Dizney in Drag: Once Upon a Parody

Dizney in Drag: Once Upon a Parody is a unique, musical cabaret that will have you laughing like a hyena, crying like Dumbo, and grinning like a Cheshire cat in a Whole New World you didn’t know you needed. Featuring a naïve and endearing hero, iconic fairy tale characters, and the loveable, eponymous Hairy Godmother, the show takes audiences on a rollicking parody of the classic ‘hero’s journey’, exploring love, relationships, gender and gender identity, stigma, sexuality, and self-discovery.

A cast of nine performers showcase original lyrics, tackling contemporary social issues with humour and tact and culminating in positive, progressive, feel-good messaging.

Right from the opening scene, the show dives into an exploration of life’s pleasures, trials, and society’s normative expectations, then continues to surprise and delight audiences at an increasing pace song by song right up to the eye-popping finale.

Form and Style

A musical disguised as a play; a cabaret with a storyline; comedy with a message. The show uses parody, humour, characterisation, song, dance and narrative to make audiences think, laugh and generate dialogue around its central themes of gender norms, social expectations of relationships and sexuality, and self-love.

Some audience interaction and voluntary participation is used to engage the audience, further the storyline, and elevate the comedic value of a some scenes.

The show can be modified to fit a range of stage sizes and layouts, and will make full use of any lighting capability a venue has. We use 8 radio mics that our company owns, plus backing tracks on a laptop.

Community Engagement

In Adelaide we were invited to visit a High School drama class by their teachers after they saw the show. We performed snippets from the show, conducted a Q&A, and spoke to the students about bringing a grass-roots production to life. The teachers then got permission from parents to bring their students to our show as a school excursion. It was a fantastic two-way exchange for all involved. Much of the discussion with the teachers was about how our show should be part of a school’s health/sex education program. This would be an avenue we would love to explore further.

Reviews

★★★★★ “What I didn’t expect was a highly original master class on how to do a parody that would make a cartoon mouse blush and leave the audience uproariously entertained!” – Review by Shane Berketa, for seedoeatreview.com (March 2021).

“…it was brilliant. The cast is spectacular, funny and sexy! Honestly, my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much. …great acting! The cast is top notch! Each giving a stellar performance and their singing abilities, wow! Wish I had those dizney songs to sing at home! If you haven’t seen it, GO! You won’t regret it!” – Testimonial by Brandi W. (Jan 2022, Audience Reacts on Perth’s FringeWorld app).

“…so glad I got tickets. What an amazing show, so inclusive, so funny, so bold. My list could go on, this is a show that is a must on everyone’s list.” – Testimonial by Ellen T. (Feb 2022, Audience Reacts on Perth’s FringeWorld app).

Available Marketing Collaterals

Digital images, flyers, posters, 2 metre tall corflute banner, 30 second video teaser, professional photographs, sample media and press releases.

Credits

The Hairy Godmothers are a collection of Perth creatives with divers backgrounds, including a lawyer, engineer, podiatrist, music teacher, theatre managers, science teachers, poets and yogis. With a unique collective dynamic, each member of the Godmothers team contributes to every aspect of show construction from concept creation and writing, to production and performing. We have over three years’ experience producing shows, lifting production values to meet increasing venue sizes each year (Perth, Bunbury and Adelaide Fringe Festivals). The 2022 season saw this show sell over 10,000 tickets, with our biggest single audience reaching 860.