Descendants, The Musical, a student-driven production, recently concluded its sold-out performances in CSD’s ArtSpace Blackbox Theatre.

The show was performed by middle schoolers. The musical featured students in grades five through eight, and it was the first production in which fifth graders have been able to take part as actors. The show’s crew, which included ninth graders from CSD, managed lighting, sound and everything else backstage. 

The performance combined all the Disney Descendants movies into one big show which made it very different from any other trilogy series CSD has performed. 

The Director, Erik D’Esterre, Eighth Grade Theater Arts & Music Teacher and High School Technical Director, was very excited to produce this show. He was very familiar with the show already and had no doubts that the community would enjoy it. 

This year Erik D’Esterre (known to his students as Mr. D) said, “I made the call to limit casting, which was partly heartbreaking as I wish I could give every student who auditioned a chance to partake, but one thing the pandemic has taught me is that by searching for the goldilocks zone having the right amount of cast members can make a world of a difference.”

This is the middle school’s first performance since 2019. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that it was successful.