Are you ready for the SUPERBOWL?
Tonight another exciting season of american football in the NFL will come to an end, as the world champion is determined by way of the SUPERBOWL XLI in Miami, Florida. Ok - is this blog now sponsored by the NFL? No, in fact the Superbowl attraction millions around the globe on tv and regularly raking up the highest viewer numbers of any shows on tv really wouldn’t need any promotion from this blog. So, why are we suddenly posting about an american football game? Well, I could just say that I am looking forward to seeing the game - which would be true but is not really enough reason to post here. No, the real reason is … there is a connection between the Superbowl and Disney that is often forgotten and which I therefore would like to point out again. And no, I am not talking about ESPN or ABC here. We are talking show here!
THe Superbowl is not only famous for the sports or the great tv-spots (as companies pay premium to broadcast ads during the show and create new ads for this special occassion regularly) - it is also known for the entertainment presented during halftime. Stars from around the globe have already performed at the Superbowl and tonight the honor goes to Prince. Still - no Disney connection. Right … BUT … here it comes: Disney was responsible six times in the past to produce the halftime show for a Superbowl.
The last time was Superbowl XXXIV for which Disney produced a show titled “Tapestry of Nations” featuring puppets and dancers from the parade at WDW’s EPCOT and a unique cast of stars: Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias and Toni Braxton who were backed up by a 80-person choir. The show featured music and songs from the Millennium celebration at EPCOT (which got a nice promotion this way) including “Celebrate the Future Hand in Hand” and “We Go On” as well as material from the parade and the IllumiNations 2000 fireworks. The mix was similar to the one released on the Energizer Millennium Sampler CDs, even so those certainly did not feature the live performances of the stars.
The idea of promoting a Disney theme park with the Halftime show at Superbowl was also behind Disney’s Halftime extravaganza at Superbowl XXIX titled “Indiana Jones & Temple of Forbidden Eye” starring Patti LaBelle, Tony Bennett, Arturo Sandoval and the Miami Sound Machine. In fact the very first Halftime show produced by Disney for Superbowl XI had a title very familar to Disney theme park fans: It’s A Small World. Back in these early days of the Superbowl, though, the show was still done without stars, featuring instead in that year the Los Angeles Unified All-City Band and som “Crowd Participation”.
The “small world” returned to the Superbowl with Disney’s show for Superbowl XXV featuring the (back then hip) New Kids on the Block, titled “A Small World Salute to 25 Years of Super Bowl”. In between Disney had produced the show for Superbowls XVIII and XXXI titled “Salute to Superstars of Silver Screen” (starring the University of Florida and Florida State University Bands) respectively “Salute to Hollywood’s 100th Anniversary” (starring Southern California-area high school drill teams and dancers).
Unfortunately none of the Disney halftime shows seem to be available on DVD to enjoy, since NFL films only in the recent years has decided to add some selected halftime shows to the DVD releases of Superbowls. But maybe some of our readers can help out with some reports and descriptions of the past shows?? Just post it here as a comment or contact us as we would love to publish your report / description! In the meantime let’s just hope that Disney produces a halftime show sometime soon again…