SATs. Driver’s Licenses. Heelys. These three things plagued the junior year of my musical friends and me because our show that year was The Little Mermaid. The show included insane tricks, dance numbers, and stunts, all while on Heelys and trying to make ourselves seem as though we were underwater. The Little Mermaid was by far the craziest musical of my high school career, but the craziness and drama of this show helped forge some of my most important relationships in high school. The Little Mermaid, although an intense show in itself, includes important messages about family and is a classic Disney musical to be a part of.

The musical’s plot closely follows the plot of the movie, but characters like the mersisters, the eels, and Scuttle are characterized more deeply and are more involved with the plot. Ariel, the main character, is a mermaid who saves a drowning man at the beginning of the musical, and this experience and her immense curiosity of land causes her to desire to acquire legs and go to shore. She is tricked by Ursula to give up her voice in exchange for legs, and the only way to get her voice back is to have the man, Prince Eric, give her a kiss. The story follows her quest to get a kiss and save people from Ursula in the end.

In the musical itself, my favorite number was either “Under the Sea” or “Kiss the Girl.” In both of these numbers and the rest of the musical when we were underwater, many people were on Heelys to portray the idea that we were swimming. Originally, I was not supposed to be on Heelys, but someone broke their leg (while on Heelys), and I had to take their place (my mom was not excited). I had to learn to Heely in three weeks, and although it was a challenge given my balance and coordination issues, I eventually learned how to do it with the help of my friends. These dance numbers were some of my favorites, and the different tricks we had to do while on Heelys were crazy. However, we all learned that we were able to do so much more than we thought.

Overall, The Little Mermaid was one of the craziest, most stressful experiences that I had ever had in musical theatre, but it pushed me and the rest of the cast beyond our comfort zones. Because of the nature of our show, my friends and I grew closer, and this experience solidified our friendships from earlier years, which I will always be grateful for.