BEMIDJI — In the Disney song catalog, few songs are bigger than “Under the Sea” or “Part of Your World.” These songs helped make The Little Mermaid a classic Disney film, and the upcoming Bemidji Community Theater production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr. will feature those classic songs. Stage manager Kristine Cannon told Area Voices on the KAXE Morning Show they expect some audience participation during the show.
Cannon said, “If you come to a show, you'll notice a whole bunch of little kids dressed like Ariel or a princess [with] little tiaras singing along in loud voices. So, we have to tell our actors don't be thrown off if there's a little kid in the front row standing up, singing and dancing in front of you.”
The Little Mermaid Jr. follows the story of the mermaid Ariel who is obsessed with objects from the surface world. She falls in love with a young man from the surface and makes a deal with the evil sea witch Ursula to give up her voice for legs. Ariel has three days to get the young man to fall in love with her or she loses her voice forever and has to go back to the sea.
For this production, Bemidji Community Theater was required to cast the entire show with people 18 or younger per Disney guidelines.
This is the second time they have cast a show this way. The first was Frozen Jr. Director Mary Knox-Johnson said she felt it gives more opportunities to young actors.
“It gives young people a chance at an equal level, equal footing to get some of those bigger roles,” Knox-Johnson said.
There are 33 young people in the cast playing different sea creatures. Along with the mermaids, there are crabs, flounders, seagulls, eels and more.
Each of those sea creatures required some creative and time-intensive costuming.
“One of the young people asked me the other day how many hours we thought we spent doing costumes," Knox-Johnson said. "We did some math, and I said, 'Well, each of the mermaids requires 120 scales to be sewn on individually, times 7... and that's not counting the gulls that we made and all the other sea creatures ... so easily 500 hours.'”
The Bemidji Community Theater applied for the Bemidji Area Endowment grant to help cover the cost of all the costumes. It became a very labor and fabric-intensive process.
One challenge in staging the show was figuring out how to portray characters as if they were underwater. For the mermaids, this took some experimentation. After several attempts, they settled on the actors constantly moving their arms to mimic treading water. For the eel characters Flotsam and Jetsam, creating the feeling of being underwater will come from wearing Heeleys roller shoes to glide around the stage.
Knox-Johnson said early exposure to theater can be an inspiration for young people.
“I think it gives them ownership in this production because they know that much of the work has been done by them,” she said.
As a part of the Minnesota State Arts Board, most of the cast and crew will travel to the Twin Cities. In exchange, they donated 30 hours of their time learning new aspects of theater including sewing costumes, applying makeup, stage painting and more.
“We're trying to give them a broader view of theater than just what you see on the stage. And I think they've gotten it. They realize that there's a lot that goes into a show besides what's visible,” Knox-Johnson said.
Like all their child-friendly shows, the Bemidji Community Theater will also give away books as part of their Project Literacy. They are still welcoming donations of books suitable for children.
Tickets for the show are available on the Bemidji Community Theater website, the box office, or at stores like Ken K Thompson Jewelry, McKenzie Place, and myBemidji. Performances are 7 p.m. on April 4 and 11, 2 and 7 p.m. on April 5 and 12, and 2 p.m. on April 6 and 13.
Cannon said the kids are excited to put on the show and a little nervous, but Knox-Johnson knows they’re ready.
“They know their lines. They know their blocking. They need an audience.”
Tell us about upcoming arts events where you live in Northern Minnesota by emailing psa@kaxe.org.
Area Voices is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.
