Review by Scott Whitmont
Stage Artz Performing Arts School, based on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, offers weekly classes in drama, singing and musical theatre dance for students aged five to adult. Each year, they combine to produce a charity family musical production which is performed at the Glen Street Theatre, all profits going to The Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation. To date, they have raised more than $350,000.
This year, the diverse and talented student body has clearly dedicated themselves to many hours of rehearsals to present their impressively ambitious production of The Little Mermaid – the Disney version story of the ultimate ‘mixed marriage’ frowned upon in the best of cultures. Mermaids and princes are just not meant to be together! Director Samantha Neaves is the power behind the enormous cast and crew, providing wholesome family entertainment and joy for young and old alike.
Belrose may not be Broadway but judging from the continuous smiles and looks of delight throughout the show, audience members were clearly as happy to be seated, hugging Sydney’s Northern Beaches as they would be in The Big Apple.
Despite being an amateur troupe, several voices and performances shone as brightly as any professional’s, no doubt aided by the clearly masterful musical direction of Andrew Bartle. Emily Wood, playing the much-loved ingenue and lead, Ariel, possesses a controlled and angel-like voice that would win over any prince, whilst Gabe Bartlett as Ursula – the villain we love to hate – simultaneously has a presence which terrifies and a robust vocal power that bewitches absolutely. Oliver Inwood (resplendent with his enormous claws) delights the audience as Sebastian the Rastafarian-accented crab, whenever he appears on stage. Levi Garner (King Triton) along with Tianna Koolloos (Flotsam) and Issy Anderson (Jetsam) also stand out impressively in their supporting roles.
Thanks to the clever use of a cable and harness, Prince Eric (Thomas Verschuer) convincingly ‘sinks’ underwater from above while Scuttle the Seagull (Cameron Neaves) ‘flies’ across the stage ‘ridonkulously’, charming the audience (along with his seagull mates) in Positoovity.
But The Little Mermaid is very much a company production, and it is in the full ensemble numbers that it shines most brightly, particularly in the case of the iconic Under the Sea, in which scores of performers fill every space on the stage and even (in the case of Stage Artz’s most junior members) through the theatre aisles – with cuteness scale at 100%! The joy factor of this number is only multiplied by Natalie Neary’s choreography and by the incredibly impressive and intricate costumes, cleverly created by the casts’ mothers (and maybe even a few fathers too) and transforming our young cast into frogs and jellyfish, water lilies and butterflies, snails, fireflies and flamingos. Like being at a Cirque du Soleil performance, one simply doesn’t know where to look. It’s a thrilling and thoroughly exuberant cornucopia of costume and movement.
The stand-out costume of the evening is Ursula’s, her constantly flapping and menacing tentacles masterfully hand-manipulated by an almost imperceptible support-crew donned in black. Not to forego the chance to display their artistic versatility, rumour has it that the ‘tentacle movers’ are none other than Ariel’s six splendid mermaid sisters: Atina, Allana, Adella, Aquata, Arista, and Andrina. (Paris Freed, Emma Whaley, Laura Neaves, Emily Bennett, Hannah Clay and Lee Jackson).
Bravo Stage Artz. Community theatre at its finest – and all for a good cause.
Image Supplied