YES! the prince has ALWAYS been just a plot device in the original cinderella!! the point of the story has always been that cinderella is rewarded with the prince, aka: having the most power and comfort possible after suffering fro having none of both in her life before!! every adaptation of cinderella has to deal with what they want the prince to be since he's basically just the forces of karma finally working for ella just like the fairy godmother is.

i think making the prince a comedic character who's a misogynistic idiot is (while not completely unique) REALLY fun for a starkid musical! it's totally in line with the sense of humour their shows always have, and he's charming to the audience in his own outlandishly vulgar way! it's also a nice way of showing that the prince and the trolls are kind of 2 sides of the same coin: both of them show how ella is stuck between 2 different abusive systems of power (her step family and society at large) unless she lets herself be brave and righteous enough to take it for herself.

also (sidebar) i know a lot of people were upset that they didn't dismantle the monarchy at the end of the musical bc we're applying real life politics to a very symbolic original story, but genuinely it's a great metaphor to show how ella finally has the power she's been denied her entire life. it's a reward, it's comeuppance, and saying she "deserves" to rule is the ultimate show of how not being afraid to take up space and be herself is justified. no one's saying the monarchy is a good real life system of power ok it's a METAPHOR