Education & Youth | Arts & Culture | New Haven Public Schools | Theater | Wilbur Cross High School
Ariel (June Lampher) and Prince Eric (Jahlil Coleman) at Thursday's production of The Little Mermaid. Photos Kapp Singer.
Prince Eric looked Ariel in the eyes, took her hands, and began to dance. He sang out to the mermaid, “a dance is like a conversation, except you never need to make a sound.”
But Ariel—while surprisingly nimble on her new feet—wished she could exchange words with Eric. She’d forfeited her voice for the chance to come up to the surface and profess her love. Now that she was finally with the prince, she had no way of telling him the reason she was there.
On Thursday night, the Lights Up Drama Club at Wilbur Cross High School opened their spring production of The Little Mermaid. The classic Disney tale—adapted from the 1836 story by Hans Christian Andersen—was directed by Heather Bazinet and Salvatore DeLucia, with musical direction by Jennifer Scibaglio and choreography by Jennifer Kaye. The show, which runs March 7 to 9, featured a cast of Lights Up veterans and newbies alike, backed up by an energetic live music accompaniment.
“They made so much progress in the last couple of days, it’s incredible,” said Bazinet, who is on her seventh spring musical at Wilbur Cross with The Little Mermaid. Her previous productions have included You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and Freaky Friday: The Musical.
“Some of them have been with us for a few years now—it's very emotional to see them up there rising to their potential,” she said.
One of those seasoned actors was senior Jahlil Coleman, who took center stage as Prince Eric.
“This is my last show here—I feel like we all worked through the rough times we went through, and we persevered at the end,” Coleman said. “It was looking rough at the beginning, but eventually we got through it.”
“I feel sad, but also glad,” Coleman said of The Little Mermaid being his last show at Wilbur Cross. “I know that they’re good without me.”
King Triton (Mykeal Jobity) speaks to Ariel (Lampher).
In the show, Prince Eric—reluctant to bask idly in the wealth of his inherited kingdom, instead desiring to explore the seas—falls overboard from his ship in a storm and is saved by Ariel (June Lampher). As he wakes up, dazed on a rock, he hears her singing and immediately falls in love. But before Eric learns who she is, Ariel is forced to return to the sea. Eric, pining for the mermaid, makes his way back to his palace, where he reunites with his relieved caretaker Grimsby (Claude Saunders).
Counterposing The Little Mermaid’s terrestrial royalty is the domain of Poseidon: King Triton (Mykeal Jobity) brandishes his trident while looking over his six obedient mermaid daughters (played by Nitzamir Negron, Javieliz Matos, Miriam Cruz, Anijah Downer, Brianny Rodriguez, and Mayla McCullough) and the ever-rebellious Ariel.
King Triton (Jobity).
Meanwhile, Triton’s sister Ursula—played by a powerful and entertaining Aniya Deberry—must live a life of banishment after abusing her power, only accompanied by her sidekicks, Flotsam and Jetsam (Salem Jones and Anne Martinez Aguilar). Ursula seeks to avenge Triton by capturing Ariel and forcing her to trade her voice for a chance to see the surface.
Ursula (Aniya Deberry).
This wicked corner of the sea, however, is no match for Ariel and her trio of aquatic sidekicks: a happy-go-lucky seagull named Scuttle (Erin Palmer), the mopey, melancholic Flounder (Zara Baden-Eversman)—best friend of the mermaid, and hopelessly in love with her—and the jolly crab Sebastian (Daniel Cardenas).
Top: Ariel (Lampher) and Flounder (Zara Baden-Eversman). Bottom: Sebastian (Daniel Cardenas).
“I definitely was very happy with what we brought to the audience,” said Palmer, a junior at Wilbur Cross and the Education Center for the Arts. Palmer shined especially brightly in the opening number of act two, “Positoovity,” where she broke out her tap-dancing skills. 
Scuttle (Erin Palmer).
“I did not expect that much of a reaction to my performance,” said Cardenas, who had a standout performance as he led the cast in the classic tune “Under the Sea.”
“It was so unreal. I’m just grateful,” he added.
As for Lampher—whose character Ariel finally got to marry Prince Eric in the requisite Disney happy ending—the show was a satisfying culmination of the cast and crew’s hard work.
“I was really happy with the performance,” Lampher said. “Not because it was perfect, but because we were really into it and having fun.”