By Myra Chanin . . .
In 2009, when Disenchanted was getting ready to hold its first workshop (at Pearl Studios in New York City), over 700 women auditioned for the 11 roles for a one-night stand—during which only the songs were performed—at a sold-out house. After receiving standing ovations, Disenchanted extended and then moved on to an equally well-received showcase, in 2012, at Don’t Tell Mama, New York’s beloved cabaret multiplex on Restaurant Row (West 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues). After a reading at Playwright’s Horizon later that year, it then opened in 2014 it opened at the Theatre at St. Clement’s, followed by an open run at the Westside Theatre in 2015.
That production of Disenchanted rang a bell and asked the current breed of independent women if any of them wanted to spend “ever after” with a prince they met, kissed, and fell in love with on the previous page of a book. Every one of the Florida-based/educated/residing Carbonell nominees or recipients in MMM’s Rinker Playhouse production shouted, “Neigh!’ Not Snow White (Shelley Keelor); Cinderella (Ashley Rubin); Sleeping Beauty (Aaron Bower); Belle/Little Mermaid (Leah Sessa); Hua Mulan/Rapunzel (Kat Gold); Pocahontas/Badroulbadour (Jinon Deeb); and Vallery Valentine, the Princess who kissed the frog. All seven of the above are Florida’s top theater actresses.
Too bad the one would-be contemporary princess-in-waiting that would have jumped at the chance to bag a prince and did, Meghan Markle, preferred Montecito to Miami. She kissed her Prince and turned him into a balding frog. Their fairy tale gossip includes reports of unsteady and unreliable baby bumps, bronzing foundation, rumors of surrogates, arguments with a dying Queen and blows between Markle’s prince and the really royal firstborn heir to the throne.
The audience at the Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse loved the show and there were plenty of reasons to. The music was lively. Bobby Peaco’s band was great. The songs were toe-tappingly lively. The lyrics were witty. The script was funny. And the jokes were just snide enough. Fortunately, the director Jonathan Van Dyke, wisely included kazoos, blown loudly, permitting those with delicate ears to avoid having to listen to expletives. I even learned something: that most of the princesses were originally German! Achtung! and how about that?
The sets were simple but clever. The direction was certain and swift. The costumes were terrific, especially the one complete with flying carpet, worn by the secondary princess Badroulbadour, aka Jasmine.
My favorite performer was Kat Gold. She played Hua Mulan, who, as a lesbian, had no prince; she returned during the second half as Rapunzel, with a blond wig that went down to her knees. She looked like a cross between Brunhilda (her hair) and Ilse Koch (her disposition). She had the entire audience singing “Not Von Red Cent!” a plaint that the other princesses shared about never making any money for their efforts.
Disenchanted. Through May 27 at the Rinker Playhouse in the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. www.kravis.com
Photos: Amy Pasquantonio
