The Production Garden presents The Lichfield Garrick Production of Disenchanted! at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe. I caught up with New York composer Dennis T Giacino (who wrote the book, music and lyrics of the show), and director Fiely Matias. For more details about the show visit its website at https://www.officialdisenchantedmusical.com/.
“The hilarious hit musical with more bite, more sass and zero damsels in distress. Forget happily ever after! Cinderella’s done cleaning, Sleeping Beauty’s wide awake and Snow White’s calling the shots now. These princesses don’t want to play nice; they want to storm the castle! One showstopping number at a time. Disenchanted! is the side-splitting, cheeky, musical mash-up of all your favourite fairy tales. If you’re looking to let your hair down, take a magic carpet ride or maybe kiss a frog or two, Disenchanted! is the night out you didn’t know you desperately needed.”
Where: Pentland Theatre at Pleasance at EICC
When: 5-30 Aug (not 12 or 19)
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/disenchanted-the-hit-musical
What can you tell us about your show? What is it about and where did the idea come from?
Picture it: It was 2006, and we were on a Canadian Fringe Festival tour (Nova Scotia to British Columbia) with another musical we had written – just the two of us. We were on a lunch break and somehow got chatting about an animated princess feature film that we had both seen years before. The conversation soon turned toward the misguided messages embedded into these princess cartoons, and we wondered how the original fairy tale characters might feel about the way they were portrayed in today’s pop culture and animated films as helpless damsels in distress.
And that’s when the “what if” kicked in, as often happens with us writers! We wondered, “What if the original princesses from the public domain fairy tales came to life to tell the truth about happily ever after?” How does Grimm’s Snow White feel about being a non-participant and non-decision maker in her own story (in which a handsome prince saves the day with true love’s kiss)? We thought she may want to feel empowered to make her own decisions, and certainly she wouldn’t relegate herself to cleaning up after seven pesky miners!
Before we knew it, princesses from the tales of Grimm, deVilleneuve, Perrault, folklore, and history itself, were talking to us. Cinderella whispered in our ears that she regretted giving in fully to The Princess Complex – that age-old idea in which a woman is only desirable and valid if she’s a beauty-obsessed, ditzy, insecure Bambi-like waif. The Little Mermaid told us she was questioning her decision to give up her father, her fin, her undersea life, and even her voice just to net a man. And Belle informed us that she didn’t care for her story in which she conversed with inanimate objects and experienced a bit of Stockholm
Syndrome.
What if they could take their power back from those who wrote them as helpless damsels in distress and, as empowered princesses now, write their own stories in which they save themselves? And Disenchanted! was born!
How would you sell it to audiences in one paragraph?
Disenchanted! features a host of royal renegades that come to life to storm the castle and belt out the truth about happ’ly ever after. Yes, these original fairy tale princesses have decided to bippity-boppity bust out a little princess tea party of their own. Of course, the tea may be slightly (and hilariously!) bitter.
Think princesses meet Bridesmaids! in a no-holds-barred, raucous musical-comedy in which our heroines realize that happi’ly ever after ain’t all it’s cracked up to be!
Do you enjoy participating in the Fringe? And do you have any moments you particularly remember?
We are Fringe fanatics! We have performed in over 21 Fringe Fests worldwide, and we absolutely love the energy, creativity, and passion these fests inspire in artists all around the globe! The Fringe was where we were able to first present our comedy works while we found our artistic voice as a writing team, feeling free to create and explore original shows without the fear of censorship.
Disenchanted! got its start at the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival! We’ve found that Fringes so wonderfully showcase some of the best and edgiest works we have ever seen – companies often dare to redefine and reimagine what live performance can be. We’re all about that! The Fringe feels like home to us, and we’re thrilled to finally be participants in the biggest of all Fringes – Scotland. Here come the princesses!!
What are you looking forward to the most in Edinburgh?
We cannot wait for Edinburgh! It being the mother of all Fringe Fests, we are so ready for August to arrive so we can eat, sleep and fringe to our heart’s content! We’re beside ourselves with glee to introduce Edinburghers to our princess posse in this unique, communal celebration of music and comedy – damsels in distress, begone! #PrincessesUnite
What’s next for the show?
The Princesses of Dis! (as the show is often affectionately called for short) are on a musical mission and will not stop until all hear the truth about fairy tales. The show currently licenses around the globe (in 15 countries on 5 continents in 5 languages – and counting!), is on its 4th USA National Tour, and plans are in the works to take this production around the UK on tour as well!