Meet the women making magic across Disney’s stage musicals

It is the eighth of March – so, Happy International Women’s Day! Women are a key part of creating the magic of Disney on Stage – they are there working in a huge array of departments, perform on stage and creatively come up with a way to bring to life some of Disney’s most famous titles. But, what does working in theatre actually mean for those women? For this special occasion, we speak to some of them about their experience.

“Disney was kind of always there, since I was a kid,” says Jacqui Sanchez who plays Queen Iduna in Disney’s Frozen the Musical in the West End. So, it feels particularly special for her to be part of creating the “magic” of one of its biggest recent titles in theatrical form. Accordingly, she describes working at Disney Theatrical as being fulfilling, noting that they put a real effort into “celebrating women, whichever department they work in”. Starring in Frozen – a story that has two female leads has been particularly exciting: “the women in the story have taken the reins, are driving the narrative forwards, taking charge, and living extraordinary lives”.

The emphasis Disney Theatrical places on female empowerment and diversity is one of the reasons Patience Persson, the company manager of Disney’s The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre in London loves her job. She is responsible for the day-to-day running of the show, all the scheduling of the cast and crew and lots of admin: “it is a nice mix of being creative and being part of a wider process,” she says. But, Persson has had a long history with The Lion King as a performer too: “I was an ensemble dancer on the show for six years” – her return to the show was something of a circle of life moment. “It was almost like I came home, I came full circle,” she says. The habits Perrson learnt from working at a West End show for that time prepared her well for her behind the curtain role, too. “Dancing was formative…I knew how a West End production was run and I saw the amount of work that goes on behind the curtain”.

“It is so important for children to see people who look like them onstage or on screen,” she continues. “Disney Theatrical does a great job at celebrating women – whatever they look like, because the characters are so diverse. People have different hairstyles, are of different heritages…things feel like they’ve really moved forward”.

“International Women’s Day means everything,” agrees Kella Panay, the resident director and choreographer on Disney’s Aladdin UK and Ireland tour. Panay started dancing when she was three years old, trained at the English National Ballet School and also danced in productions including The Lion King. “I just loved performing, always…I’ve been really lucky, I’ve loved so much of my career” she says. However, Panay is certain she wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without the help of her mother – “that’s why International Women’s day is important,” she says, “my mum is everything..it is wonderful to have a day to celebrate her and all that she does for me”.

It was Panay’s mother who encouraged her love of theatre: “she always used to take me, whenever she could,” she recalls. And now, she says she couldn’t do her job – which involves sustaining the look of the show and the creative decisions of the director and choreographer, if her mother was not around to help her. The role of the resident director and choreographer means she sometimes has to work long hours, and Panay has a six-year-old daughter: “my mum helps so much looking after her. She’s always allowed me to chase my dreams and think big. I’ve always felt celebrated as a woman because of that”.

As part of the company of Frozen, Sanchez can perform in up to eight shows a week. “It is a lot, but Disney is one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world. It is a nice feeling being part of the family”.

Panay applauds Disney Theatrical for its inclusion of a variety of female focused stories. “Yes, there are princesses but it also shows we can be extremely independent and strong. You can wear lovely dresses but you also don’t have to…it feels like Disney really pays attention to that.” Before Aladdin, Panay worked as resident director of the UK production of Beauty and the Beast which put focus on making Belle in charge of her own destiny. “We both honoured the storyline and also made sure she came across as a really strong, independent woman,” Panay explains.

For Sanchez, performing to the audiences at Frozen that are filled with young women is a massive perk. “The audiences really are so magical,” adds Panay. “You look out and there’s generations of families sitting there…they’re creating a memory together”.

There are still things that women have to think about that men can overlook, says Persson. “A lot of women might feel like they have to work twice as hard as men,” she says and adds that “women are also seen as being over emotional”. Sanchez agrees: “For women it can be difficult to be assertive or outspoken without being labelled as something negative”.

Sanchez feels that women can often be “typecast” in the world of acting, too. “Thankfully it is going away, but women of different ethnicities in particular can be put in one box or another”. Over in the technical side of theatre, Panay acknowledges that the teams have been traditionally “very male heavy”. “At Disney Theatrical it is really changing though,” she says, “it is about encouraging people through the door and saying, okay, you can do this”.

“It is important to have a day to reflect on how far we’ve come, to acknowledge ourselves and champion each other” says Persson on the need for International Women’s Day, “we don’t get to do it enough”. “It celebrates our past. It celebrates our present,” adds Sanchez. “It is a day to take a moment for ourselves,” continues Panay. “Things have changed for women, and we’re still moving forwards…so yeah it is a great day, it is fantastic”.