What do you get when you give a posse of fairy tale princesses microphones, choreography and a platform to “set the record straight”? DISENCHANTED! A new musical with book, music and lyrics by Dennis T. Giacino, direction by Fiely A. Matias, and musical staging by Matt West (Lestat).
The new musical, which makes its New York premiere in a limited 9-week engagement at Theatre at St. Clement’s with previews on Wednesday, November 26, 2014 and an opening night of Thursday, December 4, finally gives voice to some substantial princess rage through comedic musical rants. This is a princess show for folks who find the ‘princess pop culture’, where everything is ‘magical’ 24/7, a little cloying, perhaps even annoying, and prefer their fairy tale heroines have a bit more sass.
Serving up the regal sass are Michelle Knight (Jersey Boys) as Snow White; Becky Gulsvig (Legally Blonde) as Cinderella; Jen Bechter (Elf 1st Nat’l Tour) as Sleeping Beauty; original cast member Lulu Picart (David Friedman’s Listen To My Heart) as Hua Mulan/Pocahontas/Princess Badroulbadour; Alison Burns (RENT Nat’l Tour) as Belle/The Little Mermaid/Rapunzel; and Soara-Joye Ross (Les Misérables 2006 Broadway revival) as The Princess Who Kissed the Frog.
Creator Dennis T. Giacino, who conceived the show back in 1995 while teaching about the Jamestown settlement, credits Disney’s Pocahontas with inspiring him onto the path of what would ultimately become DISENCHANTED! “…the movie Pocahontas came out and when I saw it I wondered what the real Pocahontas, who was a 10 year old rough and tumble tomboy thought about this va-va-va-voom, vivacious Pocahontas we saw on the screen. And so I wrote a song about it and pretty soon I started to think, 'I’m pretty sure all the princesses have a beef with, well, our old buddy Walt among others...Toddlers and Tiaras, Barbie, you name it.' The show is really about these women taking their lives back from today's pop culture and saying that’s not the way we want to be portrayed, those are not the messages we want out there.”
In spite of, or perhaps because of, its loving jabs at a certain mouse-house’s portrayal of the princess genre, DISENCHANTED! enjoyed critical success at Orlando’s International Fringe Festival in 2011, winning the Orland Sentinel’s Best of Fest award and playing to sold-out houses throughout the run. Giacino happily reports that the show has been enjoyed by Disney employees and executives alike and features design elements from two Disney vets, scenic designer Gentry Akens (The Mickey Mouse Club) and costume designer Vanessa Leuck (Disney on Ice: Frozen, The Little Mermaid).
DISENCHANTED! by Dennis T. Giacino (book, music and lyrics), Fiely A. Matias, (director), by Matt West (musical staging), Michael Raabe (Music Direction) plays a limited 9-week engagement at Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 West 46th St. at 9th Avenue) Beginning Wednesday, November 26, 2014, Opening Thursday, December 4, 2014. For information and tickets go to https://www.disenchantedmusical.com/
