Quaker Valley Middle School is taking on a modern classic with “Disney’s Descendants: The Musical.” The show will have performances Nov. 8, 9, 10, 15 and 16 in the middle school auditorium.
Musical director Thomas Forrest said he’s had students clamoring to do this show for years, but the prospect was daunting.
“I was always very much … I don’t want to say against it, but on the fence on the prospect of it,” Forrest said. “Number one, because it is an effects-heavy show, a stage-heavy show and a costume-heavy show. If you’re trying to do something like this, if it doesn’t look right, it looks wrong.”
“Descendants” follows the next generation of Disney heroes and villains. In the kingdom of Auradon, Ben — the son of Belle and the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast” — is preparing to take over as king. He wants to bring four students from the Isle of the Lost — home of Disney’s exiled villains — to Auradon. These characters are Mal, the daughter of Maleficent; Carlos, son of Cruella de Vil; Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen; and Jay, son of Jafar.
Unbeknownst to Ben and the other residents of Auradon, the four descendants have been tasked by Maleficent with stealing the Fairy Godmother’s wand so that the residents of the Isle of the Lost can be released and she can take over Auradon for herself. The four villains’ children must decide what to do after spending time in their new home kingdom.
The musical is based on “Descendants,” a hit Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered in 2015. The film spawned three sequels, a number of spinoffs and a Billboard No. 1 soundtrack album.
And it’s been a popular request amongst Quaker Valley Middle School casts.
“Ever since I started directing our musicals here, six years ago, the cast has asked about this as a possibility quite frequently,” Forrest said.
Part of Forrest’s hesitation was the lack of a “junior” version of the show. Typically, middle schools will stage renditions of popular musicals that were adapted to a younger cast — for example, they’re shortened to make performing easier for less-experienced actors. There is no “junior” version of “Disney’s Descendants.”
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Without intermission, Forrest said the show is about an hour and 45 minutes.
He said that the music is difficult, too, with vocal complications like four-part harmonies and countermelodies running through the score.
But he decided that this was the year to take on the challenge.
“We chose to do it because we knew that we had the cast coming in that could handle this kind of a show. I’ve been working with our eighth graders — a lot of them — for two years already, so this would be my third year with them. I just know what they can do and I thought this could be the year for it. “
With a 16-year-old at home, Forrest was familiar with the movie, but he never sat down and watched it closely until the prospect of directing this show came up.
“I thought, OK, this is actually excellent, it’s better than ‘High School Musical,’ ” he said. “It’s probably the best Disney Channel Original Movie I’ve ever seen.”
Thanks to the devoted Quaker Valley community, the technical hurdles of the show are not so hard to jump.
“Everything is amazing. We have such a great team this year. The past five years, I’ve worked with a local business owner, Bill Eichert who owns the Ultimate Pastry Shop. He’s built sets for us and designed sets with his daughter, who used to be in our shows; now she’s a high school student. He’s building with his team of parents who have been coming in multiple days a week and working on Mondays. They’ve been cranking out an amazing set for us,” Forrest said.
He also praised new music director Kelsey Armstrong.
“She really presses the kids and she knew how hard this would be, this specific musical with the difficulty of music, and she’s really been preparing them very well.”
The feeling is definitely mutual, according to Armsrong.
“I’m just enjoying being a part of this experience. It doesn’t feel like work because these kids are so much fun and they make me laugh all the time,” she said.
“I think Mr. Forrest does a great job making sure the kids can relate to the story and see why their characters are doing what they’re doing. He is one of the best directors I have ever been able to work with and I’m really thankful to have someone like him to work with,” Armstrong added.
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The musical has also been choreographed by two high school seniors who have put in the hours to make sure the show is top-notch.
“They spent all summer designing choreography for the show. So when we came into auditions at the end of the summer, they said, ‘We know what everything looks like, we have videos made for each song already,’” Forrest said.
All of the work put in by the community, crew and staff is not lost on the excited cast of students.
“The sets are really amazing, they’re very intricately built and they take up the whole stage,” said Evan Donaldson, 13, who was cast as Ben in the musical.
Elizabeth York, 13, will play Mal. She said, “Throughout middle school, the shows have just been so fun to connect with all the grade levels. It’s such a fun thing to do after school.”
Tharli Karto, 13, who plays Jay, agreed with York. He’s loved many aspects of being in the musical.
“I really enjoy being able to meet new people. … Learning skills, like I’m not the most beautiful dancer but I’ve definitely learned a lot. Learning how to sing better. It’s a very diverse group of people, so to kind of see everybody how they are outside of school.”
Quaker Valley Middle School’s production of “Disney’s Descendants: The Musical” will hold performances on Nov. 8, 9, 10, 15 and 16. A character breakfast with the musical’s cast and crew will be held on Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. before the show’s 1 p.m. matinee. For tickets and more information, visit qvsd.org.