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A professional theater troupe based in New Canaan has selected a Disney classic for its summer musical, and landed an experienced director to oversee the production.
From July 12 to 27, the Summer Theatre of New Canaan will perform “The Little Mermaid” at the New Canaan High School auditorium.
Based on the popular movies, the show will have an added family dynamic element while incorporating the music and aspects of the original that people loved, according to director Arbender Robinson, a member of the original Broadway cast.
The casting for “The Little Mermaid” was not a simple process, he said.
“It wasn’t easy because we had amazing local talent come out in Connecticut,” Robinson said. “We had more people come to audition than we expected, so trying to navigate and get through all those auditions was difficult.”
Robinson said he paid attention to how well cast members interacted.
“The thing that we sometimes forget when it comes to casting is that we’re not only making decisions based on talent, but we’re also casting based on how the actors work together,” he said. “If Triton is too tall, and Ariel is too short, we have to think what that looks like from the audience’s perspective.”
Luckily, Robinson said he knew exactly who would play Ariel, Ursula and Prince Eric because “when they auditioned, I was like, that’s it.”
“They brought things to the role that I’d never thought about, so I was able to create a completely new version of the show around their auditions,” he said.
Robinson said he hopes the cast is as proud of the work as he is “because their acting is magical.”
“I think they’re doing beautiful work, and I hope that on opening night when the curtain closes, they are all able to take a moment and pat themselves on the back,” he said. “In the rehearsal process, you have a director saying, ‘No, try this, do it this way,’ and we only have two weeks, so they’re working really hard.”
In this musical, King Triton’s youngest daughter, Ariel, loses her voice to the evil sea witch, Ursula, to find the human Prince Eric. Ariel then needs the help of her sea friends, Flounder the fish, Scuttle the seagull and Sebastian the crab to save the ocean.
The musical will also have dance choreography based on the water and land, he said.
“The movement in the show and what we’ve created is great,” Robinson said. “I hired two choreographers, Isaiah Tyrelle Boyd who choreographed all of the underwater movement, and Doug Shankman who choreographed all of my on-land movement”
The dancing will include tap, contemporary ballet, jazz, musical theater and an Afro-Caribbean feel, Robinson said.
In recent years, the company took on productions of Disney classics like “Mary Poppins” and “Beauty and the Beast.” Encouraged by the community’s positive response, they decided to take on a new challenge this year with “The Little Mermaid,” Robinson said.
“This is one of the hardest plays because they live in two worlds,” he said. “They live in a completely underwater world and a land world, and then they have to meld them together. We thought, why not give ourselves the big challenge of trying to figure out how to make that work this year.”
Robinson said it was interesting to revisit this musical as the director and not a cast member.
“There are certain things that I wanted to heighten and adjust based on my experience with working on the show,” he said. “There were a few moments that were really special to me being a part of the Broadway company cast, so I’m paying tribute to all those people.”
Asked why people should come see the show, Robinson said that “the cast is working really hard and I think they’re doing beautiful work.”
“We’re taking all the things people loved about the animated film, what we know from Disney and incorporating that into our show,” he said.
Tickets to Summer Theatre of New Canaan’s production of “The Little Mermaid” can be purchased here.