Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Lang Lang Plays Disney’ on Disney+, Where The Star Pianist Performs The Biggest Melodies From The Magic Kingdom

Lang Lang Plays Disney (now streaming on Disney+) features the world-renowned classical pianist in concert at Royal Albert Hall in London, where he lends his peerless technique and stirring stage presence to some of the most well-known material in the Disney catalog. Lang performs solo and with the support of a full orchestra, and he’s joined by special guests including Tony Award-winning tenor Alfie Boe, classical guitarist Plínio Fernandes, and singer and pianist Gina Alice, who is also interviewed. (Lang and Alice were married in 2019.) You can also throw in some footage of Disney icons – Peter Pan flitting across a star-filled sky, or Aladdin cruising on his Magic Carpet – and some connectivity and context between the Mouse and classical music, which has for many years helped to define the brand.   

LANG LANG PLAYS DISNEY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: “Lang Lang is a unique artist and certainly a unique classical artist,” veteran record producer Ron Fair says over a montage of action shots featuring Lang’s furious fingers flying across the ivories, “because this guy has superpowers.”

The Gist: The world of classical music would certainly agree with that assessment. Now in his early forties, Lang Lang has performed regularly with top-flight orchestras around the world, from Berlin and Vienna and in the US to performances in his native China. For this special, Lang’s piano is joined by a full orchestra on stage at Royal Albert Hall, and the fleets of strings and brass, harpists, bassoonists, and massive timpani drums fill out the arrangements of classic Disney stuff like the “Beauty and the Beast” theme, “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins, and a “Whole New World” from Aladdin, which finds the pianist in a contemplative solo mood.  

“One of the challenges of this project is actually quite hard,” Lang Lang says in one of the brief interview segments that accompany the performances in Lang Lang Plays Disney. “How to make already existing great melodies from Disney films itself into a pianistic work with orchestra? You have to rewrite a lot of things.” Not that he’s taking a red pen to these enduring compositions. But the arrangements shift and the emphasis differs for what is being undertaken with the instruments at hand. And to that end, the special brings us into the rehearsal rooms at Henry Wood Hall in London, where Lang Lang, his conductor, and their fellow musicians speak a language of bars, octaves, arpeggios, and measures as they work out how they’ll interpret the material and bring it to life.  

Lang Lang has been lauded for his technique, in addition to a flair for showmanship that has helped him infuse new energy into the classical music form. But for the material in Lang Lang Plays Disney, the pianist says that it’s not just about technique for technique’s sake. Sure, his hands will fly up and down the keys with astounding technical ability. (He definitely does that a lot.) But of that style of playing, Lang says, “It has to serve the music one hundred percent.” And onstage at Royal Albert Hall, which becomes a supporting player as the lighting shifts with each mood, Lang applies a touch that’s careful and quiet or giant and forceful, depending on the requirements of each particular piece.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? If Lang Lang’s interpretation of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” sets you off, Disney+ also features Elton John: Farewell from Dodger Stadium. And while it doesn’t seem to be streamable in the US without a subscription, The Piano is a series for Channel 4 in the UK that features Lang Lang and singer-songwriter Mika observing amateur musicians as they play pianos set up inside bustling train stations.  

Our Take: Go ahead, just try and shake the lingering waterfall melody of “Beauty and the Beast” after hearing the man of the hour play it on his gorgeous Steinway Black Diamond grand piano. You won’t be able to. Going into Lang Lang Plays Disney, just know that all of the Mouse’s biggest melodies are gonna play on repeat in your head for weeks. It’s actually ideal that this concert special did not choose the stretch-it-out route. Not that Lang Lang doesn’t deserve the full documentary treatment; it’s all valid, what we see here of his rehearsal process and how he describes what music means to him. But while it provides a little bit of structure with cutaways to that effect, Lang Lang Plays Disney is truly illuminated in its central performances. With stage and house lighting to match the mood and visuals of each piece – lush reds for the music of Mulan, a shimmering icy blue for “Let it Go” from Frozen – the special evokes each touchstone of the Disney brand as it showcases Lang Lang’s virtuosic playing. Of course, he performs each piece without flaw. But he also plays with an intensity that brings you inside these exceedingly well-known melodies. Take “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” for example, which becomes a solo piano bop here. It certainly has the original spirit of the most memorable and meme-able song from Encanto. But in Lang Lang’s hands, it also retains the shape of a classical music performance. It becomes a new way of hearing something you already knew, and in this context, that’s what makes them memorable all over again.      

Sex and Skin: What? No way. 

Parting Shot: “This concert really showed every aspect of our goal,” Lang Lang says over shots of a cheering crowd, bows, and thank you’s all around on stage. “The aim is to get everyone to have their own young heart moment. No matter how old or how young you are, Disney music has this magic power. Your mind can fly…”  

Sleeper Star: Erhu soloist Wang Xiao joins Lang Lang and the orchestra for “Reflection,” and her bold, elegant playing of the traditional Chinese bowed instrument really brings to life the themes and imagery of Mulan at the Royal Albert, which is lit up in red for the number. 

Most Pilot-y Line: “He loves creating visions and new journeys,” Gina Alice says of Lang Lang. “One day he plays Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto, the next day he plays Bach’s Goldberg Variations. And then, next week, he plays a beautiful Disney program. So I think it’s very fascinating that he can connect these worlds. He can make very complex and intellectual music approachable to everyone, and he can connect people’s hearts through music.” 

Our Call: STREAM IT, especially if you’re prepared to swoon over the sweep of a classic Disney melody. All of the performances in Lang Lang Plays Disney are first rate. But it’s in the quietest space between an orchestral flourish and a final moment or two on the keys where Lang Lang’s playing really shines.   

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges