Disney’s Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour Lights Up Madison Square Garden!
Two worlds, one stage… Disney Channel’s fan favorite franchises Descendants and Zombies come together in the Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour. Pop Culture Planet attended the New York City show at Madison Square Garden, filled with impressive musical numbers and even a surprise guest appearance!
The tour features Descendants: The Rise of Red’s Kylie Cantrall, Malia Baker, Dara Reneé, and Joshua Colley and Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires stars Malachi Barton, Freya Skye, and Mekonnen Knife. Together they sing and dance through music from all eight films, while also allowing each cast member to get their own spotlight moments.
The night kicks off with the original song “Worlds Collide” that sets the stage for what’s to come. It’s thrilling to see the cast take on new versions of our favorite tracks, as well as sing songs from each others franchises. Cantrall takes the first solo of the night with “Red,” followed by a video montage of her as a child with big Disney dreams. Later in the night she shows off her pop star chops with a medley of original songs from her debut album B.O.Y. and sings a heartfelt duet of “Space Between” with her Descendants co-star Baker.
Baker taps into Rhythm Nation energy performing “Good to be Bad” with Knife and then gets her own Taylor Swift moment with an acoustic version of “If Only.” Knife is one of the most dynamic performers of the night, full of tricks and flips. Along with Colley and Barton, the trio nail an all-male version of “Shuffle of Love.”
The chemistry between Barton and Skye is just as strong from the screen to the stage as they perform “The Place To Be,” “Someday,” “Dream Come True,” and goofily dance together in front of never-before-seen footage of them singing “Rewrite The Stars” during their Zombies 4 audition. Skye also shows off her impressive vocals with her original song “Gold’s Gone” and her soaring ballad “My Own Way.”
Later on, Colley sings a mashup of “What’s My Name” and “Perfect Revenge” with Reneé and delivers the heartfelt original song “I’m Gonna Remember This” that he wrote about the unforgettable experience being on tour. Reneé shines in the group number “Life Is Sweeter,” dances hard in her original song “Imma Do It,” and owns the iconic “Queen of Mean.”
This is still only just a handful of the songs that are performed in the nearly three hour show, complete with a 20 minute intermission. There are video montages that include the original cast members that started it all, with Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly passing the torch to the new cast and Rita Ora making a cameo as the Queen of Hearts. The cast also talks in-between songs as they share stories, their immense gratitude, behind-the-scenes moments, and even shout out friends and family. At the Madison Square Garden show, cast members from Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, Zombies 4, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and the newly announced Coven Academy were in the audience supporting their friends, including High School Musical OG Monique Coleman. We even got a surprise guest appearance from Willa the werewolf herself Chandler Kinney who led the audience in a howl off.
Fans of Descendants and Zombies will have a blast at the Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour. It’s particularly exciting to see so many talented Black and Latino performers leading the next generation of Disney Channel. Featuring over 35 songs, the interactive show is high-energy, inspirational, and fun for the whole family to enjoy. Having once been in the audience for the tours of High School Musical and The Cheetah Girls, I loved seeing how this new wave of Disney stars is continuing the legacy.
Crossing my fingers this concert crossover could lead to a real one in movie form! In the meantime, grab your tickets before the tour wraps up this September.
