DISENCHANTED - is a brand new, fun-loving, hilarious musical revue in which the original fairy tale princesses bemoan the exploitation they've suffered in the Disney theme parks and films! Happily-ever-after can be a royal pain!
Review An enchanting “Disenchanted”
An enchanting “Disenchanted”
Reviewed by Steven J. Smith
SCENE Magazine
This is not your mother’s Disney tribute.
Imagine all of your favorite Disney heroines — Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, The Little Mermaid, Mulan, Pocahontas, Rapunzel, and the Frog Princess — all gathered together for a bitch session. Cast them in the harsh, realistic light of day without the “happily ever after,” and you’ve got “Disenchanted: Bitches of the Kingdom,” a sassy, brassy, irreverent musical revue that pulls no punches in its social commentary and cunningly reveals how Mr. Disney and his successors have placed women on an impossibly high pedestal while removing virtually all of their more redeeming qualities.
Created by Dennis Giancino and Fiely Matias and a hit at the recent Orlando Fringe Festival, the show has been snapped up by Golden Apple producer Robert Ennis Turoff before it heads Off-Broadway. Cleverly directed and choreographed by Kyle Ennis Turoff, the show provides an evening of naughty fun for those of us who have had it with the squeaky clean image of Disney’s saccharine-sweet, one-dimensional heroines.
Here are some memorable moments. In the song “One More Happily Ever After,” Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty (rowdily and comically played by Jenn Baker, Mari Bryan, and Alyssa Goudy respectively) rail about happy endings. Instead, they insist they should control their own lives without handsome princes. Mulan (my personal favorite, wonderfully played by Jenn Abreu) confesses in the song “Without The Guy” that she may be a lesbian. Belle (a sweet, demure, and crazed Diane Dawson) laments her lot, living with a mangy beast in her song “Insane,” and in her song “Two Legs,” Ariel (an alluring Hilary Kraus) questions her decision to give up her life as a mermaid just because she thought Prince Eric was “cute.” Throw in Pocahontas (Aileen Susick), Rapunzel (Helen Holliday), the Frog Princess (Ariel Blue) and a Secondary Princess (Roberta MacDonald, who stops the show with her song “Secondary Princess”) and you’ve got an uproarious evening of can’t-miss fun.
Kudos also to Trez Cole’s Magic Kingdom set design, David Walker’s colorful and sexy costumes, and Michael Sebastian’s spot-on music direction. What are you waiting for? Get to the Golden Apple now, before it turns into a pumpkin!
For more information about The Golden Apple’s current season, which includes “Mr. Broadway,” “Let’s Hang On,” “Cheerful Little Earful,” “An Evening With Beneva Fruitville,” “Roberta MacDonald: Songs, Stories, and Mr. Chatterbox,” “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” and a “Christmas Variety Show,” call the box office at (941) 366-5454 or visit their website at www.thegoldenapple.com.
REVIEW: Angry princesses stir laughs in Golden Apple’s ‘Disenchanted’
REVIEW: Angry princesses stir laughs in Golden Apple’s ‘Disenchanted’
By Jay Handelman, Herald-Tribune
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Happily ever after isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, according to the unhappy and cynical princesses featured in the comically snarky new musical “Disenchanted.”
Mari Bryan as Cinderella, Alex Torres (seated) as Sleeping Beauty and Jennifer Baker as Snow White in the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre production of "Disenchanted." CLIFF ROLES PHOTO/GOLDEN APPLE
Dennis Giacino’s original, adult-oriented musical, subtitled “Bitches of the Kingdom,” generates a lot of laughs as the season-opening show in the new Golden Apple Dinner Theatre season.
It’s a satirical riff on how the all-too-familiar classic fairy tale and other female characters have been portrayed in animated musicals and theme park shows.
You can instantly recognize them all, thanks to David Walker’s clever costumes that just hint at the way they look on film.
They’re all there, from Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty to Pocahontas, Mulan, Rapunzel, Belle and Ariel. Even the Frog Princess makes an appearance.
They all have lots to complain about in slightly catchy songs that suggest more famous movie music.
They say they were drawn with exaggerated breasts by perverted animators. The fiercely Germanic Rapunzel, played by Helen Holliday as a cross between Wagner’s Brunnhilde and the “Cabaret” Emcee, sings that she gets “Not V’One Red Cent” from all the merchandise sold with her image.
From left, Mari Bryan as Cinderella, Hillary Kraus as Ariel, Jenn Abreu as Mulan and Jennifer Baker as Snow White in "Disenchanted: Featuring the Bitches of the Kingdom." CLIFF ROLES PHOTO/GOLDEN APPLE
Cinderella (played by Mari Bryan) longs for food, Snow White (Jennifer Baker) deals with a drab prince, Mulan questions her sexuality, and Belle is stuck cleaning up after her beast of a husband.
It’s all handled in a light and fresh style by a talented cast of 10 women, and staged by Kyle Ennis Turoff in a way that highlights lots of recurring jokes and visual surprises on Trez Cole’s castle-backed set.
Baker really wails as Snow White, and Alex Torres puts a lot of power into her Sleeping Beauty vocals, while Bryan has a feisty, yet more delicate, air.
Roberta MacDonald plays the jaded and bitter Secondary Princess in the musical "Disenchanted: Featuring the Bitches of the Kingdom" at the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre. CLIFF ROLES PHOTO/GOLDEN APPLE
Each of the women has a comically fun moment in the spotlight, but the best is reserved for Roberta MacDonald who plays the jaded Secondary Princess (including Jasmine from “Aladdin” and Tinkerbell from “Peter Pan”) who keeps popping up in hilarious costumes that allow her to plot her own chance to be second to no one.
The women are wonderfully accompanied by musical director and pianist Michael Sebastian, who provides the production with a delicate undertone and an occasionally driving style.
REVIEW:
Kay Kipling
Sarasota Magazine
If you’ve ever suffered from an overdose of too much Disney sweetness and light, the current show at the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre—Disenchanted(featuring the Bitches of the Kingdom)—might work as an antidote for you.
The newish musical comedy revue, created by Dennis Giacino with additional lyrics by Fiely Matias, brings to the stage many of the familiar Disney princesses from films over the decades: Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, etc. They all have a gripe about living happily ever after, which ain’t what it’s cracked up to be.
Belle (Dianne Dawson) from Beauty and the Beast isn’t thrilled about living with, well, an animal. Mulan (Jenn Abreu) realizes she’s the only princess without a guy, leading her to think she might be a lesbian. Cinderella (Mari Bryan) would really like to be able to eat without worrying about the exaggeratedly slender figure Disney princesses tend to have, and Pocahontas (Aileen Suseck) is steamed about both her revealing costume and her wild hairstyle.
There’s more: Ariel (Hilary Kraus) kinda regrets giving up her undersea kingdom and having to deal with Two Legs, and Rapunzel (Helen Holliday), portrayed with a Teutonic air, is plenty pissed that she gets Not V’One Red Cent from all the Disney merchandise featuring her image. You get the idea.
It’s a slight but often clever jab at the Magic Kingdom, albeit one that takes a while to get started (the opening number feels unnecessarily drawn out). The actresses all have talent and the right spirit; longtime Apple visitors in particular will get a hoot out of Roberta MacDonald in three appearances as Secondary Princesses—characters that didn’t get enough of the limelight, in her opinion. Seeing MacDonald shuffle grumpily onto the stage in black tights and long T-shirts evoking certain skimpy Disney garb means you’re guaranteed at least a laugh or two. In fact, all the costumes by David Walker (and portraits by Steve Dawson) are a boost to instant identification of each princess.
And, with all the satire, you might even find a certain message in liberated princesses getting their girl power on and refusing to live the Once Upon a Time fallacy. The show continues only through Oct. 23; for tickets call 366-5454 or go to thegoldenapple.com.
