There is nothing ‘little’ about The Little Mermaid; in fact it is a mega, magical, mesmerising show. Lightning, a cascade of falling bursting bubbles, a flashing burst of big, bold, blue, bright lighting effects and the Sea Witch (Chris Hayward) appears with her sidekicks Eileen the Eel (Kylie Ann Ford) and Elsie the Eel (Christina Berriman Dawson). She tells of the rivalry between her and her brother King Triton (Wayne Smith), whose power she wants. Some text is lost, as the sound is very loud, but the meaning comes through.
The story unfolds as the Sea Witch sinks a ship from which Prince Eric (Christian Maynard) lands on the ocean bed. King Triton’s daughter, Ariel the Little Mermaid, rescues him and falls for him. Ariel is desperate to find Eric and is taken in by the witches’ spell; so how can the spell be broken, will Ariel find her love and will the King survive his sister’s trickery? How will it all end? It is delightful to have a more untraditional story told at Christmas.
While we find out, we are entertained by some wonderful scenes and even more magnificent singing. There is a great scene between Danny Adams as Danny Crabstick and Joe McElderry as Dishy Fishy, as Joe tries to sing and Danny creates havoc with a grand piano, but do not fear, Joe’s great voice shines through to the delight of the audience.
We all know kids love props, and there is a wondrous use of them when Clive Wood as Clive Cod reads the story to which Danny provides the sound effects; words cannot describe, but the howls of laughter said it all. Mick Potts as The Man Eating Fish provides constant one-off visual jokes coming on and off at frequent intervals with his unique power to create laughter with just the raise of an eyebrow. While there is no, "it’s behind you" or "oh no it isn’t", there is a slop scene to beat all slop scenes—even the audience were involved, literally, oh yes, they are! The "12 Days of Christmas" offering does not disappoint, mad as ever, and one of the best slapstick scenes I have seen for many a year involving Danny, Joe, Maynard and Lynne on a wall was hilarious.
There is a spectacular effect (The Twins FX) when Danny gets in the King’s enchanted seahorse chariot, which ‘rides’ into the auditorium over the audience’s heads. Ashley Nottingham’s choreography is superb, as are the entire cast to host it and support. The costumes (Mike Coltrane / Ron Briggs) as always are spectacular—you will go a LONG way to beat Haywood’s frocks and the most sumptuous gold themed walk-down. This is all supported by a terrific five-piece live band playing nine different instruments.
We are very lucky in the North East to have not just a pantomime but also a captivating Christmas spectacular show, plus the wonderful venue the Theatre Royal to host it. However, captivating and spectacular are two words one can always associate with a production by local Gateshead man Michael Harrison.
I heard an audience member say, “I always think how can they top this but they do every year,” and if you don’t believe it, go and see for yourself. A truly magical, entertaining evening.