Damon Hill is Adelaide’s answer to Walt Disney! His production of “The Little Mermaid” was entrancing, funky, colourful and cute.
I loved his teams’ minimalistic set design, especially Ariel’s bath – complete with foam, blue bubble wrap bubbles, and even a plug!
The beautiful rainbow-coloured and clever costumes, especially the sea creatures and animals, were also designed by Ann Humphries and Damon Hill. The amazing creativity, colours and textures of sea horses, jellyfish, seagulls, the crab and flounder, the squid witch and sea snakes costumes were outstanding. The design of the mermaid and merman skirts, which emulated tails without obstructing dance and movement, was genius.
There was plenty of humour – visual, spoken and sung. Stephen Tulip’s French Chef’s song “Les Poissons” was hilarious!
The romantic song “Kiss the girl”, with frogs, geese, flamingos and water lilies, was a very clever whimsical creation.
Ariel, Prince Eric, Sebastian the crab and King Triton’s Quartet singing “If Only” was superb wonderful harmony.
Kristian Latella’s Rastafarian interpretation of Sebastian the crab was clever and funny, and at times he stole all the laughs.
Melanie Cowmeadow as Ariel was suitably sweet and her voice was very melodic, and well mimed when she didn’t have her voice!
Deon Martino-Williams was suitably dashing handsome and romantic as Prince Eric.
I thought Steven Mulady’s deep sea voice was perfect for his role as Triton, King of the Sea.
Karen Muller’s evil witch Ursula was excellent! It was so convincing she received some “boos” from the audience.
Harry Ince as Flounder and Michelle Davies as Scuttle the seagull were both cute and well performed.
The Mersisters, Princesses, Gulls, Chefs and Maids were always colourful, and their coordinated singing and dancing added an extra level of community fun to every scene. As a result the audience was captured and captivated and the reactions loud and excited all the way through the show.
Lighting by Chris Golding and team gave excellent effects, especially under the sea. All-Pro Audio and microphones worked well – even under Triton’s beard and other costumes!
Bec Mason and her orchestra was a wonderful underscore of music to accompany the performance.
Choreography by Sue Pole was a great example of teamwork, practice and fun.
I’m amazed at how a talented director like Damon can take a script, and about 50 singers, actors, dancers, and mould them gently, and with joy, into a magical undersea fantasy which was enjoyed by all ages in the audience. The contrasts of sea and land, good and evil, which gives every story balance, were beautifully represented in this outstanding production.
Don’t miss this enjoyable evening!
