ensure everything would have a consistent look.
Filming took place on a single day in five different locations, with the dancers setting up each shot themselves. “I had all of them on a video call all day,” Moore says. “We checked in at the top of the day, then they went to shoot their sections, turning off their video and muting as they did it, so we weren’t losing our minds with five locations all going at the same time.” Each dancer would film their takes and text them to Moore to review before moving on to the next section. “Some of the shots we were attempting took specific angles and focus, so it was tedious at times, but very worth it!” the choreographer emphasizes.
Keke Palmer’s performance was filmed in much the same way. “Keke was capturing her vocal live, as well as performing with the timing and movement of the dance, so she had tons to deal with and was a pro,” says Moore, who also reveals, “Once we locked what the dancers were doing, we were able to direct Keke to look to and play with the other dancers virtually next to her… those kinds of little moments of connection made the performance very special.”
Any challenges faced by Moore and the team stemmed from technical issues such as communicating with seven dancers with differing Wi-Fi speeds, rather than creative ones. But, Moore says, “Funny enough, once we got past the first couple shots, we had a great flow and shots were awesome! Sometimes I felt more like an air traffic controller than a choreographer, but it was so wonderful to see everyone working together to create magic… I loved it!”
Mullan concurs that each individual shoot came with unique hurdles to clear, but through technology, dedication, and the determination to deliver an unforgettable show, there was nothing the production team couldn’t safely work out. To create an environment for Rebel Wilson’s performance of “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” the producers provided Wilson with a backdrop that, along with a fish tank, placed her “under the sea” whilst staying in her house in Australia.
In many cases, The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II will mark the first time fans hear some of these stars performing Disney songs. That’s exciting for viewers, but according to Mullan, it was just as thrilling for the talent to bring together these magical performances. “This time around I feel like a lot of the celebrities really embodied the spirit of the characters in a really fun way,” she says, and she adds, intriguingly, “I think people are going to be surprised to see people who they recognize looking very different and really throwing themselves into the characters with their singing.”
We Disney fans are accustomed to surprises, and The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II will not disappoint, Mullan promises. It’s fitting that the special airs on Mother’s Day, given that most of us first discovered our love for Disney with mom right by our side. “All the kids out there should be making sure their mum has time to put her feet up for an hour and watch the singalong and sing at the top of their voices!” she says. “This one is dedicated to all the mums out there, and we want to make sure that we do them proud.”
