Dancing with the Stars meets Broadway in D23’s Disney Night gallery
D23’s new gallery takes a look backstage at a Disney Night featuring eight competing couples, Broadway performers and guest judge Cynthia Erivo.
The short answer: D23’s new gallery takes a look backstage at a Disney Night featuring eight competing couples, Broadway performers and guest judge Cynthia Erivo.
Eight couples took to the ballroom, Disney on Broadway performers joined the show and Cynthia Erivo sat on the judging panel as Dancing with the Stars celebrated Disney Night on 2 November 2026. D23’s new photo gallery looks beyond the televised routines to capture the evening’s festivities.
Published on 4 November, D23’s exclusive gallery features contestants, their professional partners, Erivo and former DWTS contestants, both in the ballroom and backstage. The show’s costume designers said in a D23 pre-show interview that dedicating Disney Night to Disney on Broadway was a first for the programme.
Erivo’s Broadway career includes playing Celie in the revival of The Color Purple, a performance that earned her the 2016 Tony Award for best actress in a musical. In an interview published by The Guardian on 27 October, she reflected on how the role changed her career.
The Color Purple was one of those moments where I went from a jobbing actress and just pleased to be there to someone who was known for this particular piece. My life looked different after that. Cynthia Erivo, speaking to The Guardian
The stage connections behind the guest line-up
The evening’s announced music had a direct link to Heather Headley’s stage career. ABC’s advance line-up paired her live performance of Aida’s “Easy as Life” with Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik’s contemporary routine. Headley won the 2000 Tony Award for playing Aida and originated the role of Nala in Broadway’s The Lion King. She was also due to sing “I See the Light” from Tangled for Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold’s waltz.
Michael James Scott’s announced number moved from Aladdin to another Disney story: he was set to sing “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid as Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach performed a samba. In a Broadway.com interview about leaving Aladdin, Scott recalled getting up at 4am during a high-school theatre trip to secure a standing-room ticket for The Lion King. He would later play the Genie at the same theatre, the New Amsterdam.
Kyra Belle Johnson’s announced appearance offered another link between the stage and the ballroom. Her professional biography lists her as Belle in the North American tour of Beauty and the Beast. ABC’s line-up paired her with Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson for a jazz routine to Mary Poppins’ “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. Beauty and the Beast also featured in Rodney Ingram’s announced appearance: “Be Our Guest” accompanied Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy’s quickstep.