‘The Little Mermaid’ swims into view: Amherst Community Theater play on after two years of shutdowns

By STEVE PFARRER

Staff Writer

Published: 01-12-2023 1:52 PM

It’s been almost three years since Amherst Community Theater has presented its annual musical at Bowker Auditorium at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, given a little problem called COVID-19 that prevented the group from returning to UMass in 2021 and 2022.

But there’s been something of a silver lining in the delay, as ACT has been able to fine-tune its current production for the better part of two years.

And for a musical that’s supposed to take place under the sea, that’s meant some truly loving care and creativity has been devoted to the costumes and in creating a sense of watery movement.

“The Little Mermaid,” which opens Jan. 19 and will play for eight days at Bowker Auditorium, may be one of ACT’s most ambitious productions, and the cast and crew have also been compelled to rehearse and work wearing masks, given that COVID has stubbornly hung around.

But Director Kimberly Overtree Karlin says everyone involved has been committed to putting on the musical, bringing a special level of enthusiasm to “The Little Mermaid” after performers were largely sidelined the last two years. (ACT did stage a smaller chorus show last April at the Amherst Middle School that featured a range of Broadway songs.)

“I think the pandemic really gave us a sense of how important these shows were to us, and how much they embodied the spirit of community,” Karlin said. “It’s deepened our appreciation” for theater.

Karlin says “The Little Mermaid” was supposed to be staged in January 2021, and that the theater group then hoped to perform “Mermaid” last January after the 2021 show was canceled.

When the 2022 show was also nixed, Karlin and others involved in the musical, including costume designer Ann Steinhauser and choreographer Sue Dresser, kept exchanging notes on how they might eventually present the musical, with particular focus on the costumes.

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“I’ve had a lot more time than usual to work on my designs, and to share my ideas with Kim and Sue,” Steinhauser said. “I’ve had more opportunities to look for materials and to think creatively about the costumes — not just how they look but how (cast members) can move in them.”

Just as for any ACT production, there are many costumes to design and produce. The cast of “Mermaid” is just shy of 60 adults, teens and children; meanwhile, over 20 people are part of the production team.

Factor in orchestra members, set crew and the many volunteers who help out in various ways, especially in building the sets, and about 300 people are involved in putting the show together, Karlin says.

“It’s truly a community effort, which is what makes these shows such a joy,” she said.

And “The Little Mermaid” seems an especially appropriate musical in the age of COVID-19, Karlin said. She notes that the plot revolves in part around a teenage mermaid, Ariel, who loses her voice — something of a metaphor for what happened to so many people during the pandemic.

“Living through lockdown was like being in this world of silence,” Karlin said. The musical “is partly about how Ariel rediscovers her voice, which is something we’re experiencing in finally having a chance to put this show on.”

That underwater feeling

The original Broadway production of “The Little Mermaid,” by Disney Theatrical in 2008, was adapted from Disney’s 1989 animated film of the same name, which in turn was loosely based on the 19th-century fairytale by Hans Christian Anderson.

Very broadly, the story explores Ariel’s fascination with the human world, including collecting human objects. Her actions anger her father, King Triton, king of the undersea world, but Ariel defies him by making another trip to the ocean’s surface; there she rescues a young prince, Eric, who has fallen overboard from his ship during a storm.

Eric had previously heard Ariel’s voice and now becomes even more enchanted with it, and Ariel in turn begins to fall for him. Ursula, Triton’s evil sister, takes advantage of the situation by agreeing to turn Ariel into a human for three days, by the end of which Eric must kiss her to make her permanently human.

But in return, Ariel must give up her voice, and if the romance doesn’t blossom, she’ll also have to give up her soul to Ursula, who intends to seize the undersea crown from King Triton.

To re-create the movie’s watery environment, producers of the original musical put many of the cast members on wheeled shoes and used translucent materials for costumes and set pieces, creating abstract shapes that could be lit in a way to present the illusion of water.

ACT’s production has taken a different approach, using flying harnesses and other aerial effects in some scenes, while trying to reimagine the costumes for a very large cast that includes children.

For instance, Steinhauser says Ursula, an octopus, at times sits inside an elaborate “skirt” with wheels, cogs and prosthetic tentacles — a sort of steampunk octopus. But her tentacles are enhanced by six young children in octopus costumes who also appear with Ursula.

“I’ve approached these designs by thinking, ‘These characters live underwater, and I need to give them the ability to move as if they’re underwater,’ ” Steinhauser said.

“We have some water dancers who have a really important role in that respect,” Karlin added.

Among the cast, in addition to principal characters such as Ariel (played by Anna Plummer), Ursula (Jackie Mendonsa), and King Triton (Scott Barton), there are a range of fish, sea horses, jellyfish, sea turtles, clams, sea corals and more.

“What’s really important to me is that everyone, from the leads to the smallest sea creatures, gets a costume that shows the same concern and attention to detail,” Steinhauser said.

There’s much more, including a wide range of music, from orchestral and choral numbers to duets and solos; ballads, 1960s-flavored rock, sea shanties, and vaudeville are part of the mix.

Karlin and Steinhauser, as well as many other participants in “The Little Mermaid,” are veterans of other ACT musicals and productions by other area theater companies; Karlin, a math teacher at Charlemont Academy, also heads the school’s drama department.

But “The Little Mermaid” feels special after all this time in gestation, Karlin said. In her program notes, she writes that examining the story, especially its theme of losing and then rediscovering one’s voice, reaffirmed her belief in the power of theater to bring people — performers and audience members alike — together.

“After all, it’s with our voices that we communicate, we connect,” she writes.

“The Little Mermaid” plays Jan. 19-22 and 26-29 at Bowker Auditorium at UMass Amherst. Additional information, including about buying tickets, can be found at amherstacts.org.

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