Chillin Line A Villain

Last week Ellie attended musical theatre camp at the Performer's Academy. They had one week to learn a theatrical performance of Disney's Descendants 2 (Chillin' like a Villain) and put on a performance Friday evening. 

If you are not familiar with the Descendants series it tells the story of the teenage children of some of the evil Disney characters - Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), the Evil Queen (Snow White), Jafar (Aladdin), and Cruella De Vil (101 Dalmatians). The plot is a little confusing but has to do with these teenagers trying to adjust to life outside of some island prison, where their parents are still be held captive. Beyond that I am lost. 

Ellie landed a minor role as Jane, the daughter of the Fairy God Mother, and as some sort of pirate cheerleader. 

You can actually download the entire performance if you want at this link, it makes for a riveting hour!! 
         https://vimeo.com/album/5235677/video/276627895 


Ellie appears in the opening song and dance number - around 40 seconds (blue dress). Her main speaking role begins in the scene that starts at around 6:40 and ends at 9:30 minutes but you will have to turn the volume WAY up.  Her next appearance is at around 27 minutes, this time she is playing some sort of pirate cheerleader - left side towards the back on a riser. The action really heats up at about 29 minutes with some sort of epic sword fight - cue the cheerleading!! She comes back on stage at around 31:30 in a non-speaking role as the action heats up between some of the main characters. A song and dance number ensues at around 36:40 but by this point I am hopelessly lost on the plot. At 39:30 Ellie does a dance move that Darcy tells me is called the "coffee grounder" and it finishes shortly after.  At 40:45 Ellie does her curtain call.  

If you stick around all the way to the end, around 42:50, you will see one of those very touching moments when a parent in the armed services surprise his kid by being in the audience. That was pretty cool to see. 

All in all pretty amazing what these kids learn in one week. 
If you don't have an hour to watch the entire thing here are some still shots - also provided by the Performers Acadamy. Really cool that they provide a link to the video and take hundreds of still shots so that crazy parents can put down there cameras and phones and just enjoy it. 

Ellie's friend Julie and her little sister Lizzy were also in the play. Ellie is especially close to Julie (they both go to school and after school care together). In a few days Julia's family is relocating to Chicago for work. Ellie got Julia a friendship necklace and a picture of them together framed as a goodbye gift.