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Writer's pictureKimberly Laberge

Disobedient damsels in Disenchanted!


Once upon a time, and not so long ago, a certain Walt Disney screwed over our favorite ladies in skirts. Somehow, our badass heroines have been boiled down to secondary tits on a stick. Luckily, hosts Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty have taken over the narration. Outskirts Theatre Company's Disenchanted! The Musical takes the stage at Waukesha Civic Theatre and brings in the female perspective on time-honored tales.

Samantha Paige, Gabby Ashlin, and Emma Losey.

This raunchy comedy stars Samantha Paige and Emma Losey as our apple-poisoned and glass-slippered dames, respectively. Paige's dry humor and rocker belt adds the right amount of edge to stage, while Losey balances her out with a ditsy soprano. The duo are two sides of the same disgruntled princess coin, and balance each other's extremes.

Ashley Rodriguez.

Ashley Rodriguez's Pocahontas and Princess Badroulbador (better known as Aladdin's scantily clad mistress) steal the show. Rodriguez has a sexy and confident portrayal of Badroulbador, as she takes back the story which has been so convoluted. Powerhouse vocals with a jazz tone contrast the typical Disney-fied sound and bring forth a feminist anthem.

Ashley Rodriguez.

As Pocahontas, Rodriguez shows a softer side, in which the riverbend rafting princess laments over the lack of honesty in the telling of her history.

Ashley Levells and the company of Disenchanted!

Equally stunning is Ashley Levells as the Princess Who Kissed the Frog, or Tiana. Levells is exuberant onstage, and demands to be seen and heard - and boy, is it a song worth hearing. She brings down the house with her rendition of "Finally".

The company of Disenchanted!

While the plot at times seems to stray from the racy retellings of our favorites and into a slightly out of place sentimental message, the sense of feminine pride is overwhelmingly positive. This ensemble of nine strong women takes the flat stories we hear as children and gives them depth through a lens of stark reality. Ryan Albrechtson's direction is fast and witty, fulfilling a need for reality in entertainment.

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