Actors 'fly' through the sea in Capitol's The Little Mermaid

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As Prince Eric falls from his ship and into the ocean, he tumbles through the water and slips into unconsciousness until Ariel, the youngest daughter of King Triton, appears out of nowhere to pull him to safety.

This important scene in the Capitol Theatre’s in-house production of the classic musical, The Little Mermaid, is being done with actors in harnesses so they can “swim” through the air and appear to be underwater, when they are really on stage. In the background, the LED screens present the illusion of bright blue water, bubbles, waves and the ship from which Eric just tumbled while trying to catch a glimpse of the mermaid.

The Capitol Theatre’s in-house production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid opens Friday, Feb. 23 and continue until March 3. The production employs approximately 100 cast, crew and musicians. There will be 11 ticketed performances and a school matinee.

On Friday afternoon, actors Emma Rudy (Ariel) and Emilien Cormier (Prince Eric) were rehearsing the scene with William Courson, a director from the United States who travels with a Kentucky-based rigging company that specializes in making actors “fly” on stage. They use special harnesses worn at the hips and attached to cables that rise up above the stage, and physically pulled by riggers in the wings of the state. The harnesses allow the actors to go up, down and side to side.

Producer Marshall Button said they used similar rigging to make actors “fly” in Mary Poppins, but in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, the “flying” simulates floating and swimming in the undersea world where the story is told.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” said Emma Rudy, an Ontario actor who has previously played the roles of Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and Maria in The Sound of Music in Moncton. She said playing Ariel has one of her life-long dreams, but learning how to “fly” in a harness was physically painful.

“I was terrified at first,” she said. “But William is like a yoga teacher and talked me through it and by the end of the day, doing back flips were so much fun.”

Cormier, who hails from Cheticamp, N.S., was doing flips and twists in his harness to simulate his moment of near-drowning.

“I was the kid who was afraid to do regular rolls in school, so to do flips and twists 20 feet in the air while swinging, I never thought, but it’s the magic of theatre,” he said. “The whole show is magical.”

The Capitol Theatre is decked-out with an underwater theme for The Little Mermaid. The front windows are painted with smiling fish and the opera boxes are covered with fishing nets and buoys. The production will have live music by the Tutta Musica orchestra. Button said some of the musicians will be in the orchestra pit in front of the stage while others will be the opera boxes.

While the musical will stay true to the original story, it will be localized by placing it near Pointe-du-Chene. Button said he’d like people to imagine they are experiencing the story while under water.

“It’s the child’s imagination that we are at the wharf in Pointe-du-Chene and the musicians and the conductor in the boxes are the cottagers,” Button said. “It’s like a local child imagining that this is happening right in front of them.”

The the story, Prince Eric falls from the ship and is rescued by Ariel, the youngest daughter of King Triton, who then flees back into the ocean. He falls in love after hearing her singing voice, but she makes a deal with the evil sea witch Ursula, trading her tail for legs and losing her voice. Ariel is helped by her friends Flounder the fish, Scuttle the seagull and Sebastian the crab.

The production features a local cast of actors, singers and musicians. Tickets are available through the Capitol Theatre Box Office at 811 Main St., 506-856-4379 or 1-800-567-1922 or online, at www.capitol.nb.ca.