Disney's The Little Mermaid Jr.

The Little Mermaid is based on the 1989 Disney animation, which in turn was based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a mermaid who dreams of the world above the sea and sacrifices her beautiful singing voice in return for true love. This production was the reduced, junior, version which seems to have retained all the best Alan Menken tunes, and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater, so that we don’t feel at all short-changed.

The simple black stage was cleverly transformed by beautifully made and painted pieces of set (made by James Beale and Titchfield Festival Theatre, and painted by City of Portsmouth College Art students), which were easily rolled into place by the cast who made the scene changes almost transparent. Intricate and colourful lighting by Dalila Guerreiro da Silva brought each scene to life and, with the addition of bubbles, we could easily tell whether we were above or below water. There were some great effects too like the items falling off shelves, the rowing boat and Ursula’s bubbling cauldron, really giving the show the wow factor. Further colour was added by the marvellous costumes, with some clever leggings chosen for the aquatic characters. Sound (Oliver Whitehouse and Aaron Hayes) was excellent and there was a good balance between the voices and the soundtracks – we heard everything.

You all looked like you were having a terrific time on stage and that really comes across to the audience, making us enjoy the show even more. Director Artemis Zacharaki, MD Ewan Wharton and Choreographer Natalie Davies have obviously inspired you all to act, sing and move beautifully, creating some lovely pictures at the ends of numbers. This show has lots of named parts giving everyone a chance to show what they can do – and you all shone, like the stars that you are!

Poppy-Jo Cunningham and Patrick Smith, as Ariel and Prince Eric, made a great young couple falling in love. Both sang and acted well, and Poppy-Jo achieved a good balance of shy innocence and determination. Wills Illman made a wonderful crab, Sebastian, what a character, with such good comic timing! Izzy Gates was equally spirited as Flounder, especially when paired with Emily Jarman as Scuttle – so much like a cheeky seagull!  Marley Graham as Grimsby and Francis Smith as Pilot made excellent shipmates for Prince Eric - both full of confidence. Fern Sheldon was perfect as Ursula, the sea witch – a real baddie! So full of sass, and what a singer – but how long did it take to remove all that makeup!! Autumn Fox and Evie Spicer as Flotsam and Jetsam worked well with her – both moving very sinuously, as eels should – and Izzy Merryweather was nicely commanding as King Triton. Last, but definitely not least, I must mention Lottie Gates as Chef Louis – you gave every last bit of yourself to that performance, and we loved every second of it!

I’m sorry I can’t mention you all, but shows aren’t just about the people in the lead roles – they would be nothing without the ensemble and backstage people behind them. You all worked really well together to produce an amazing piece of theatre that every single person in the audience loved and enjoyed. We all went home very impressed and humming the tunes. Well done to you all.

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