By Katherine Mueller
Opinion Editor
Encore’s “Descendants: The Musical” shows a strong effort from its cohesive and energetic cast.
“Descendants: The Musical,” based off of the hit live-action musical trilogy from Disney, tells the tale of Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay, four children of villainous origin. Living in the shadows of infamy cast by their parents, Maleficent, The Evil Queen, Cruella De Vil and Jafar, the group is given the chance to remake the character’s image at the prestigious Auradon Prep school for the children of Disney’s heroes.
Over the span of the three-movie series, the kids’ morals are continuously tested, as they learn what it truly means to be good or evil. The stage musical, held by Encore Theater Group, combines songs and subplots from all three films, though the greater portion of the play was based on the first movie, released in 2015.
The cast of “Descendants: The Musical” was continually eager and enthusiastic, putting in best effort toward the production. The cast caught the attention of the audience immediately with great stage presence and confidence.
One of the positive outcomes was the play’s rapid song progression. The choreography helped the cast to pull it off with confidence and endurance from each cast member. The musical did not contain remarkable script writing, but each actor/actress showed immense empathy with each role.
With a large cast almost entirely of children and teens, the actors had remarkable cohesivity with one another. All actors and actresses suited the role well, with even those who made up the massive ensemble cast having an enjoyable stage presence.
Even with a slight over ambitiousness when it came to vocals, the cast showed promising storytelling talent. All the young performers delivered an exciting spin-off to the original Disney film. When it came to set and costume design, the show could’ve gone for some improvements in quality and creativity.
The show also would have also benefited from not including such a vast amount of content from each film and focusing its efforts on re-creating the leading film into musical form, although each actor/actress performed with high musicality with one another throughout the play.
Additionally, while the majority of the cast was not wearing masks during the performance, the few who were didn’t take any immersiveness away from the musical. Although it may seem distracting, it truly didn’t make much of a difference due to great enunciation and acting. Still, being one of Encore’s first shows since the COVID-19 pandemic, it was executed successfully, and gave promise for even better performances in the future.
“Descendants” doesn’t disappoint the audience with an amazing performance. Each role in this musical took the audience on a timeless journey. During the end of the final scene, the entire audience applauded immensely, wanting an encore from this almost flawless musical.
“Descendants: The Musical” took place at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on Feb. 4.
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