On two weekends, April 18-19 and April 25-26, a large cast will be performing a total of six showings of “The Little Mermaid” in the McAfee Center. The show will feature young actors from both the local elementary and middle school, and a new star lead, senior Timothy Leung, who hasn’t previously performed in a school musical.
Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” tells the story of a young, red-haired mermaid, Ariel, who falls in love with a land-dwelling prince. She struggles with the transition to live on land, and seeks an evil witch who takes the mermaid’s voice in exchange for giving her legs. The Disney musical is written by playwright Doug Wright, adapted from a Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, which originally held a much darker theme.
Nila Venkataratnam, the president of the drama club who also plays the mersister Arista and Chef Louis in the musical, said the popularity of the tale played a factor in picking it this year. She said last year’s “Something Rotten,” a light take on Shakespeare’s writing of “Hamlet,” drew fewer audience members than the more popular “Mamma Mia” the year before.
“Everyone knows what ‘The Little Mermaid’ is, so it automatically makes people want to come watch the show,” she said.
Auditions were held Jan. 21-23, and the company has been rehearsing for 10-12 hours each week since late January. Venkataratnam noted that there was a diverse pool of auditionees who hadn’t acted in previous productions, which built up a talented cast.
The musical will feature seniors Niraali Garg as Ariel, Leung as Prince Eric and Kat Aldrete as Ursula. Garg and senior Rylee Stanton are assistant directors along with senior Chloe Mantle, who also serves as the production manager. Ben Brotzman, the drama teacher, is the director. The cast includes 30 high school actors, 15 tech crew members and 35 young performers.
Senior makes return to stage
“The Little Mermaid” is Leung’s first high school theater performance. He was engrossed in acting in both elementary and middle school, but it took a backseat to his other extracurriculars in early high school.
“I have always wanted to return to the theater community sometime, and it’s always seemed like a bit too much of a time commitment, or just not the right time,” Leung said. “But, the second semester of senior year is all about trying new things. I wanted to do it, and so many members of the cast were really inviting to have me in it.”
Leung is practicing his lines and music on his own, while watching various other interpretations of Prince Eric by high school students and Broadway.
“Watching my lines and songs from a spectator’s perspective helps me understand what the intention is and what this story is trying to say, because when you’re on stage, sometimes it just feels like you’re reciting lines, but when you’re just watching it you can feel the emotion,” Leung said.
Leung is happy with his decision to join the cast of “The Little Mermaid” this year — he hopes to continue engaging in creativity-drawn activities in the future.
“I’m really glad that I joined this experience and did the musical this year. I’ve constantly realized that I thrive off of expression and creativity in different mediums, which is why I love Speech and Yearbook and all the things I do,” Leung said. “This has just made me realize that, going into the future and the college, I want to engage in activities where I’ll similarly get to express myself in unique ways.”
Incorporation of younger students builds community
This musical will be a rare show to feature elementary students alongside middle schoolers in the ensemble and minor speaking roles.
Composed of many first through fourth graders, this group generally only attends the larger choreography or singing practices, where they’re actually in the ensemble. Incorporating younger students comes with its own challenges — notably, the cast has adjusted movements for certain songs to make teaching the simplified choreography easier.
“It’s definitely a new experience to have the kids here. Some of us really love them, and some of us have a hard time talking to them without it being awkward, but I really like interacting with them,” Aldrete said. “They definitely need people to guide them and tell them what to do. So I guess I’ve been taking that role, and they really seem to appreciate and admire a lot of people on the cast.”
With these young performers, Venkataratnam hopes the play will draw a larger audience in having families of parents, grandparents and friends also come. Although obtaining production rights to the show was more expensive due to copyright, the larger turnout is anticipated to bring in more revenue and ultimately support the drama program.
“Last year’s show was a lot smaller, but it was a different type of hectic. It’s just about knowing how to manage our time because little kids have a shorter attention span,” Venkataratnam said. “We’re working with young students [who are] really cute, so they’re really fun to be around.”
