Twisted: A Very Wicked Disney Musical


Promo poster for Twisted. Image via Do312

You probably know the musical comedic genius of Team Starkid from A Very Potter Musical and its sequels. What? You’ve never seen A Very Potter Musical??? Well, I’ll have to blog about that some other time, because it’s awesome. Draco is a girl in drag and Zac Ephron is a [SPOILER!] and Harry Freakin’ Potter is played by a pre-Glee Darren Criss (aka Blaine Warbler).

But today I’m fangirling about StarKid’s latest production, Twisted: The Untold Story Of A Royal Vizier. It parodies both Wicked and Disney’s Aladdin, as indicated by the promo poster. It’s as affectionate and irreverent a parody as any of StarKid’s other works. Ja’far (not to be confused with the copyright-protected Jafar) gets the Elphaba treatment as the virtuous scapegoat for all the kingdom’s problems. His “scheming” is really applied poli sci, his “sorcery” is advanced science, and his “evilness” is a desire to rid the streets of criminals who steal bread from simple hard-working bakers. He also shares an unexpectedly poignant romance with Scheherazade of One Thousand and One Nights fame. Aladdin, tragically orphaned at 33, is a perfect satire of a douchy hipster trustfund baby who’s too cool to work for a living like everyone else. The Princess is every 16-year-old rich white privilege-checking Social Justice Warrior on Tumblr who dreams of saving the world but has a lot to learn about how it actually works. Since her name is never mentioned, I’m sure she is not the licensed Disney Princess Jasmine.

Want a quick sampler? Watch the opening number, with its profanity-laced classic Disney-style crowd song (the villagers do not greet Ja’far with “Bonjour”):

Or the balcony scene, which references pretty much every Disney moral panic conspiracy theory of the 90s:

Or this title-dropping gallery of Disney’s most fabulous villains:

Got a couple hours? Watch the whole thing!


One response to “Twisted: A Very Wicked Disney Musical”

  1. […] 3. Twisted: A Very Wicked Disney Musical Not a lot to add about this post, which is actually from the end of last year. Everything I said in it is still true. Twisted is a hilarious musical parody of not only Aladdin, but classic Disney tropes in general. Go watch it. […]

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