Under the sea
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on February 19, 2018 4:03 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Ariel (Kearston Hudson) and Prince Eric (Ethan Taylor) take a romantic boat ride as the cast sings "Kiss the Girl."
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
On Prince Eric's ship are, from left, John Kinsey as Grimsby, Ethan Taylor as Prince Eric and Rayce Simpson as Scuttle.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Some of the cast of StageStruck's "The Little Mermaid" are shown in front of a big seashell, part of the scenery. From left are Raiford Turner as Sebastian, Ethan Taylor as Prince Eric, Kearston Hudson portraying Ursula and Nick Toner as Flounder.
Full SizeRaiford Turner's body is under a table, but his head sticks up through a hole in the top so it's on a platter under a domed lid. As the chef lifts the lid, it exposes Turner's head -- with a shocked look on his face.
"I get so excited sitting under that dish waiting for them to take off the lid," the 16-year-old said. "It's so funny."
It's not really Turner though, it's Sebastian the crab from the movie "The Little Mermaid," being performed by StageStruck.
Turner auditioned for that particular part.
"I was very excited when I got it," he said. "I relate to him. I'm really into music and have been my entire life. And Sebastian is the court composer. He's such a dynamic character."
Throughout the play, Turner gets to portray different emotions through Sebastian -- being mad and sentimental and being a fun character.
His costume is fun in itself, being entirely red.
"I have ginormous claws that are easy to portray little gestures just because they are so large in size," Turner said. "My red coat sparkles. I have a hat with eyes that stand up, and I have little crab legs off my back. I wear tap shoes to make little tappy noises when I walk to portray the crab with how choppily it moves. It just adds a good effect."
To psyche himself up to be Sebastian, Turner goes online and watches Broadway videos. He also watches the movie and studies the crab's facial expressions. And he listens carefully to the Jamaican accent so he can duplicate it on stage.
One of the main characters, Ariel, is played by 16-year-old Kearston Hudson.
"When I found out I got the part of Ariel, I could not believe it at first," she said. "I saw the cast list and couldn't say anything. My friends had to actually tell me what had happened. I was so shocked."
She said her costume is super fun.
"I have these two wings that create the look of water," Hudson said. "The costume is a skirt so I am walking, but using the wings, we kind of create a fluid motion to give that idea of swimming."
The top of her mermaid outfit is purple, like the classic Ariel has. It has shells for straps.
"The typical Ariel tail is green, but we wanted to take a different twist on it, so this tail is a little more purple/blue," Hudson said, flapping her tail up and down. "I wear a bright red wig. I'm naturally a brunette with dark brown hair. This is definitely a bit of a shock for me."
One memory she'll take away from the production is the first time she and Prince Eric did "One Step Closer," which is a ballroom number after she became human.
"The first time we did it in front of the full cast, you could have heard a pin drop," Hudson said. "It was so cool. Seeing the way the cast reacted to it was just incredible."
Playing Ariel's prince, Eric, is 17-year-old Ethan Taylor.
He has been hooked on the character Ariel for quite some time.
"Since I was little, I've had a crush on Ariel, since I went to Disney World and she kissed me on the cheek," he said. "I've kind of always been in love with her."
To prepare himself for the part of a prince, Taylor watches other actors play the part in movies, on TV and on the stage, then he tries not to do it like they do it, so he can put his own spin on it.
Taylor will never forget the songs from the production.
"The songs are good," he said. "I love the songs. There are a lot of songs from the movie. And there are a lot of new songs that people don't know that are good."
Abbey Winders wanted to take on the role of a bad guy for a change, which is completely opposite of her real life. So she tried out for -- and got -- the part of Ursula.
"That is THE part I wanted," the 17-year-old said. "I've always loved the Disney villains so I wanted to be Ursula."
Her costume is a grand one, a huge hoop skirt with a black and gold dress. She has a gold belt form which six 6-foot long black tentacles hang. And she has a shell necklace that lights up.
To get ready to transform into Ursula, Winders keeps watching the Broadway Ursula.
"I love how she's very sassy with her arm movements," she said. "Ursula is not a very nice person. I have to try to be mean. I think what I would do, then what the opposite of that would be."
Like when she grabs her eels, Flotsam and Jetsam by their necks because that's the opposite of what she would really do.
"It's weird to be opposite of my real self," Winders said. "It's like I have to be a completely different person on stage. All the niceness my mom taught me has to go out the door."
One of the more powerful characters in the production is King Triton, Ariel's father, who is played by 17-year-old Austin Goff.
"That's the part I wanted when I auditioned," he said. "I just felt like King Triton would be a fun role. I watched it off Broadway and I just fell in love with that character."
His costume has a silver breastplate in front, a crown and, of course, the trident. He also wears a mermaid tail, which is sort of like a long tight skirt. He said trying to walk in it is an accomplishment in itself.
"It started out as a waddle and kind of became a jump," Goff said. "It was baby steps."
To psyche himself up for the part, Goff watches a lot of parents interacting with their children.
"It's a lot of facials, too, because I'm not as mean as Triton," he said. "So I have to go to the mirror and kind of get in the mood."
Co-producer Penny Ragan said rehearsals are going great, even though the cast lost a couple of weekends and weeknights early in January due to snow and ice.
"Then they jumped right in," she said. "The kids were familiar from the movie with some of the music."
The story is about a mermaid, Ariel, the youngest of King Triton's seven daughters, and they all live under the sea. But Ariel longs to be part of the human world.
"It's a classic Disney tale," Ragan said. "She meets a prince along the way and trades her voice so that she can have a shot at love. The villainess Ursula creates trouble with her eels. But eventually, it all works out."
Taylor is excited and can't wait to go on stage.
"It's kind of a rush," he said. "Just being up there with the spotlight and a microphone and all that stuff is a rush."
Hudson said she loves every minute of it.
"Theater is definitely one of my passions," she said. "Playing Ariel, who has a harder relationship with her father and has something she wants so bad, I go through my mind and think how can I relate that to make her relatable to other people."
And Sebastian is a perfect fit for Turner, who likes the attention.
"Having fun and doing the Jamaican accent, but still having some important meaningful lines is great," he said. "I love hearing reactions when people laugh.
"And when I say the lines, it's not me saying them, it's my character. I have to get in a certain mindset. When I'm in the role of Sebastian, I'm not myself."
Performances of "The Little Mermaid" are March 2 at 7 p.m., March 3 at 1 and 7 p.m. and March 4 at 3 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre.