GOODBYE poisoned apples, goodbye glass slippers, no longer needed by Snow White and her posse of disenchanted princesses in the off-Broadway hit that's anything but Grimm and demands you should forget the familiar Disney figures you think you know.

After sold-out runs in the United States, these royal renegades toss away their tiaras as they bring Dennis T Giacino's subversive, definitely-not-for-children musical Disenchanted! from New York to old York for its British premiere.

Courtesy of quick-off-the-mark Pick Me Up Theatre artistic director Robert Readman, Disenchanted! will be staged in the John Cooper Studio Theatre, 41 Monkgate, York, from tonight until October 1, with Readman being joined in the production team by musical director Barbara Chan, choreographers Stefani Lyons and Jacqueline Scott and lighting designer Adam Moore, while Ian Thomson, Emma Godivala and Elanor Dunn are in charge of sound, hair & make up and props respectively.

Readman and Giacino have mutual friends and the York director duly approached the American writer about staging the show over here. Giacino looked at the Pick Me Up website, was impressed by the production shots from past shows, and hey, presto, the rights holders granted permission.

Giacino has kept in touch with Pick Me Up via Facebook and even made a "lovely video" for the company, while Readman has put together a typically zestful cast to play the sassy princesses who have a bone to pick with the way they have been portrayed by Disney.

York Press:

Hayley Bamford as Pocahontas in Disenchanted!. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Katie Melia, last seen with Pick Me Up as Alice in The Addams Family, is Snow White; Alexa Chaplin, who played Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme in Stephen Sondheim's Assassins this summer, will be Cinderella, and Victoria Lightfoot is Sleeping Beauty, having starred as Princess Elizabeth in Betty Blue Eyes.

Maya Tether follows up her brilliant turn earlier this month as office martinet Roz in York Stage Musicals' 9 To 5: The Musical by doubling up as Princess Badroubadour and the Princess Who Kissed The Frog; Maya Bartley O'Dea is Hua Mulan after starring as Madame Thenardier in Les Miserables and Rachel Crabbe in Richard Bean's comedy One Man, Two Guvnors; and Elanor Dunn will be busy on stage as well off, combining her props designer duties with playing Belle.

In the company too will be Hayley Bamford, taking on the roles of Pocahontas and Rapunzel, with Morticia in The Addams Family and Mary Lou Sokolov in Buddy among her past credits, while Maren Fagerås Nævdal builds on impressive performances as Fantine in Les Miserables and Johanna in Sweeney Todd earlier this summer by donning fishnets to be Disenchanted's Little Mermaid.

"Disenchanted! all started with Pocahontas because Dennis is a history teacher and was telling his students her story and how Pocahontas's story had changed over the years, where in fact she was a tomboy and not a princess," says Hayley.

"I guess he looked at the comparison with the Disney version, where she comes over as voluptuous and older, and this led him to look at what Disney had done with other stories and how the women might rebel against the image Disney had saddled them with.

"So in Disenchanted!, Pocahontas is disappointed with the way she's been portrayed; her big number is called Honestly, where she just wants her story to be told honestly, but she still has a short skirt though Robert [director Robert Readman] has promised to put tassles on!"

The three central roles as the show's narrators go to Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White. "These princesses are the leaders of the pack who have decided to give their side of the story and say what they feel about their portrayals," says Maren, a 17-year-old Norwegian, who this month started her second year of musical theatre studies on the B Tech course at York College, just as Hayley previously did a B Tech in Performing Arts B Tech there.

"We all have our solo moments in the show: our big number with a story to tell," she continues. "I'm playing The Little Mermaid in fishnets and heels and my big song, Two Legs, is about how she's swapped her fish tail for these fishnets, heels, the Prince....and a drinking problem. My song will have top drunkenness but it will toned down a bit in the dances!"

York Press:

Norwegian student Maren Fagerås Nævdal as The Little Mermaid in Disenchanted!. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

The show is "very much a comedy," says Maren: "It's feminist, with a great message and meaning behind the comedy that both women and men will enjoy, and they'll really enjoy the songs being pastiches of recognisable Disney musical styles, like the soul-gospel song for the Princess Who Kissed The Frog, or Snow White being inspired by the early Disney movies."

The mood of Disenchanted! is one of rebellion against having to be body-conscious. "The show can be quite brash at times, but Robert's encouraging us to be a bit more lady-like sometimes too," says Hayley, whose second role finds her playing a not exactly lady-like Rapunzel.

"It's a German story so she's German, Wagnerian, very butch and very loud, and her song is all beer kegs and oompah. She's nothing like Disney's Rapunzel. In our show she's not seen any of the money from being the face of all the adverts she's been pimped out for by Disney!"

Readman's production will be presented in cabaret style with tables and cocktails and waiter service: the only male involvement in the show. "We're all having a good time doing rehearsals because it's such fun and we're all having such a giggle. That's what you get with an all-female cast," says Maren.

She grew up watching Disney princess movies and English and American TV shows dubbed and subtitled into the Norwegian language (Norsk). "That's how I learnt the English language, from watching Hannah Montana," she says.

"I originally came over for an exchange year at York College, as we don't have the same cultural opportunities to do this at home and I've really enjoyed the course and the chance to work with Pick Me Up. Now I'm applying to drama schools over here for next year."

Pick Me Up Theatre present Disenchanted!, John Cooper Studio Theatre, 41 Monkgate, York, tonight until October 1, 7.30pm, except Sunday. Box office: 01904 623568 or at pickmeuptheatre.com

Did you know?

Disenchanted!, with book, music and lyrics by Dennis T Giacino, was nominated for a 2015 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical and a 2015 Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Musical.