The young and the talented take to the stage

By Allison M. JonesMay 7, 2026

Youth performers stage Disney’s Descendants: The Musical in Brantford this weekend and School of Rock in Hamilton next week.

Based on the popular Disney Channel movies, Disney's Descendants: The Musical is a show packed with comedy, adventure, colourful characters and hit songs being staged by a youth company in Brantford over three performances on May 8 and 9.

The premise for the musical imagines that Belle and the Beast have long since united all the fairytale kingdoms into a land called Auradon.The villains have been banished to an isolated island, separated by a magical barrier. Then Ben, their teenaged son, reveals his shocking first official decree: the children on the Isle of the Lost will come to live in Auradon. Ben has chosen the children of Maleficent, Evil Queen Grimhilde, Jafar and Cruella De Vil to leave the island as a “test run.” Belle and the Beast are horrified by this plan, and tell their son that if his experiment fails, the connection between the two worlds will be closed forever.

When the four villain offspring, Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos, receive their invitations to attend prep school alongside the children of beloved Disney heroes under the headmistress, Fairy Godmother, they have a difficult choice: should they follow in their parents’ wicked footsteps or learn to be good?

*Disney's Descendants: The Musical* runs May 8 and 9. PHOTOS: Genevieve Wey

In 2020, Music Theatre International made available the rights to a junior, one-act production based on the Descendants film series. The plot of the musical mostly aligns with that of the first film, released in 2015, but incorporates story elements from the sequel and music from the first three films (all directed by Kenny Ortega) as well as the animated series Descendants: Wicked World (2015-2017). Its book and additional lyrics are by Nick Blaemire, with additional music by Madeline Smith and new orchestrations by Matthew Tishler.

The theatre company staging the musical, 20 Performing Arts Academy, was founded two years ago by Theresa Noon-Hunter and Kristen Henderson, long-time theatre and film professionals. 20PAA was started as a way to provide opportunities for young thespians in the Brantford area who might otherwise need to travel to larger communities like Hamilton or Kitchener-Waterloo to develop their skills. This year, Descendants: The Musical is the culmination of the academy’s musical theatre intensive program, in which students from grades 6 to 12 develop in the craft of musical theatre. Rehearsals began in February.

Directed by the academy’s artistic director Noon-Hunter, Descendants: The Musical has nearly two dozen roles which provides the young performers ample opportunity to shine. The production’s music director is Matthew Skinner, its stage manager is Amanda Dye and its choreographers are Lydia Smith and Rita Smith.

According to The Walt Disney Company, the first three films, Descendants, Descendants 2, and Descendants 3, were the most-watched television movies of the years they were released (2015, 2017 and 2019) among kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14. They have also racked up nearly a billion hours of online viewing hours, underscoring the franchise’s popularity.

NEED TO KNOW

Disney’s Descendants The Musical
20 Performing Arts Academy
May 8 and 9, 7 p.m. and May 9, 2 p.m.
Brantford Collegiate Institute Auditorium
120 Brant Ave., Brantford
Tickets available here

Connect Theatre Presents School of Rock: The Musical

The cast of Connect Theatre's *School of Rock: The Musical*, which runs May 15-18. PHOTOS: Kobe Banks

Dundas-based youth theatre company Connect Theatre is bringing School of Rock: The Musical to The Zoetic Theatre May 15 through 18, calling it “a high-energy production that celebrates creativity, confidence, and the power of young people discovering their voice.”

The joyous and high-energy rock musical is based on the 2003 film made famous by comedian Jack Black and written by Mike White. It features all the original songs from the movie with 14 new songs by heavy-hitter Andrew Lloyd Webber, book by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellows, and lyrics by Glenn Slater. In School of Rock, Dewey Finn, a down-and-out rock musician, unexpectedly finds himself in front of a class at a prestigious private school. He soon aims to turn a class of “straight-A students” from grade 5 into a winning rock band in time for an upcoming Battle of the Bands. At the heart of both the film and the musical is Finn’s passion for music, which encourages his students to discover their own voices.

The musical debuted on Broadway and had its world premiere in December 2015 at the Winter Garden Theatre after about a month of preview performances. It then made its West End debut in November 2016 at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. School of Rock: The Musical was a nominee for four 2016 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Book and Original Score as well as five Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Musical, Orchestrations, Lyrics and Music. It was the winner of a 2017 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music.

In its press release, Connect Theatre promises a production that “brings together an energetic cast of young performers and adult actors from across the Hamilton community. Featuring a fabulous rock score played by an amazing live band, School of Rock highlights not only performance, but the growth, collaboration, and confidence that come from being part of something amazing. We invite you to come and share the magic of music with your loved ones!”

Connect Theatre is a not-for-profit organization run by volunteers, many of them former students. On its website, Connect Theatre says it originated “when Parkside High School closed, leaving Dundas without a youth musical theatre program. Nine years later, many of the same students who started the journey of building this youth theatre company now sit on the board and take on various roles.” Past seasons have seen the company stage a sold-out run of Heathers the Musical and a highly regarded production of Into the Woods.