By Katie Galloway
Murphy News Service
The Disney princesses are fed up with their royal status.
In Dennis Giacino’s musical comedy, “Disenchanted,” 10 of these princesses take a stand in a musical that is advertised as “giving fairy tales the bird.”
The Minneapolis production, directed by Mark Bergren, is playing in Minneapolis at the Illusion Theater through Nov. 23.
Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty lead the cast in a fight against gender roles and labels, but it was Kim Kivens who really stole the show as Belle, the Little Mermaid, and Rapunzel.
In the musical number, “Not V’one Red Cent,” Kivens, portraying a heavy-set, unibrowed Rapunzel with a very thick German accent, led the enthusiastic audience in an amusing sing-along.
She had the audience in hysterics during the song, “Insane,” where she played a clinically insane Belle, driven mad by her annoying talking furniture, and she did a wonderful job as the Little Mermaid, an inebriated character who has grown to despise her human legs.
This is not a show for children. Although the show is about Disney princesses, it definitely does not portray them in the traditional sense. The humor is crude and the language is at times vulgar. Still, the witty humor and jokes enchanted the adult audience.
Director Mark Bergren said that he fell in love with the show the first time he saw it.
“What I love about ‘Disenchanted’ is that it’s a wonderful musical and comedic showcase for an all-female cast,” Bergren said. “Not only is our cast of princesses an ensemble of strong, agile singers, they are first rate comedy actors. And they can bring an occasional tear to your eye.”
Bergren said the secret to good directing is good casting.
“They’ve made me a better director by trying new things and by their attention to detail. I’m a huge fan of these fine actors,” he said.
The show succeeded in driving home the fact that the point of the musical was to combat the stereotypes arising from Disney fairytales. The princesses of “Disenchanted” strived to teach the audience that women don’t need men to save them, that they don’t need to have perfect posture or perfect hair or tiny waistlines to be beautiful, and that happily ever after is pretty much never a reasonable expectation.
“The most important message of the show is to be comfortable within yourself,” said Joy Dolo who played the Princess Who Kissed the Frog. “We talk about the anxiety princesses face to be aesthetically pleasing.”
Stephanie Bertumen, who played Mulan, Pocahontas, and Princess Jasmine, said that the issues raised in the show hit home for her.
“I think the most important message of the show is basically that women shouldn’t be treated as the second-rate citizens that some portrayals have made them out to be,” Bertumen said. “It’s personally important to me to have a show like this which celebrates the strength of women and celebrates the fact that a woman can have ambitions and desires apart from simply ‘getting the guy.’”
Katie Galloway is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.