Student writes and directs Disney jukebox musical

By Bryce Johnson •

PHOTO BY BRYCE JOHNSON The cast and crew do a read through of “Spellbound.”

Brandon Ysibido, junior engineering major, started writing a jukebox musical, a musical that uses popular songs, during the coronavirus pandemic. As part of his high school’s theater production, he came up with the idea of the cast singing Disney songs since it would be easy to rehearse.

“Everybody approached me with their Disney songs. They wanted to sing, and they were all Disney love songs, which made sense. So I started trying to come up with a story to tie them all together just so it’s more than people singing,” Ysibido said. “I kept writing it and I started falling in love with the story that I was creating until the story kind of got away from me. It became much more than just a little Disney concert. It had a life of its own. It was magical.”

That musical became “Spellbound.” Written and directed by Ysibido and produced by Stage 2 Productions, a student theatre company within the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts.

Alex Alvarez, assistant professor of theatre, mentors Stage 2 students along with Dan Gelbmann, associate professor of theatre.

“We are thrilled to support students’ creative projects. We hope that ‘Spellbound’ encourages all members of Stage 2 to create their own work,” Alvarez said.

“Spellbound” will premiere on April 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Mailman Hollywood Auditorium as a workshop showing without sets or costumes. The play will feature songs and characters from popular Disney stories in unexpected ways.

“Phillip, who is famously the prince from ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ doesn’t end up with Aurora. He ends up with Rapunzel,” Ysibido said. “In the same way that I’m making sure that none of the princes and princesses go along with the ones they’re supposed to from the movie, I’m also making sure that no character sings their song from the movie. So each time you hear the song, it’s going to be in a different situation than you were expecting it to be.”

Along with the Disney songs and characters, Ysibido is excited for the audience to experience the story.

“What makes ‘Spellbound’ so unique and so interesting for me is the character of the narrator. In this show, we’re following a narrator who’s using a magical enchanted book to create the story,” Ysibido said. “Things keep disturbing the story, until she eventually has to get involved.”

Amanda Alonso, junior theatre major, is the stage manager of “Spellbound.” Alonso is excited to see the actors and dancers perform in the Mailman Auditorium.

“I don’t know if we can for legal reasons, but this play is amazing and I would love to see it get bigger, because his writing is absolutely amazing and I love the way that he intermixed the storylines and made it such a wonderful production,” Alonso said. “I can’t wait to see what it turns out to be.”

Right after the show on April 5, the audience will be able to provide feedback and share their thoughts on “Spellbound.”

“This is just the first go around of the script. I’m really depending on people’s advice and their feedback so that the next time we do it, it’s going to be stronger,” Ysibido said.

Ysibido is thankful to the cast and crew involved with “Spellbound.”

“I’ve been working with so many talented people and they’ve all really given their all to help me. They have inspired me to keep writing. I started this project many years ago and I had abandoned it at one point, but it’s all my friends who have encouraged me to keep going, that it’s now going to become a reality. So I owe everything to them,” Ysibido said.