The Little Mermaid

For those unfamiliar with the Hans Christian Anderson tale, Disney's take is basically that Ariel is a mermaid princess longing for a life different to her own - one that involves being with humans (barbaric fish eaters, as her father, King Triton calls them). Triton has forbidden contact with the land-dwellers…… and of course, Ariel being a headstrong Disney princess, defies him and saves Prince Eric from drowning, falling in love with him in the process. She then trades her voice for a pair of legs (with the help of typical Disney baddie Ursula) to join him on land. They only have a few days to fall in love, or her soul will be forever Ursula's. The Prince is smitten with Ariel, but has fallen for the voice of the woman who saved him, and as Ariel cannot speak assumes it not to be her. The story throws in a few well-loved Disney characters trying to help Ariel tell the Prince that she, in fact is the girl who saved him (I'm assuming there were no pens or paper in the kingdom at the time). This is all set to some wonderful score and some excellent set pieces on their way to finding a happy ending.

Leigh Coggins played the leading role of The Little Mermaid in question - Ariel. Leigh looked and sounded every inch a Disney Princess - a very graceful, demure, strong character Leigh displayed every facet of Ariel even before we heard her sing. When she did, you had absolutely no doubt as to why Prince Eric had fallen for her voice - her captivating vocal gymnastics had the audience hanging on every single note.

Scuttle, Ariel's seagull friend and adviser of all things human was played by Shannon Whittle. It did take me a couple of lines to attune my ears to Shannon's squawking voice (as the seagull, of course), but once I had, Shannon delivered on all counts.

Jessica Davies played a great Flounder, Ariel's closest friend and confidante. Their friendship came across really well throughout the show, and her interactions between the character and others were convincing. Jessica's proficiency in heeleys, added an extra dimension to the character.

Sebastian the crab is King Triton's advisor and Court Composer, tasked with keeping an eye on Ariel by King Triton. Sebastian was in the safe hands (or should I say claws) of Andy Whittle - playing to the audience as much as the character would allow, whilst taking us from scene to scene, then leading us in some of the bigger musical set pieces.

Prince Eric is very much the hopeless romantic - falling for the girl who saved him, wanting her to be his bride even though he only remembered how she sounded. This is a nice part well played by Andrew Thompson, being guided by Grimsby - earnestly played by Steve Johnson.

Geoff Houghton carried the role of King Triton convincingly, as did Bob Bailey as Chef Louis who had a problem with crabs.

None of the Disney Magic works if there isn't a strong baddie. In The Little Mermaid, this is Ursula, and in my humble opinion is the scariest baddie since The Wicked Queen in Snow White. To play this against such a strong Ariel, you need somebody on top of their game - Ashleigh Hartin rose to the challenge, controlling every one of her scenes, Ashleigh turned in another great performance - diction perfect and wonderfully wicked.

Of course, as with all Disney baddies, they need a couple of sidekicks to do their bidding - Becky Halpin and Jenny Gilpin added perfectly to the mix as Flotsam and Jetsam.

Big shout out to the Mersisters, all played their roles well - their number together was just one of the highlights of the show, harmonies and movement en pointe.

With so many incidental characters in this show, I couldn't possibly go into detail about them all - suffice to say everyone played their part. All numbers, both principal and chorus were delivered with enthusiasm and precision, from tap-dancing seagulls to mersisters moving in unison they provided us all with a great entertainment in a carnival type atmosphere.

Staging and lighting was good - those who know me know I'm not a lover of projection/LED screens - though it (with set pieces) did add to the show, and probably cut down a lot on scene changes. The team had obviously worked hard putting this together, to make the animation on screen seem real.

Musical Director Joanna Jeffreys must have had a ball with this, chorus and principals alike looked and sounded like they were really enjoying it, helped along by the fish-heads in the orchetra (their headgear, not a term of endearment).

Choreography was shared between Shannon Whittle and Vanessa Whittle (who also Directed), and both had worked everybody hard for this and it showed-the numbers really did bring a carnival atmosphere to the proceedings.

Vanessa Whittle as Director and Joint Choreographer should be really proud of what her and her team achieved, bringing a little Disney magic to a virtually full house in Lancaster.

Thank you, Lancaster Red Rose, for your hospitality and invite

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