Hooker eighth-grader Melissa Cisija was acting out again. Seated against a backdrop of her favorite possessions — a globe, rocking softly to and fro from its stony shelf, an eyeglass, and a fork, formerly known as a dinglehopper — she crossed her arms, shook her head, and glared at the audience before her.
“I just want to belong!,” she exclaimed.
Cisija wasn’t preparing for an argument about which high school she would attend next year, or mapping out the strategy she would use to contest a grade before the end of the semester. Clad creatively in shells and a shimmering skirt of bright green scales, she wasn’t even advocating for a wardrobe change.
Lucy Gellman Photo
Not even close. Perched on the precipice of young adulthood, she was dealing with something much fishier. Cisija had a big coming-of-age crisis on her hands as she stepped into the role of Ariel, daughter of Triton and darling of the sea, as part of Worthington Hooker’s eighth-grade class’s production Tuesday of The Little Mermaid, Jr. under the direction of Laura Attanasio and Dan Rubens and musical direction Ann Page. A “Cast B” performed Wednesday.
“I am extraordinarily proud of what these kids have accomplished over a period of time … that they have put this together. You should come both nights, it’s that good. Let’s let the kids take over. They’re amazing,” said Attanasio before the performance.
I have a lot of bones, aquatic and otherwise, to pick with Disney. The Little Mermaid is built on a terrible plot. Handled poorly, the story can suggest that if you’re 15 and in love with someone who is really, really out of your league — like, different species out of your league — it’s advisable to disobey your single parent, cover your breasts with a new pair of seashells, run away from home, and sell your voice, the single thing with which you can give consent, to the person who killed your mother and is trying to get a hold of your soul. Once you’ve paid a dear price to escape your social class, act as coquettish as possible to get the guy. You’re hot and so is he, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Procure some crabs in the process. They give great life advice and almost never leave you alone.
Love doesn’t conquer evil, but the men in your life can, so it’s all good.
Of course, a different message entirely can be pulled from the Hans Christian Andersen story. Tuesday, the play at Worthington Hooker was a beautiful and entertaining meditation on the clumsy attempts people make in trying to fit into a world that is not quite their own. Cisija was funny and memorable in the role of Ariel, lampooning grand romantic gestures with a number of eye rolls and thwarted kissy faces. Hannah Providence ruled the stage as Ursula, lending a wonderfully warm and comic edge to the stone-cold sea witch. Pamela Zhang stole the show as Chef Louis, spinning fish guts into stories of cultural assimilation and cuisine. And Jorden Morehead had the entire audience dancing in their seats with “Under the Sea,” flexing his claws at the front of the stage.
Maybe that’s the true takeaway from of Disney. That, under the right circumstances, there is good in everything.
And if we are lucky, a little magic too.