Disney’s “The Little Mermaid JR.” is set to make a splash, opening at the Hartland Performing Arts Center. Shows are set for 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 8; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 9.
The 60-minute musical, designed for middle-school aged performers, is based on the 2008 Broadway production and the 1989 animated feature film. The Hartland Players’ Encore Youth Theater cast includes 46 students ranging in age from 7 to 17, and is led by producer Andrea Daguanno and directors Mary Jo Bell and Karen Ellis.
Daguanno said Encore Youth Theater is looking forward to showcasing its talented young performers and sharing the classic tale of The Little Mermaid with the community.
“The show will offer a fantastic display of colorful costumes and set pieces,
along with entertaining dance numbers and the beautiful voices of our very talented cast,” she said.
This classic Disney title contains all of the songs from the Academy Award winning animated feature film, including favorites “Part of Your World,”
“Under the Sea,” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” as well as three new songs from the Broadway show. “The Little Mermaid JR.” takes place in a magical kingdom beneath the sea, where a beautiful young mermaid named Ariel longs to leave her ocean home to live in the world above.
But first, she’ll have to defy her father, the king of the sea, escape the clutches of an evil sea witch, and convince a prince that she’s the girl with the perfect voice.
For information on purchasing tickets, visit www.hartlandplayers.org. The Hartland Performing Arts Center is located at 9525 E. Highland Road (M-59) in Howell, Mich.
Encore Youth Theater provides training and experience in the performing and theater arts for students ages 7-18, and promotes live theater in the community. Encore is the youth group of The Hartland Players, a non-profit community theater group founded in 1967. The Encore Committee, as approved by the Hartland Players’ Board of Directors, administers the program.
Disney’s “The Little Mermaid JR.” is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI), which is one of the world’s leading dramatic licensing agencies, granting schools as well as amateur and professional theaters from around the world the rights to perform the largest selection of great musicals from Broadway and beyond. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these shows to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 60,000 theatrical organizations in the US and in over 60 countries worldwide.
