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Cardboard Playhouse closes out season with 'Descendants: The Musical'
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The votes are in and the young actors at Cardboard Playhouse Theatre Company elected “Descendants: The Musical” as the last show of the season.
“It’s funny because both Doug (Montoya) and I were not super jazzed about the show. We watched the movie, and we were kind of like, ‘Oh man, I don’t know, I don’t know about the show,’” Kristin Berg, co-director, said. “But the more and more we’ve been rehearsing it with them, the more and more we’ve been falling in love with it.”
Berg said the message behind “Descendants” is that uniting two groups — the Villain kids and the Auradon kids — can make for a stronger community.
“The two main girls (Mal and Evie) are trying to figure out do they really want to be like evil, like their parents, or do they want to change the trajectory of their lives?” Berg said. “And trying to deal with that and their friendship with each other all at the same time.”
The musical combines music from the first and second original “Descendants” movies — which focus on the children of classic Disney characters — adding in songs like “Space Between” and “Ways to be Wicked.”
“The duet between Evie and Mal. It’s called the ‘Space Between.’ It’s such a sweet song about not knowing what your friend was going through, but meeting them where they are to help them through it,” Berg said.
Berg said the cast has bonded together, showing that relationships are important to the plot of the show. She said that bond especially shines through with Marisa Lopez, who plays Belle, and her son Noah Lopez, who in the show plays Belle’s son Ben.
“There’s some actual, real moments between the two of them, where Belle is very proud of her son, and, of course, Marisa is very proud of Noah,” Berg said.
The kids are adapting to their roles and putting their own spins on the characters, she said, as have her and her partner, Doug Montoya, who is co-directing.
“Marley (Crump), who’s playing Mal, wasn’t super familiar with the musical, so she’s kind of had her own take on it herself, as far as who Mal is,” Berg said. “So no one’s doing any kind of impersonations of what the movie was.”
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“Because Doug and I don’t really have like a concept of the show, other than watching the movie once, we’ve kind of been able to put our own take on it,” Berg said.
The production also put a spin on some of the costumes cast members wear. Berg said for recognizable characters like Jafar and Cruella de Vil, the costuming is a nod to the original looks, but not an exact replica.
“It is a little bit more like modern day-ish and more like punk-rocky than what we’ve known them as in the past.”
Berg and Montoya founded Cardboard Playhouse in 2004 as a theater for child actors to help build confidence and teamwork. “Descendants” helps continue that goal.
“I’ve got kids in this show who have leads for the very first time,” Berg said, “and to see them grow in this rehearsal process has been really great.”
