A fresh new look and some exciting casting choices make RCC Performance Riverside’s Disney The Little Mermaid as captivating for those who’ve seen the 2007 Broadway adaptation before as for those experiencing its “Under The Sea” wonders for the first time.

Like the animated feature that re-started it all for Disney back in 1989, Broadway’s Little Mermaid’s recounts the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale of a sea sprite with dreams of walking on dry land (both literally and down the aisle with her human prince).

Disney Studios added their trademark brand of supporting characters including Sebastian the Jamaican crab, Flounder the blue-finned Flounder, Scuttle the word-inventing seagull, and Ursula the evil sea witch and her aquatic henchmen Flotsam and Jetsam, ocean creatures which the stage adaptation tweaks ever so slightly.

 And since a movie running well under ninety minutes does not a full-length Broadway musical make, book writer Doug Wright has expanded (and occasionally revised) Ron Clements and John Musker’s screenplay, with Alan Menken and Glenn Slater adding a bunch of new songs to join the Menken/Howard Ashman classics “Part Of Your World,” “Under The Sea,” and “Kiss The Girl.”

The result of all this masterful tinkering is a Broadway crowd-pleaser that may not follow the movie to the letter (gone, for example, is Ursula’s transformation into an Ariel-voiced “Vanessa”) but fleshes out characters with catchy new songs.

Southland treasure Roger Castellano directs with flair, making us believe that performers moving about on two legs are in fact swimming their way across the stage while earning special snaps for acing a couple of underwater-to-surface swims without the aid of projections.

 Choreographer Castellano’s “Under The Sea” and “Positoovity” prove every bit as magical scaled-down as they have in more spectacular incarnations, and the ‘60s girl-group moves of “He’s In Love” prove nostalgic treats.

Production designers give this Little Mermaid a look all its own, one that emphasizes charm over spectacle.

 Scenic designer Jason Graham’s fresh-from-a-storybook sets morphs ingeniously from sea to land and back again providing the perfect backdrop for uncredited costume rentals (coordinated by Linda Krinke) that give distinctive looks to iconic animated characters, from Sebastian’s scarlet bowler and topcoat Ariel’s sisters’ seashell pasties to Flotsam and Jetsam’s muck-grey body suits to the distinctive bubble-smock-atop-leotard look sported by school pageant-ready sea creatures, with Ariana Castiglia’s fanciful wigs and makeup and Jessica Shelton’s vibrant lighting design completing the visual mix.

 All-around splendid performances make the RCC Performance Riverside staging a family-friendly delight, beginning with Carlin Castellano’s radiant star-turn as Ariel, perfect in every way from prettiness to pluck to charm to vocals as clear as crystal.

Alexander Mendoza is every Disney heroine’s dream Prince, not the least when his Broadway-ready tenor soars in “Her Voice” to deserved audience cheers.

 Debbie Prutsman reinvents her Scenie-winning Ursula as a platinum-blonde bombshell of a sea witch, aided and abetted by Janaya Mahealani Jones and Matthew Malecki’s deliciously s-s-slimly Flotsam and Jetsam, whose gender-blurring casting is just one of director Castellano’s inspired choices.

Others are Chris Bona’s irresistible Jamaican leprechaun of a Sebastian, Bryan Martinez’s hilariously fresh-outta-Brooklyn Scuttle, Madisen Fragosa’s full-of-pep Flounder, Donovan Wright’s imposing, big-voiced King Triton, Steven Biggs’ warm and winning Grimsby, and Daniel Berlin’s délicieusement over-the-top Chef Louis.

 Hannah Bushyeager, Betty Campbell, Elizabeth Eden, Rachel Solorio, Helen Tait, and Emma Rose Tarr are amusing and alluring both as Ariel’s harmonizing sisters and as a sextet of princesses not to be outdone in their efforts to snag the prince.

Last but not least, Josiah Cajudo, Rigo Cardenas, Rich Go-2, DarRand Hall, Stephanie Medina, Mike Simpson, and Jerred Yeash make for a high-spirited bunch of sailors, gulls, chefs and other assorted palace servants, sea creatures, and land animals.

Additional kudos are due musical director John Tebay, conductor Alan Crawley, a pit orchestra in full audience view, and sound designer Dorie Couture for mixing vocals, instrumentals, and aquatic effects to perfection.

Disney The Little Mermaid is produced by Performance Riverside and the Riverside City College Performing Arts Department. Daniel T. Schultz is production stage manager and Anthony Verstappe is assistant stage manager. Raymond Couture is technical director. Bushyeager, Hall, and Yeash understudy lead roles.

Not since Disney Beauty And The Beast has an animated-film-turned-Broadway-musical proved such an audiences-of-all-ages-pleaser. Disney The Little Mermaid makes bona fide underwater magic out Riverside way.

Landis Performing Arts Center, 4800 Magnolia Ave., Riverside.
www.performanceriverside.org

–Steven Stanley
March 31, 2018

Tags: Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Inland Empire Theater Review, RCC Performance Riverside