Writer & Director: The Hairy Godmothers Collective
Reviewer: Christine Stanton
“Punny Princess Parody”
3.5 / 5
The Hairy Godmothers collective have come all the way from Australia and are ready to take audiences to A Whole New World, as they turn Disney into Drag and bring the punny princesses on stage with an X-rated, Mickey (not mouse) taking Reflection into the Circle of Life – more specifically finding the one and falling in love.
Our hero – Jae West, is desperate to find her one true love, in awe of the idyllic portrayals of romance shown in classic love stories. So, when her Hairy Godmother (Owen Merriman) pulls a glass slipper out from under her dress, that will fit the heroes other half – the quest is on to find a partner. Various suitors are presented to the hero – kink-obsessed mermaid Areola (Alex Nissen), past her prime & no longer with tiger or magic carpet – Jazz (Zac Hanlon) and drug addict Snow White (Mason Gilbert) all make an appearance, but none quite what the hero is looking for. Will the Beauty find a Beast, or do they need to start looking closer to home to find their soulmate?
This is a brilliantly clever take on Disney icons, working each of the well-known characters into the storyline with ease. The X-rated nature of the show is hilarious, with Emma MacMillan’s performance of Strap-On instead of Gaston being one of the musical highlights of the evening. Other excellently entertaining performances are Hanlon’s Jazz’s experience on dating apps, and Tinkerbell’s (Mita Hill) ode to menstruation to the tune of Colours in the Wind, featuring various feminine hygiene products. The storyline works well to focus on all of the ‘old-school’ Disney characters, making a strong point on stage not to include Frozen or the likes, and use the ‘classics’ only. The witty recognisable songs and groan-inducing pun-filled script makes for a lot of laughs throughout the show.
Alex Nissen’s excellent costumes instinctively and immediately helps to identify each character, while equally making each of them look spectacular. Aside from the puns, the humour is very on brand Australian – filled with C*** exclamations and downing tinnies on stage, their laidback attitude and scrappy execution being very recognisably Aussie. The easy demeanour of some of the cast means that sometimes the performances are more muted than you’d expect a drag show to be, rather than being loud, outrageous and over the top, some parts were quite low-energy and at points a little bit too reserved considering the subject matters and song lyrics! If there was the option of rubbing a magic lamp – the one wish would be for bigger and bolder performances to really make some of the characters come alive.
This fun parody panto also includes a small dose of audience participation so make sure you come prepared just incase you are called on stage to show off your inner Disney magic and Whistle While You twerk.
Runs Until 14th July 2024
RatedReviewed 
Completed. Good Review. I especially liked:
If there was the option of rubbing a magic lamp – the one wish would be for bigger and bolder performances to really make some of the characters come alive.
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