Review: DISNEY'S LITTLE MERMAID JR at Red Curtain Theatre

If your child isn't part of the world of the Red Curtain Theatre, 913 W Oak Street, in Conway, they are missing out on participating in Wonderful Productions, such as their most recent musical DISNEY'S THE LITTLE MERMAID JR. This theatre company nurtures their younger thespians and fosters individuality, as well as train them in numerous performing arts skills through various classes and workshops (but not line dancing--dang it! That's the one I wanted to take). To see a sample of what your budding actor/actress can hope to do, check out the show, which has one more weekend to go Friday, April 14, through Sunday, April 16.

With music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman & Glenn Slater, and book by Doug Wright, the stage musical is based from the original 1989 Disney movie, which was taken from the Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the same name. It's a common tale of a typical teenage girl ready to explore a world beyond her boundaries, and a father who isn't ready to give up his little girl. This take of the theme involves Ariel (Ansley Sherman), the little mermaid, who likes to hang out above the ocean, and falls in love with a prince (Barrett Carter), that she rescued when he fell overboard. In true musical fashion, she sings to him, he falls in love with her voice, and then she swims away before he can find out that he was just rescued by a mermaid. Due to family strife with her father King Triton (Wyatt Drinkwater), Ariel enlists Ursula (Mia Williams) to turn her human. For payment, Ariel has to give up her voice and has her soul as collateral. So how does she attract Prince Eric? According to Ursela, she has her looks, her pretty face, "And don't underestimate the importance of body language." Ariel has three days to get him to "kiss the girl" so she can be human and get her voice back. Is she successful in time? Go see the musical!

Led by Director Savannah Gunyula, Music Director Kent Britton, Producer Kristen Dickerson and Choreographers Christina Munoz Madsen, Rebecca Dillon, Ansley Sherman, and Farrah Sherman, this show embodied the name Disney. Ansley's portrayal of Ariel is really shown through her performance. She looked like Ariel, sounded like Ariel, and had that Disney princess glow about her. Barrett was a perfect Prince Eric. He worked well with his crew, and it was fun to watch him during his scenes with Ariel. As a side note, I feel that having a whole ocean of animals telling him to kiss Ariel is a lot of pressure. No wonder that moment didn't work out for them.

This show has a lot of my favorite music in it, and these performers handled the choreography like pros. I really enjoyed Farrah Sherman leading the cast in "Under the Sea." She took command of the stage with her reactions, facial expressions, and detail in her accent for the character. The girls did a great job with "She's In Love," which featured Mersisters Aquata (Nola Glueck), Andrina (Riley Payne), Arista (Sydney Madsen), Atina (Mattie Watson), Adella (Anna Felio), Allana (Lucy Strahin) and Flounder (Audrey Kirkdoffer). "Human Stuff" was super cute with Scuttle (Olivia Bartholomew), the Gulls (Chloe Davis, Lila Epps, and Mae Gowin), Ariel and Flounder; "Les Poissons" with Eli Halter as the Chef had my favorite choreography of the whole show; But, for this particular musical, I love it when Ursela owns the show, and this was true for Mia Williams. She blew me away every time she took the stage. This was a great role for her, and her "Poor Unfortunate Souls," with help from her eels Flotsam (Carly Campbell) and Jetsam (Marley Bennefeld) really won me over.

Costuming and set design were fantastic. The outfits were creative, the colors were vibrant, and the jellyfish were amazing. The costume crew consisted of Amber Welch, Rebecca Dillon, Wendy Shirar, and Serena Wharton. Also, I loved the boat, and the balloon arches for the different scenes were a nice touch. Shout out to Scot Polk and Perry Morriss on the set design.

Broadway World would like to give a big THANK YOU to Kennedy Reynolds for use of these beautiful pictures.

For tickets to this production or for more information on how to join this fabulous group of storytellers, visit their website at redcurtaintheatre.com.

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