“The Little Mermaid” promises to be Persephone Theatre’s “biggest show” ever

Photo Credit: Joema Frith takes centre stage as Sebastian the crab during the media call for Persephone Theatre’s production of ‘The Little Mermaid‘ in Saskatoon, SK, April 10, 2024. Photo Electric Umbrella/Liam Richards

Matt Olson
April 10, 2024

Persephone Theatre artistic director Heather Cant did not mince words when asked about her thoughts and hopes for the company’s upcoming production of the Broadway musical The Little Mermaid.

“This is probably the biggest show Persephone Theatre has ever done,” she said.

The stage adaptation of the Disney animated classic is set to step, scuttle and swim its way to the Persephone main stage from April 10 to May 5. The story of the show is likely well-ingrained in the public consciousness in the year 2024: Ariel the mermaid (Synthia Yusuf), chafing at the restrictions of undersea life and the rules of her father King Triton (Robbie Towns), falls in love with the land-dwelling Prince Eric (Caulin Moore) and makes a dangerous deal with the sea witch Ursula (Kristel Harder) to try to be with him.

While the heart of the show is the same as the original Disney production, Cant said the musical does an excellent job of fleshing out more of the story and of each character.

“The animated movie has been my default reference point, and the thing that makes me most excited,” she said. “But we’ve taken some things in slightly different directions … (the Broadway script) was really morphed into something that has a strong story to it, that does deviate a little bit from the animation.”

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