D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event will bring several generations of animation together when it returns to Anaheim from August 14 through 16. Among the more than 50 panels and shows planned for the weekend are celebrations of animated films and television series whose characters have remained familiar to audiences in large part because of the performers behind their voices.
This year’s programming stretches from the 35th anniversary of Disney Animation’s Beauty and the Beast to some of television’s longest-running animated comedies. The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers will be represented at Talent Central, while The Proud Family celebrates its 25th anniversary and the creators and voices behind Phineas and Ferb are also scheduled to meet fans.
Taken together, the lineup provides an unusual snapshot of how animated voice performances can survive across decades, revivals and entirely different generations of viewers.
Beauty and the Beast Celebrates 35 Years
One of D23’s major animation celebrations will look back at Beauty and the Beast, 35 years after the landmark animated film arrived in theaters in 1991.
Disney has announced that Beauty and the Beast: A Tale as Old as Time 35th Anniversary Celebration will bring together talent from both the animated feature and the Broadway production it later inspired. Among the scheduled participants are Disney Legends Paige O’Hara, Don Hahn and Mark Henn, along with incoming Disney Legend Susan Egan.
O’Hara’s presence gives the celebration a direct connection to the original voice cast. Her performance as Belle helped establish a character who would become one of the defining Disney heroines of the era. The original film surrounded her with an equally memorable ensemble that included Robby Benson as Beast, Richard White as Gaston, Jerry Orbach as Lumière, David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts.
Those performances became part of the identities of the characters themselves. The contrast between Orbach’s energetic Lumière and Stiers’ tightly controlled Cogsworth, for example, helped establish a comic relationship that remained memorable beyond the film’s musical numbers and animation.
D23 is also taking the anniversary celebration beyond the convention floor. Disney has confirmed that the presentation will stream globally on Disney+ beginning at 11 a.m. PT on August 14, allowing viewers outside Anaheim to participate in the anniversary programming.
Television’s Long-Running Voice Ensembles Come to D23
Disney’s television animation presence at D23 offers a different perspective on vocal longevity.
Talent Central will host autograph opportunities involving the creative teams behind both The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers on August 14. Disney has promoted both appearances as part of a wider schedule that also includes animation creators, artists and performers throughout the weekend.
The two shows are particularly interesting examples of what happens when audiences spend years hearing the same ensemble of performers together. The Simpsons has built one of the longest-running voice casts in television history, with individual performers responsible for numerous Springfield residents. The familiarity of those voices has become inseparable from the show’s identity across its decades on television.
Bob’s Burgers has developed a similar ensemble strength on a different timescale. The personalities of the Belcher family depend heavily on the distinctive rhythms of the cast, with conversations frequently becoming funny because of the way characters interrupt, react to and play off one another rather than simply because of individual punchlines.
For long-running animation, maintaining that chemistry can be as important as preserving a particular character voice. Performers develop an understanding of how their characters respond to one another, creating vocal relationships that become increasingly familiar to audiences over time.
D23 bringing both productions into the same weekend highlights how important that continuity remains to animated television.
The Proud Family and Phineas and Ferb Revisit Familiar Voices
Other D23 appearances demonstrate a different form of longevity: animated properties returning after their original runs and reconnecting audiences with familiar performers.
The Proud Family is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and D23 has scheduled an appearance with Kyla Pratt, the longtime voice of Penny Proud, alongside producers Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar.
Pratt returned to the character when Disney revived the franchise with The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. Her involvement helped create continuity between the original series and its modern continuation, particularly for viewers who had grown up hearing her as Penny.
Phineas and Ferb offers another example. Co-creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh are scheduled for a D23 photo opportunity. Both creators also perform major characters in the series, with Povenmire voicing Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz and Marsh providing the voice of Major Monogram.
The show’s revival brought back much of its established voice ensemble, including Vincent Martella as Phineas, Ashley Tisdale as Candace, Dee Bradley Baker as Perry the Platypus and Alyson Stoner as Isabella. David Errigo Jr. voices Ferb in the revived series.
Bringing back familiar voices does more than create nostalgia. Animation can change visually, writing teams can evolve and years can pass between productions, but a returning vocal performance provides an immediate connection to the version audiences remember.
Familiar Voices Connect Different Eras of Animation
The animation represented at D23 this weekend covers a remarkable span of time. Beauty and the Beast is celebrating a film released 35 years ago. The Proud Family has reached its 25th anniversary. The Simpsons continues a television run stretching back even further, while Bob’s Burgers has developed into another enduring animated ensemble. Phineas and Ferb, meanwhile, demonstrates how a series can return years later while retaining much of the vocal identity audiences associate with it.
These productions differ dramatically in style, audience and storytelling, but they share a reliance on performances that can remain attached to animated characters for years or even decades.
That is particularly visible at an event built around Disney history. Animation anniversaries are naturally celebrations of artists, writers, filmmakers and the characters they created, but voices form another part of that continuity. Hearing a familiar performance can reconnect an audience with a character almost instantly, even after years away.
When D23 opens in Anaheim on August 14, its animation programming will not represent a single period of Disney history. It will bring together performers and creators associated with several of them, showing how voices first recorded decades apart can continue finding audiences in the same weekend.