The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid is a musical based on the Hans Christian Anderson story and the Disney film with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater and book by Doug Wright.   This much-loved story tells how mermaid, Ariel, wants to swap her life below the surface for dry land when she falls in love with the Prince.  Trading her beautiful voice for her wish, and against her father’s wishes, she achieves her dream. This show full of songs and dances, struggles, fights, deception among the talking sea creatures and merfolk is packed with magical moments, energy and great storytelling.

The set, depicting a ship above and seascape below the sea, was very realistically created.   The props were many and varied ranging from the fork comically used by Ariel as a comb to King Triton’s trident.  The multitude of props required must have given the production team a nightmare, but they rose to the challenge.

The make-up was outstanding.  Ursula’s hair and make-up emphasised her wickedness and there was a nice contrast between the ‘good’ and ‘evil’  thus assisting the cast to establish their different characters. 

The costumes were fantastic and of high quality.  There was great attention to detail.  Ariel’s transformation to human was cleverly crafted and Sebastian’s crab outfit was stunning.    There were several changes for almost all the cast with performers changing from maids to seagulls, sailors, chefs, lost souls and butlers.  The mermaid Princesses costumes were outstandingly pretty and the overall impact of all the costumes was a beautiful burst of colour. Scuttle’s feathery concoction was a masterpiece in engineering and construction and deserves special praise.

The lighting was effective throughout and well controlled. There were relevant lighting schemes for different songs and this enhanced the impact of the music from the excellent live band under the direction of Simon Eastwood.  This enabled the singers to deliver their songs with confidence and clarity. 

With skilful direction from Owen White, assisted by Ryan Stephens and choreography by Hollie Parks, this was modern musical theatre in its finest form.   BAOS were at the top of their game with first class performances from every member of the cast who were well supported by the technicians.  Martin Sampson was authoritative and commanding  as King Triton.   There was a delightful partnering of Eric, The Prince (Jack Baldwin) and Rhianon Mone as Ariel.  Harrison Crangle was an energetic and breezy presence and moved the action along nicely.  Kathy May-Miller exuded joy as Scuttle, providing entertainment on stage and off stage during the interval with cheerful banter with the audience.   There were beautiful dance sequences including one cleverly choreographed to depict Ariel’s transformation and her rise to the surface was graceful and well executed.  A visual feast from start to finish, this excellent production reinforces the fact that live theatre can be enjoyed by all ages and is available closer to home than some people think.  Another great success from BAOS.

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