Category Press/Media

The loss of 11-year-old Shannon Tavarez on November 1 definitely touched members of the theater community, who remember the former Lion King star and her brave, public battle with leukemia. Broadway.com stumbled upon this incredible video of Tavarez singing “Tomorrow” from Annie at the Harlem School of the Arts and felt compelled to share it with our readers. Enjoy her hopeful performance and find out more about Tavarez and her mission to recruit possible bone marrow donors by visiting MatchShannon.com.

Tavarez is also seen briefly in this 2009 Broadway.com video, shot backstage at The Lion King.
See her talk about her favorite holiday song below.

A day after her death, Queens “Lion King” cub Shannon Tavarez was remembered as a brave campaigner for bone-marrow registration while her own health failed.

“Everyone knows Shannon because she’s such a talented and beautiful child,” family friend Nahdi Mukomana said Tuesday. “But at the tender age of 11, she was so selfless. She wanted to help other children who were going through the same thing she was.”

The pint-size singer from Bellerose, who fell ill with leukemia six months after her Broadway debut, died Monday.

“Shannon’s strength and her happy, positive spirit will live on in our hearts and minds each day. Shannon’s dream was to perform onstage, and that she did,” said her mom Odiney Brown.

Shannon, who played Young Nala in Disney‘s hit musical, told her story from her hospital bed ...

JAMAICA (WABC) — Each night, Shannon Tavarez touched the lives of thousands on Broadway.

Now the 11-year-old soprano’s battle with life threatening cancer is breaking the hearts many, including rapper 50 Cent, who held a donor drive at his community garden in Jamaica, Queens.

“A lot of kids don’t have donors in their families, so they have to look to strangers for help,” 50 Cent said.

50 Cent is one of those strangers.

He registered as a donor and made a video to help Shannon find a donor.

“We’ve had close to 4,000 people register in two days. That has never happened before,” said DKMP Representative Alina Suprunova.

Shannon lived every little girl’s dream-performing as young Nala in “The Lion King” on Broadway.

That dream disappeared in April when she was diagnosed with leukemia, and she’...