Whether your opinion of Disney princesses lands you in the zealot category or makes you a champion eye-roller, Roxy’s Downtown has a treat for you. The musical “Disenchanted!” opened Friday, and its cagey, laugh-packed takedown of the “princess complex” features 10 of the legendary characters we have all come to know and love — or not.

Co-created by Dennis T. Giacino and Fiely Matias, “DisenchantedI!” debuted at the Orlando International Fringe Festival in 2011 and opened off-Broadway in December 2014. The spot-on script and score mercilessly nail some of the major cringeworthy cliches from Disney interpretations of fairytale characters. The results are clever and genuinely funny while also striking painful patriarchal chords that cannot be denied.

Regardless of your age, you can relate to at least one Disney princess. Snow White, whose hand-drawn tale was the studio’s first animated feature, set the trend in 1937. Next came “Cinderella” in 1950, and “Sleeping Beauty” in 1959, and a stereotype was born: a young, traditionally American beauty with a shapely figure — shy, helpless, yet resourceful — has an unnaturally close relationship to random wild animals and the undying dream of being saved by Prince Charming. Today the princess complex is stronger than ever. 

Giacino and Matias did not demure when creating “Disenchanted!”; neither do the princesses when filing their specific complaints — that’s he whole point of the show — and unburden they do. The blatant mockery is fun, perhaps more so if you’re a Disney princess fan, because the authors know their subjects so well.

Snow White (Carson Manlove) is the instigator, fed up with the narrative and ready to rumble. Manlove’s Snow is fearless and relentless, and the actor’s opera and choral music training is evident in her beautiful voice. As the leader of a quirky trio that commands this wild pack of discontented queens, she is the fiercest but also a dynamic team player. 

Sleeping Beauty (Christi Moore) and Cinderella (Olivia Lybarger) round out the A-team, and each has many fine moments. Moore’s comic timing is flawless, with bit after bit hitting the target to the audience’s delight. Beauty is a wonderful role that allows her to highlight her comic and musical skills equally. A veteran actor with a distinctive voice, she just keeps getting better. 

Olivia Lybarger’s Cinderella is a chirping birdbrain who takes pleasure in her own cluelessness. Lyberger is a responsive comedian with a light touch, a strong sense of her character’s absurdities, and impressive singing chops. This team was a real pleasure to watch as they introduced us to each character making their individual cases against the princess complex.

This score is composed of mostly campy but sharp songs that address each character’s grievances while giving the performer a marvelous cameo acting and singing opportunity. This cast does not let those opportunities go to waste.

Kennedy Staiger as Belle is wonderfully, convincingly unhinged, and her character has got a point. If your dishware and decor were constantly chattering at you, wouldn’t you go “Insane”? Emily Son as a refreshingly direct Hua Mulan offers a possible explanation for their lack of male companionship. Kiera Abrienne as a bitter Little Mermaid helps us understand how ill-advised her life choices have been, and they are pretty bad.

Kirsten Witsman’s rowdy Rapunzel raves effectively and accurately about never making a penny in spite of having her entire life co-opted by one of the world’s most influential entertainment corporations. Princess Balbroubadour (Cindy Summers) is over being a visually misrepresented “Secondary Princess” and needs to get it off her chest. 

Sarah Montoya’s Pocahontas offers a genuine plea to tell her story “Honestly.” That seems fair, since she is the only character, the only “princess,” based on a real person. Most of the Disney princesses were based on fictional characters adapted by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, or Charles Perrault, and often based on folklore; Hua Mulan is a composite character. 

Then there is The Princess Who Kissed the Frog. 

In 2009, just 72 years after Snow White made her debut, the folks at Disney decided that it was finally time for Black Americans to be part of the princess complex. Hence “The Princess and the Frog,” an animated musical set in New Orleans. Trenyce Nolan plays the aforementioned frog-kisser, who is not even identified by name. Her strong and flexible voice and “what a bunch of bullshit” attitude added a lot to the show. Too bad she doesn’t get to arrive sooner.

Many group numbers stood out, but I was taken by the funny-not funny, brutally honest “All I Wanna Do is Eat.” I hope that not every female member of the audience found it as relatable as I did. 

The three-piece orchestra, with music director Ruth Powell on the keyboard, Anthony Gropper on bass, and percussionist Kim Trujillo, provide strong backup for the fast-paced show and this energetic cast. Chadwick Armstrong’s bright, renegade interpretations of the original princess costumes are lively and sometimes splendidly ludicrous.

The strong Roxy’s production team led by director Rick Bumgardner took the humor and the horror of this parody and ran with it, to a magical land where nothing is real. Princess fans or not, we are here for that.

The Details

Roxy’s Downtown presents “Disenchanted!”
July 17-August 15, 2026, at Roxy’s Downtown, 412 1/2 E. Douglas Ave. in Wichita

Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. A 2 p.m. matinee is also scheduled for July 25 and August 8.

Reserved tickets are $42.

Designated floor seats are available for people with physical disabilities. Audience members who cannot navigate the stairs to the public restrooms may use the restroom located backstage.

Learn more and purchase tickets. 

Teri Mott is a writer and actor in Wichita, Kansas, where she covers the arts as a critic and feature writer. She is co-founder of The SHOUT.

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