Sea Witch
Rating: ★★
Venue: Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Cast: Michelle Visage, Natalie Paris, Mazz Murray, Jay McGuiness, Amy Di Bartolomeo, Djavan Van De Fliert and Natalie Kassanga

Before she took the mermaid’s voice, she gave up her own heart. The sea’s most feared villain rises in Sea Witch – a dark new musical prequel to The Little Mermaid. From creators Kristopher Russell and Michael David Glover, with choreography by Dean Lee (Janet Jackson, Pussycat Dolls) and music by Segun Fawole, Sea Witch reimagines the untold origin of the witch beneath the waves. In a world where magic is forbidden, young witch Evie is haunted by loss – until a mysterious mermaid, Annemette, appears with three days to win a prince’s heart. As love, vengeance, and fate collide, Evie must embrace the darkness within…

Yesterday marked the worldwide premiere of Sea Witch at Theatre Royal Drury Lane; an adaptation of the young adult novel of the same name by Sarah Henning, which was released in 2018. However, the musical felt so different to the source material, that besides the names, it felt almost recognisable. Sea Witch is a prequel to the fairytale, The Little Mermaid, and suggests it'll tell the backstory of how Ursula (then Evie) became the infamous sea witch. However, there was little story and the connection to the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale felt so flimsy you could almost feel it slipping through your fingers.

The book from Michael David Glover was undoubtedly the weakest aspect of the production and numerous times throughout the evening had the audience laughing at the sheer awkwardness of the dialogue and the direction of the plot points. Calling them 'plot points' feels somewhat of a stretch because the production seemingly doesn't follow anything it sets out with, resulting in an incohesive narrative that leaves you wondering not only who you should be rooting for, but also what is even taking place. Is there a festival? Is there a battle? Is this a love triangle? Who is this person we've just met that is seemingly in love with this other character we know little about? None of the characters are fleshed out enough for you to care what happens to them - and thankfully so, because if you're looking for character development or arcs...there are none.

As the audience, we probably should have known it was going to be a struggle of an evening, with Michelle Visage coming onstage before the show started to remind the audience that the cast only had five days of rehearsals and to expect mistakes; which almost felt as though it was setting itself up for a failure before it had even begun.

There were moments that genuinely felt as though they'd been taken directly from other well-loved musicals, which was a baffling choice; with Evie (Natalie Paris) sat on the floor with a sprawled open book of dark magic. It felt as though we were a few seconds away from Elphaba appearing and singing "eleka nahmen nahmen". With a song that opened Act Two with a character that we barely knew, along with four backup singers who we'd never been introduced to speaking about female empowerment and loving yourself...for seemingly no reason. It was far too reminiscent of Six the Musical, and lacked any kind of cohesion to the rest of the plot. It's quite an achievement to struggle to write a review because you're still so unsure yourself what you witnessed.

The two stars given to this production were solely awarded for the talent of the cast, the choreography from Dean Lee and a smattering of songs from Segun Fawole. Natalie Paris as Evie, as predicted, stunned with her vocals whenever she had time to shine, but with the music she was given, it all became repetitive and tiresome, through no fault of her own. The standout song from the evening was undoubtedly Mazz Murray's 'Greater Than Love' which provided the only connection to any character in the show. 

Djavan Van De Fliert as newly-coronated King Nik became the only character in the entire production you were rooting for, but again, this is simply because he did exceptionally with the material he was given. His vocals were beautiful, and as a huge fan of Frozen!, it was wonderful to see him back on the Theatre Royal Drury Lane stage. I can only commend every actor on that stage for handling everything with such grace, and giving the audience a glimpse of their undeniable talent.

The choreography from Dean Lee felt almost too distracting, which at times felt needed to drag yourself away from everything else that was happening onstage. The ensemble were incredible and I'd say the choreography was the only aspect of the evening that felt clean, polished and ready to deliver to a paying audience. 

Paying audiences. This is truly where the problem with the heart of the Sea Witch lies. It simply wasn't ready to be shown to people, who have not just paid, but paid extortionate amounts to see some of the current West End greats and a new piece of musical theatre. This should have been a scaled back production in an intimate theatre, with a small ticket fee and audience feedback post-show. If anything, having the production on such a grand stage just made the inconsistencies and shortcomings all the more obvious.

It's a shame because at the core of it all, there could be a real gem of a new musical. However, it's a long way from being uncovered.

You can find out more about Sea Witch, here.

**photo credit: Danny Kaan**