Watch the FULL PROSHOT of our queer medieval fantasy musical, The Art of Pleasing Princes, produced by the Phoenix Players at Hobart and William Smith Colleges!
In a glittering royal palace at the center of a cataclysmic drought, five queer misfits band together to kill the king and save the world. Betrayal, infighting, and paranoia make forming community harder - and more necessary - than ever before.
Follow us here or @melliotwrites on Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok for more updates about what's next for the show!
This workshop production was licensed by the Phoenix Players. Interested in putting on one of our shows at your school, college, or local theater? Visit our website for more information!
Im litterally always thinking about my dnd campaigns and charecters and now that I have THREE of them? I can forget about ever thinking of anything else.
"Princess Impossible" from our fantasy musical The Art of Pleasing Princes, sung by Malea Kimberly! In this song, a princess finds herself next in line for the throne — and realizes she doesn’t want to become queen. Find places to stream the song here!
Lyrics under the cut.
MAYA:
WHAT AM I THINKING?
THIS WAS THE PLAN.
THIS WAS ALWAYS THE PLAN.
PLAY BY THE RULES ‘TILL YOU’RE WANTED
FIND A PURPOSE TO SERVE
FIND A CROWN, FIND A MAN
FIND A HUSBAND TO SERVE
FIND AN HEIR, FIND A MAN
SO WHAT IS THE PROBLEM NOW?
WHO IS THIS PERSON
WHO BEGS TO BE FREE
OF THIS ROLE,
THIS ROUTINE?
A PRINCESS IMPOSSIBLE
MADE TO BE QUEEN.
THIS FACE WILL BECOME A PORTRAIT
TO BE HUNG IN THE ANCESTORS’ HALL
FOR PEOPLE TO WALK BY AND SAY MY NAME
BUT NOT KNOW WHAT I FELT LIKE AT ALL.
SO, GOD, WHAT WAS IT FOR?
ALL THE SITTING HERE WAITING
FOR THE CHANCE TO EXPLORE
WHAT I AM
OR WHAT I MEAN?
A PRINCESS IMPOSSIBLE
NEVER A QUEEN
DEEP IN THE MIRROR THERE’S SOMEONE–
NOT A QUEEN OR A KING OR A KNIGHT–
I’D GO AND BE HER IF I COULD JUST SEE HER!
BUT NOTHING I LOOK LIKE LOOKS RIGHT.
YOU BUILD YOUR LIFE UP BRICK BY BRICK.
YOU LIVE IN THE MIDDLE AND DON’T MIND THE END.
YOU COULD BE A LOVER
YOU COULD BE A FIGHTER
YOU PROBABLY WON’T, BUT IT’S NICE TO PRETEND.
SO WHY, WHEN THE FUTURE BECOMES THE NOW
IS IT STILL SO HARD TO LET GO?
I ALWAYS KNEW THOSE WERE NOTHING BUT DREAMS
BUT PART OF MY HEART
STILL DOESN’T KNOW.
SO GOD, WHAT WAS IT FOR?
GOD, WHAT WAS IT FOR?
TO GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO SEE
THAT I DON’T WANT IT ANYMORE!
UNPREPARED!
UNFORESEEN!
A PRINCESS IMPOSSIBLE
MADE TO BE QUEEN
A PRINCESS IMPOSSIBLE
MADE TO BE QUEEN
We're excited to announce that the Phoenix Players are performing a workshop production of our musical The Art of Pleasing Princes at Hobart and William Smith Colleges on March 13th and 14th, 2026, directed by Dee Gilner!
In a fantasy world where a despotic royal court is destroying the environment, five queer misfits band together to kill the king and save the world. Betrayal, infighting, and vengeance make forming community harder - and more necessary - than ever before.
We'll be posting updates on our socials, and you can keep up with the Phoenix Players on Instagram.
FAQ:
Can I come see it?
Yes! Attendance is free! Hobart and William Smith Colleges are in Geneva, New York. If it's ticketed, we'll post a ticket link closer to the event!
Will the full show be posted online?
Maybe! It depends on the preferences of our cast and creative team, but we should know more in February. Even if we will not be sharing the whole production, we (and the Phoenix Players) will hopefully get to post clips!
Wait, so you can license Melliot shows? And put them on at schools and theaters? Can I do that??
YES! If you are affiliated with an institution of some kind (a theater company, a school, a university) and interested in putting on a Melliot show, you should direct your inquiries to [email protected].
Cast breakdowns and more information are available on our website, or upon request (for example if you need some method of showing the musical to your teacher, etc.) "Clean" versions of Adamandi and The Art of Pleasing Princes are also available, if your school theater program has concerns about language. (This revision of TAOPP also has less explicitly adult content than the original.)
What is a workshop production?
Because it's the first production of this new revision, Elliot and I are working with the Phoenix Players on a workshop production! That means we will be more involved than writers usually are with licensed works - making edits as the process goes along, and talking to the director and designers if anything is unclear in the script. Unlike the original staged reading of Princes that most people know, this production has a bigger budget for costumes and set, and will be using our orchestrations, so it will probably look and sound very different from what you're familiar with!
What has changed about the script of The Art of Pleasing Princes?
Quite a bit! It might be helpful to think about this version (which people have been tagging '2aopp') as an alternate universe prequel to the original draft: What if the original coup was the one we got to see onstage?
The characters are the same, but a lot of backstory has been moved into the musical proper: this is the first ever coup, Rowan gets passed over for the throne during the show, and the rest of the plan happens onstage. Maddox has a bigger role to play now, and there's tons of new worldbuilding around magic and the environment. And the ending is different! No spoilers, but working on a show about a bunch of queer kids killing a king was VERY different in 2025 than in 2022.
Most of the songs have been rewritten, including a score that is now themed around dance music, emo music, and pop music!
They also don't swear in it anymore (I know!), which will hopefully help y'all slip it past your drama teachers ;)
But I liked the old one! Why did it have to change?
If you're one of the fans of the original TAOPP staged reading who has stuck around this long -- thank you! You can still like the old version of the show (they're trying to accomplish very different things!) The recording of the old show is available unlisted on our YouTube, and the cast recording is on Spotify.
The original TAOPP will always have a special place in our hearts as our first musical together - and, as our first musical, it was way too long and packed way too many themes into such a tight space! We wanted to do something new with the story, and focus on the themes within it that mattered the most to us. Those may not be the themes that matter to you - but in the aim of giving this show a life beyond its first reading, we had to revise it and discovered a new story in the process! Whatever you feel about the old story, we're excited to share this one with you :)
At what point do we admit that cars are getting too big. Like. Me and my archaic 2001 clown car against the world, and against the SUV that takes up enough room we can barely fit on the same street.
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