REVIEW: An Inspiring Performance of Disney’s The Little Mermaid
Through 08/17 @ Cohoes Music Hall
“It will inspire and amaze audiences of all ages with the possibilities of the stage and the fantastic Capital Region talent filling them.”
Many years ago when Disney musicals first took to the stage, I may have had a nasty dose of skepticism about how a stage production can fulfill the visuals and excitement of an animated movie with all that art form can accomplish, but there have been stage masterpieces since then (Hello, Lion King anyone?) and Playhouse Stage Company’s imaginatively beautiful production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid has no problem knocking your eyes out with the talent and sumptuous design onstage at Cohoes Music Hall.
Helmed by longtime PSC director Michael LoPorto (Ragtime, Heathers) with a scenic design by Benny Pitt (who also worked on PSC’s current production of Oklahoma!) and an outrageously clever and beautiful costume design by Danica Martino, this Mermaid gives you an imaginative underwater vista and an instantaneous shift into palatial court life as well. The set has a lot of flowing curtains that plunge us down in the depths. There are moments like the end of Act I with Ariel swimming to the surface or Ursula queening about her lair with her henchmen, the moray eels Flotsam and Jetsam acting like a couple of punk skateboarders toing and froing around the sea witch that are just jaw dropping.
The story is adapted from Hans Christian Anderson about a young mermaid who falls in love with a prince and makes a trade of her voice with her Aunt Ursula for the chance to be human with the stipulation that she must gain true love's kiss within three days or she is doomed to return as a mermaid belonging to Ursula. It’s a rather thin premise to hang nearly 20 songs on but the songwriting team of Ashman & Menken were geniuses who tragically were denied a much longer, fuller career.
It is the first Disney animated feature to enjoy the talents of lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken who would go on to write Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin before Ashman's untimely death from AIDS. Many see a gay corollary in The Little Mermaid's story about the young outsider wishing to belong from the sexually ambiguous Anderson.
Of course, the extraordinary costumes and set wouldn’t make for an evening of great theater without the exceptionally talented and well chosen cast. It is a large ensemble (I forgot that Triton has seven daughters!) filled with Playhouse Stage Academy students and graduates (star graduate Jake Goodman is the Music Director) and many talented adult professionals returning to Playhouse Stage.
Adults who have made regular appearances with Playhouse Stage include Brandon L. Jones as Sebastian the Crab leading the underwater party with “Kiss the Girl” and especially “Under the Sea.” Glamorous Molly Rose McGrath grabs onto her villainy with all eight tentacles and makes a seafood dish of “Poor Unfortunate Souls.” Speaking of seafood dishes, Mr. Utility Player, Nick Martiniano, is hysterical as Chef Louis to extol his culinary love for “Les Poissons” which threatens and disgusts Ariel to no end. Also on hand are Joshua DeMarco as the nebbishy Grimsby who gets a large share of the steampunk dressing and Broadway star Patrick Ryan Sullivan who rules as King Triton. I found it funny for the King to be hectoring Ariel about her worldly goods while brandishing his triton and sporting a crown.
That leaves us with 20 young people. Wow! It sounds ridiculous to say but Molly Kirby is an Ariel more vivid and appealing than the cartoon. Seeing her glimmering red hair, pink clamshell top and seafoam dress carried so elegantly...it is like a fairy tale come to life. Her gentle yearning "Part of Your World"—which recalls the songwriting team Howard Ashman & Alan Menken's beautiful "Somewhere That's Green" from Little Shop—makes you want to grant her every wish. She carries this story easily and beautifully.
Jackson Majewski steps up as Prince Eric, graduating from the goofy jock bully role he had in Heathers and it suits him well. He makes a strong leading man and I'm sure will be ready for more interesting leads than Prince Eric. Liam Yerdon is Scuttle and snatches up a great deal of laughs as the scavenging seagull; “Positoovity” is a hoot! I felt like many kids in the audience were anticipating his malaprops and delighted with the delivery. Andrew Calvacca and Keith Dubois are a riot as Ursula's henchmen, vamping and kicking it up with her. The inspiration for Ursula was allegedly the drag performer, Divine, which makes sense as her lair and songs have an underground cabaret feel. They also seem to be constantly in motion and provide spooky thrills with their kinetic energy. Aaron Wood is charming as Flounder and has a big presence belying his size.
The sisters: Vandy Benson, Olivia Stickles, Nora Miller, Alexa Mertes, Mika Holbrook and Angela Billings all deserve their own show. The Triton girls will run forever! It is an eye popping family of women that move and sing as gracefully as you would dream mermaids would. The ensemble is made up of Ryan DeSacia, Emilia Errico (Dance Captain), Malia Fiorita, Declan Forcier, Evan Muench, Mackenna Pashley, Ainsley Stone and Alexis Thayer, future stars all.
Disney's The Little Mermaid is sure to captivate all the young fans of the movie and what's even more extraordinary is that it will inspire and amaze audiences of all ages with the possibilities of the stage and the fantastic Capital Region talent filling them.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid presented by Playhouse Stage Company plays through 8/17 at Cohoes Music Hall. Tickets: www.playhousestage.org
