Snow White and her disgruntled fairy-tale pals air grievances in this quirky revue

Anyone who has ever taken issue with the way female characters are depicted in animated films like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Mulan will find Disenchanted!, now playing at the Theatre at St. Clement’s, a revelation. This musical revue dares to take on culture-shapers like Disney, and tackles the prejudices and neuroses that its characters, so the show implies, inflict on impressionable minds. Watch any of the movies that Disenchanted! satirizes and you’ll probably realize that the show makes some good points about the kinds of biases these movies might be guilty of. But Disenchanted!‘s music and lyrics aren’t as consistently entertaining as they are edifying. The tricky thing about a show like this is getting a message across without getting bogged down by it. At issue here is something called the Princess Complex: “that age-old idea,” says show host Snow White (Michelle Knight), “in which you are only desirable and valid if you are a beauty-obsessed, ditzy, insecure, Bambi-like waif.” Snow White is not the only disgruntled party. Accompanied by a three-member band (Michael Raabe, Bobby Brennan, and Gregg Monteith), Knight and five other women treat us to their vocal stylings and comedic talents as they inhabit 10 characters who rail against animated portrayals of themselves as diffident, codependent, perfectly proportioned, heterosexual stereotypes of femininity. Knight, with her warbling soprano, gives a delightfully rowdy performance alongside the hilarious, blank-staring Becky Gulsvig as a featherbrained Cinderella and the ebullient Jen Bechter as the loudly snoring Sleeping Beauty.