PRESCOTT – Prescott Middle School students have been working hard to prepare for their 2026 show, “Descendants The Musical,” directed by Abigail Mattimiro and Allison Cornish. Showtimes are at 7 p.m. Nov. 13 and 14 and 2 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Prescott Performing Arts Center, 1010 Dexter St.

Mattimiro, a counselor at PMS, said the hour-long musical is based off the Disney Channel’s original movie and adapted for the stage. While there are three Descendants movies, this production mainly follows the first one’s storyline.

The plot focuses on the teenage children of classic Disney villain characters. Mal (daughter of Maleficent and Hades), Evie (daughter of Evil Queen Grunhilde), Jay (son of Jafar) and Carlos De Vil (son of Cruella De Vil) are given a chance to leave the Isle of the Lost, where they have been banished, and attend school in Auradon with the “good” kids. Maleficent has hatched an evil plan to have the kids steal the Fairy Godmother’s magic wand so they can get off the Isle and punish those who put them there.
“You follow the underlying plot of are we born evil, can we be good and of course it’s Disney, so there’s love in there somewhere,” Mattimiro said. “It’s that internal conflict of should I be evil or should I be good.”

Mattimiro said this musical is nothing like the school has previously done in terms of the storyline.

“We (she and Cornish) were not familiar with ‘Descendants’ prior to the last school year,” Mattimiro said. “Our choreographer introduced it to us and the kids had been asking for it. ‘Let’s do it and let’s try it.’ To this day, they are still so excited that we’re doing it.”

With shows coming this week, Cornish said they’re in the crunch of final rehearsals.

“This show has so many songs and so many numbers and so many scenes,” Cornish said. “Kids know it really well, but we didn’t know it as well. I feel like we leave rehearsals and our brains are scrambled and are putty. It’s a ridiculous, chaotic mess of ‘Descendants,’ but it’s good and we’re busy. It’s a lot of fun with exciting things we haven’t done before.”

They described the music as class Disney pop with a hip hop jazzy vibe that evolves somewhat into rap. It’s not easy to sing, but the kids have thrown themselves into it.

“Kids want to be a part of our shows, they want to do it,” Mattimiro said. “They are also starting to see that there are places of belonging that are not in the sport world. Yes, performing is the best part, but you have to learn to fall in love with the rehearsal process. We’ve been really intentional about that this year; learn the process of how the show comes together.”

The number of transitions between scenes and coming up with ways to portray magic that doesn’t look fake has been fun but challenging, the duo said.

“It is the coolest thing when the kids see our reactions when we see them do it,” Cornish said. “I have chills. We have the coolest job in the world to make this happen with them. It’s so awesome to see them bringing it to life.”

Mattimiro said even if kids have seen the movies 100 times, that doesn’t mean the characters necessarily come naturally to them.

“You’re not paying a middle schooler. You’re playing Mal who has this internal conflict. They are kind of seeing those lightbulbs of ‘oh, that’s how we’re telling a story,’” Mattimiro said.

“The story is so cool,” Cornish added. “The kids are dealing with these messages going on in their daily lives. It’s okay to learn and grow and be a good person and learn from the people around you. It’s so cool to see them channeling that into their daily lives onto the stage.”

Must-see moments

Mattimiro said if she had to decide last week what her favorite part is, she couldn’t have answered that question.

“But these last two days, we’ve done some really cool stuff with the ensemble putting them together,” she said. “Last year ‘Shrek’ was about the one-line zinger, but this year the ensemble is doing some really hammy cheesy stuff. They’re hamming it up up there, which is so funny to see.”

Cornish and Mattimiro said they threw in a line or two from ‘Shrek’ as an homage to last year’s show. They’re curious if the audience will be able to pick it out.

“My favorite is anytime our full cast is on that stage,” Cornish said. “I sometimes dread the full ensemble moment of a show, because it’s so hard to get everyone to buy in. But that is when our kids are magic. Our ensemble is just firing left and right. There are like five things you can watch at one time. So magical, the large group numbers.”

The audience will appreciate the care put into the choreography by Kylie Fagnan and the imaginative costumes, Mattimiro said.

“’Good is the New Bad,’ they show up for that song and you can tell that they really enjoy the choreography. I’m excited for people to see that. There’s a lot of moments that we’re battling onstage vocally,” she said.

Cornish defined her favorite musical moment as the big finale scene when the cast sings “Go the Distance” a cappella. It has turned into their official cast song.

“It brings me to tears just talking about it,” Cornish said. “The words of that song are just so magical, so heart wrenching. We sing it every single day to send them off at the end of rehearsal.”

This year’s VIP experience involved teaching the 85 kids who signed up the choreography and music of the show, which they performed at a Prescott football game’s half-time show in September. They wore their super fan shirts and bedazzled themselves in hair tinsel.

Those who signed up get to attend the Sunday show with a discounted ticket. They will be acknowledged, so they’re encouraged to wear their super fan T-shirts.

“We are so proud of these kids,” Mattimiro said. “They care so much about each other, and they care so much about Ali and I. They generally care about us as adults and putting on a good performance. They want to be a part of this community of performers and we’re so unbelievably proud of them and the hard work they’ve put in.”
During the interview, Cornish’s room was filled with student laughter while they practiced their lines voluntarily over their lunchbreak.

“They light up and they’re so excited to be here. There’s something so special about having a job and a career that you love to do. We are so lucky that we get to do that every day with these kids. What we’ve built here, our highschoolers want to be a part of this still and the littles are aspiring to do it.”

Tickets are available at the door, but people who want to pick their seats are encouraged to purchase tickets online at prescott.k12.wi.us

Cast & Crew

Cast: Isabel Robertson, Lila Montreal, Cody Theis, Jonathen Anderson, Penelope Heiniger, Alpha Justen, Kallen Nelson, Abigail Ripley, Arlo Kadlec, Jeremiah Ogren, Lucy Grundtner, Milly Tiffany, Silas Nelson, Irene Babcock, Emmett Fiege, Audrey Christianson, Evelyn Heaser, Colee Hughes, Lilly Nelson, Lola Thomes, Willie Most, Harper Lierman, Harlow Steffan, Hadlie Foley, Norah Brown, Raegan Martin, Evelyn Lapp, Lucy Karlson, Adalynn Burg-Rios, Addyson Doty, Anavae Riley, Aspin Whitcomb, Benjamin Westbrook, Bernadette Bartel, Bryanna Wilson, Chase Paulick, Cora Most, Emma Hamann, Esmae Peterson, Greta Welter, Jillian Konopacki, Josephine Trongard, Kylee Preble, Lucy Weber, Madison Bamber, Morgan Parkos, Mya McCarthy, Pip Boden,  Raeya Klym, Selma Martin, Zander Nelson

Student Tech Crew: Sydney Hillebrand, Lauren Wall, Karlee Wall, Leah Harvey, Rori Anderson, Maverick Drew, River Howze, Wyatt Schmidt, Lexi Schultz, Savanna Whiting, Emmett Stoeckel, Sam Martin, Mick Knyphausen, Isabella Britton, Claire Schultz, Mackenzie Parkos, Meave Hasselquist, Kaitlynn Bamber

Directors: Allison Cornish and Abigail Mattimiro 

Music Director: Allison Cornish 

Choreographer: Kylie Fagnan 

Set: John Rigg and Elaine Schultz