3 years ago, David Kawena and I created this project called Princess Academy for Disney. We wanted to create a very artistic, classy but also very funny hand drawn short. Eight times Academy Award winning composer, Alan Menken was very excited about the project and agreed to work on it the moment we would have green light from the studio.

After months working on it, with hundreds and hundreds of storyboards and concept art, the Disney Animation hand drawn studios closed its doors. So there was no point for us to even show that project. I believe this image shows very well the mixture of artistic, high standard and humour of the project. Hope you will like it. Feel free to click on the share button. ~Olivier Ciappa.

Last night, Alan Menken held an intimate performance as part of the ‘Destination D’ event at the Disneyland Resort, held by Disney D23, the official fan club of The Walt Disney Company. After wowing the attending crowd with music from decades of his Tony, Grammy and Oscar-winning career, he closed the show with ‘Proud of Your Boy,’ a song that was intended for the original 1992 film, but was cut due to story changes.

It was when introducing the song that Menken mentioned the musical is currently being tweaked for a Broadway run, according to reports from attendees.

Toni Braxton made her Broadway debut as Belle inBeauty and the Beast beginning September 9, 1998, when she replaced Kim Huber. During her run in the show Alan Menken wrote a new song for the musical called “A Change in Me,” which was specially written for Braxton and has been used in the musical ever since. Her role in Beauty and the Beast marked the first (and only) time a black woman commanded the leading role of Belle on Broadway. It also marked the first time a black woman would star in a Disney musical on Broadway. [SOURCE (2)]

From an over-the-top Lady Gaga to a fashion-forward Minnie Mouse? That, in a nutshell, is the direction Barneys New York is headed for with its 2012 holiday campaign. The luxury retailer announced Wednesday that it has collaborated with Walt Disney Co. to give its retail stores a jolt of color and character for the all-important holiday shopping season with a combination of electric lights, music and Disney characters called "Electric Holiday,” following last year’s holiday campaign, which tapped the talents of Lady Gaga.

Wednesday’s announcement describes displays featuring “moving art” (moving mannequins of some sort, we presume, or perhaps live models) depicting fashion-forward versions of Minnie and Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Daisy Duck, Snow White, Princess Tiana, and Cruella de Vil as runway models on the Paris catwalk -- each dressed in a one-of a-kind look created by a well-known designer.

1. Arjun: The Warrior Prince (Walt Disney Pictures)
2. Brave (Walt Disney Pictures)
3. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (Universal Pictures)
4. Frankenweenie (Walt Disney Pictures)
5. From Up on Poppy Hill (GKids)
6. Hotel Transylvania (Columbia Pictures)
7. Ice Age: Continental Drift (20th Century Fox)
8. A Liar's Autobiography - The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman (Brainstorm Media)