Review: Disenchanted! A New Musical Comedy

Source: stream.theatre

The fairy-tale sattire has become nothing new to those who lived through the 2000s. Popularised by Shrek, it took off like a rocket to the point where it was almost battererd to death (in terms of cinema at least). Now the genre is in musical form - and I'm not talking about Shrek The Musical, but about Disenchanted! a musical satirising the flaws in what's known as "The Princess Complex". 

The main difference with Shrek is a) Disenchanted! acts more like a sketch or cabaret show and b) don't take your kids to this one....

Your hosts for the evening are Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (played by Jodie Steele (Godspell), Sophie Isaacs (Heathers) and Allie Daniel (RENT)). Together with some other well known Princesses, they aim to set the record straight how it is to really be a Princess - think of SIX but with Disney Princesses (and yes there are adult Disney jokes galore, let's not beat about the bush).

It's essentially all the Princesses singing their version of Avenue Q's It Sucks To Be Me!

From capitalism, to maintaining a "market-able" body figure (aka, small waist but big boobs), judging their life choices, sick of playing second fiddle to male characters, you get the picture. And of course, the downfall of the "marrying someone you've just met" complex...

Source: Disenchanted musical, reimagining fairytale princesses, to be revived online | WhatsOnStage

It tackles more serious subjects too. I've already mentioned the unrealistic body images presented through these princesses which were mostly designed by men "Guys making films with their flies".

But particularly after the Black Lives Matter movement, this show brings into question the whitewashing and romanticising certain stories have been given: particularly Courtney Bowman (Everybody's Talking About Jamie) as Princess Badroulbadour from Tales of Arabian Nights, who then got translated into Jasmine in Aladdin, a film that has quite a few instances of dis-respecting the Arabian culture if you look into the history of the film. Or what should have been Chinese if they followed the original story!

The most serious perhaps though is Grace Mouat's Pocahontas with her song Honestly, wondering why Hollywood did not tell her true story - which as we are told later, is DARK and gives us the uneasy feeling that we in retrospect likely needed among the frivolity. 

This is where creator Dennis T Gracino's writing works best - when it uses humour to bring home some serious issues for the audience to contemplate on. 

Having said all that though, I was expecting it to be funnier than it ended up being. There was maybe only one time that it really made me laugh out loud, but I cannot remember which that bit was, even now. 

I get that a lot of the jokes in it are a bit out of date and so things change. This show did have it's first performance in 2012 after all, and they even acknowledge that at the beginning of the show (the same way Disney + addresses it's catalogue that have questionable stereotypical content from Dumbo to The Muppet Show (of all things!)). But I was expecting quite a few more laughs than I got, especially as this kind of humour is normally right up my alley. Everyone in the cast performed their numbers well, but some of the humour fell flat - because we've heard it before elsewhere. 

As a result I think this is a bit of a Marmite show, and it really depends on what your sense of humour is, and if you have seen a lot of this kind of stuff before. 

I would use this classic PAINT video as a base - yes they are out of date, but I realised when making my notes that THIS was what this show reminded me of. So if you like this, give it a go. If you don't find it funny, then perhaps let these Princesses have a chill pill or two before approaching them. 

Hopefully that has given you the picture.... If you want to watch Disenchanted! it is on for one more night, tonight on stream.theatre. 

Oddly enough, in the near future, we may also have another Disenchanted to talk about - the sequel to Enchanted, it in itself a fairy-tale parody of sorts. I just hope Giselle has had it better than these ladies..!