disney descendants musical
so music theatre international is releasing a stage production version/adaption of descendants that basically mashes all three movies into one.
the whole script is available to read online here!! and you can listen to some of their versions of the songs. most of the dialogue and lyrics have been changed. i read it all today and here are a few of my thoughts:
1) my first reaction was that it felt soooo much more cohesive than the movies? since the parents obviously aren’t played by super big actors they’re able to be prevalent throughout the whole play. when mal returns to the island, maleficent hunts her down and confronts her. it’s still not as dark as the books (which will forever be my primary canon) but !! it was kind of a nice vibe to see things really addressed all the way through.
2) hades, uma + pirates, dizzy, and celia do not exist in this version. while their absences are noticeable (and my girl uma is the loml!!) it almost makes the show feel like a continuation of the very first movie rather than the energy of the rest of the films. i’ve always been iffy about the “hades is mal’s dad surprise” storyline so i didn’t miss that at all
3) jaylos !! gets !! so !! many !! duets !! they have an entire song together!! good to be bad’s lyrics are transformed into a song about tourney and it’s basically carlos and jay hyping each other up on the field and singing together !! the line “when i say v, you say k” changes to “when i say c, you say j” and honestly??? i’m living for this you guys
4) mal actually goes to evie before leaving auradon for the island?? she asks her to come. evie says no, which, kinda made me sad since i loved the movies showing her willing to give up auradon for mal, but !! i enjoyed mal going to evie before leaving.
5) jay picks a fight with chad like 0.5 seconds after arriving in auradon and it was fucking hilarious
6) instead of “vks” the rotten four are called “evils” - which serves as sort of a reclaimed slur? ben and several others use “evil” as sort of a derogatory term for the island kids when they’re angry - such as “watch your tongue, evil!”
7) the love spell has a really bombass incantation about making ben “a slave to love” which is !! cool !!
8) the show still ends with the barrier/portal (they travel to auradon by portal in this) coming down/opening up for good but it coincides with maleficent turning into dust so :)
9) i’ve already mentioned this but i feel like it needs to be highlighted again: an entire jaylos duet???? and versus of set it off are sung together ???
10) CORE FOUR CONTINUITY !!! there is some ben/mal yes, but on the whole????? the core four is a team from beginning to end and god it was exactly what i needed
11) NO JANE/CARLOS ROMANCE. I REPEAT NO JANE/CARLOS ROMANCE WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS ADAPTATION
12) mal rejecting the princess title !!!!! – “how about we just stick with mal, okay?”
on the whole, the show wasn’t perfect and i missed some key characters (as well as the whole abusive!parental trauma thing), but !! i really really enjoyed getting a peak at what a core four centric storyline would look like for our rotten four. i quite missed them.
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