The Little Mermaid

I'm not going to lie. The storyline depicted in Disney's The Little Mermaid (modified from the original Hans Christian Anderson fairytale) has always made me itch. Mermaid falls in love, literally at first sight with a human of the male persuasion, purely and utterly because he's hot. He in turn falls in love with her voice, hearing it for the first time as he regains consciousness from almost drowning. She then forfeits that voice for the chance of becoming human long enough to win his heart. So, when he finally meets her in person, he falls for her, having never heard her speak. I think there's a line in one of the lyrics about her inability to talk as being a bonus.

Anyway, the reason I have put this little feminist objection to the superficiality of the plot up front is so that the rest of the stuff I'm about to say comes off as at least a bit less hyperbolic. It's few years since I've seen a GMS Juniors show (not counting Footloose 2015, which was an outstanding youth/young adult production) but I have long been of the opinion that production-values-wise and talent-wise, the only difference between the kids' shows and the seniors' was...the average height of the cast, basically.

There have been times over the past 15 years when juniors productions have been embarrassingly good. This is one of those times.

Maddy Emmett is a certified star in the making. Her humility and grace in the role of Ariel was so heart-warming that it stopped me from scratching from the moment she began to sing. Her impeccably-trained voice and diction, tailor-made for musical theatre. Exactly the same can be said for Nick Geddes as Prince Eric. Matthew Fadhul nails the Jamaican accent to put the cherry on top of an already charismatic performance as Sebastian the Crab. Callum Bright was a commanding King Triton and little Scotia Emmet an adorable Flounder. Reg Livermore needs to hear about Declan Dowling – because his deliciously bitter characterisation and powerhouse vocals as Ursula reminded me so much of the incomparable legend – circa mid 1970s.

The minor leads and ensemble harmonies were simply stunning. The orchestra was tight and vivacious and costumes and set design were all shimmeringly on point. Cheeky and at times hilarious choreography gave every chorus member a chance to shine.

No - GMS does not owe me money. It was that good. Even the littlest members of the cast were completely focused and ridiculously athletic. If a whole bunch of these cast members do not go on to have fairytale careers on the stage I'll be very surprised; nay, appalled. I'll shut up now.

Rose Cooper