Playmakers and Sullivan Theater bring mermaids and killer plants to stage in summer musicals

If you like a mix of mermaid spiced by killer plant in your weekend theatrical cocktail, you’re in luck.

Playmakers of Baton Rouge and the Sullivan Theater are serving up the perfect menu for you as they open their respective productions “Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr.” and “Little Shop of Horrors” on Friday.

The most difficult part will be deciding which show to see first.

Playmakers will stage its all-student cast summer musical under the sea in the Reilly Theatre on LSU’s campus. OK, so “Under the Sea” is one of the musical’s popular numbers, but the production’s setting is the sea, where the mermaid princess Ariel lives with her father, King Triton, and four princess sisters.

Ariel is fascinated by the human world above the sea’s surface and is tricked into striking a deal with evil sea witch Ursula to get there. Chaos ensues as Ariel is given the ultimatum of a true love’s kiss from the human Prince Eric, who she recently saved from drowning, or loss of her soul to Ursula.

The lead role is shared by Zachary High School students Erynn Williams and Grace Noel, who will be trading out the roles of Ariel for one of the sister mermaids in alternate productions.

Williams, 15, will be entering her sophomore year in the fall. Noel, 14, will be in eighth grade. 

“Their personalities are different, so they each bring a different Ariel to the stage,” director Brandy Johnson said. “It’s been interesting to watch these young actors adapt to each Ariel.”

Johnson is no stranger to Playmakers’ musicals. She directed last summer’s “Matilda Jr.,” also in the Reilly, and was in charge of a cast of 30, the same number of kids staging “Mermaid.”

“There’s just something magical about ‘The Little Mermaid,'” Johnson said. “You are suspending belief here with water versus land, and we’re getting past the superficial interpretation of Ariel and just explaining that she’s a teenager and she’s smart, quick, witty and curious.”

But it’s the curiosity that gets Ariel in trouble. Still, if she doesn’t give in to her curiosity, she will neither see the world nor meet Prince Eric, played by 14-year-old Grayson Morgan, who’ll also be entering eighth grade in the fall.

“Prince Eric is very adventurous, but he’s also charming and innocent,” Morgan said. “But he still has this ‘prince’ side to him, and he’s nervous, because he knows he has to eventually get married so he can be king. Yet he’s still very adventurous in the middle of it all.”

In the meantime, King Triton, played by 13-year-old Corey Thomas, is searching for his AWOL daughter, whose soul may be enslaved by his archrival, Ursula.

Thomas, entering eighth grade at McKinley Middle Magnet School this fall, sees Triton as more than a king.

“He’s a great dad, and he’s very protective of his daughter,” Thomas said.

But Sebastian, the crab who serves at the right hand of Triton, does what is needed to protect Ariel, even going as far to create a romantic atmosphere to prompt Eric to kiss Ariel, which would ultimately break Ursula’s spell.

Tori Broussard, 16, entering her junior year at Liberty High School, plays Sebastian in this show.

“I think Sebastian is definitely King Triton’s right-hand man,” she said. “He longs for the king’s approval, and he’s very dramatic, which is opposite from my personality. But it’s fun to play a character that is totally different from me, because you can step into that role and just be that character.”

So, will Eric break the evil spell with a true love’s kiss? And if he does, will Ariel have to leave him and return to her kingdom home under the sea?

Fans of the musical and animated Disney film already know the answer, but this production offers a chance to introduce newcomers to “The Little Mermaid.” And for fans who have been in these waters before, it’s a chance to relive the magic.

Meanwhile, the Sullivan Theater is conjuring up a different kind of magic on its stage — the dark comedic magic stirred by an alien plant from outer space.

A total eclipse somehow lands this plant in a rundown flower shop where meek Seymour Krelborn, played by Warren Douglas, works for the opportunistic Mr. Muschnik, played by Robby Wilson.

The plant isn’t really that unusual in the beginning. It looks like your run-of-the-mill venus fly trap, that is, until it tastes blood from Seymour’s rose thorn-pricked finger.

From there, the plant starts growing as does the shop’s curious clientele pouring in under the guise of buying flowers just to see the plant, which Seymour has named Audrey II.

The name honors his naive love interest, Audrey, played by Carole Moore, who keeps a positive outlook despite being in an abusive relationship with boyfriend, Orin, played by Chad Harrelson.

The toe-tapping music flows as the plant becomes more ravenous, drawing Seymour into its evil trap of death and destruction.

Director Chelsea Gidden, one of the Sullivan Theater’s founders, originally planned to play Audrey in the company’s first summer musical.

“For me, this is one of my favorite musicals of all time,” she said. “When we were searching for a summer musical, we narrowed it down to five shows, and ‘Little Shop’ was one of them. We asked, ‘Can we do this show with the puppet?’ Yes we could.”

Although Gidden was set on playing Audrey she then decided to direct it in honor of late Episcopal High School teacher Danny Tiberghein, who inspired her to pursue theater.

“I decided that I was going to find an Audrey that loves this show as much as I love this show,” Gidden said.

Moore fit the bill. She had played Audrey II the plant in a past “Little Shop” production at Theatre Baton Rouge, and her audition chemistry with Douglas was spot on.

Moore also is the main advisor for the Audrey II costume.

“When I played Audrey II at Theatre Baton Rouge, the suit was heavy, and you had to lift it with your abs,” she said. “We’re making it lighter.”

In the end, the lightness won’t matter. Audrey II will still be hungry, and woe to those who get in the plant’s way.

Playmakers’ “Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr.” runs 7 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday; 7 p.m. Friday, June 7; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, June 8; and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 9, in the Reilly Theatre, Tower Drive, LSU. Tickets are $20-$30. Visit playmakersbr.org. 

Sullivan Theater’s “Little Shop of Horrors” runs Friday-Sunday and Thursday-Sunday, June 6-9, at the theater, 8849 Sullivan Road, Central. Sunday matinees are 2 p.m. with all other shows at 7 p.m. with an additional 7 p.m. performance set for Sunday. Tickets are $30. Visit sullivantheater.com.