When Disney first presented The Little Mermaid to audiences in 1989, they didn’t admit that Ursula, the evil sea witch with her white quiff and looping blue eyeshadow, had been shamelessly inspired by daring drag queen Divine. Rather than paying homage to the star, Disney had based the villain on Divine as a kind of cruel joke; it added to the company’s long list of queer-coded bad guys in an era when being LGBTQ+ was heavily vilified on and off screen.
In Unfortunate, a camp new musical parody that’s ridden the wave of Edinburgh fringe success, a rag-tag band of gay sea creatures and ancient demigods stage a kind of reclamation, both for Ursula’s reputation and for the queer characters who could have been. Directed by Robyn Grant, who played the lead in the show’s original production, Ursula and her sparkling crew of harnessed performers now have a chance to rewrite Disney’s tale. With book and lyrics by Grant and Daniel Foxx, Unfortunate tells of how Ursula was framed, banished, and how her plan to steal Ariel’s voice was actually teaching the hapless mermaid an important lesson in independence.
At nearly three hours, this origin story is overstuffed, but the cast approach it with boundless energy and constant camp delight. Shawna Hamic is glorious as the wronged – but still murderous – Ursula, powerful and furious in the dark, filthy waters. River Medway, from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, is a fabulously airheaded Ariel, desperately singing about how horny she is. The whole team throw their all at it, particularly Allie Dart and Julian Capolei, who leap between characters, accents and Abby Clarke’s fabulous neon costumes.
The merrily chaotic tone wobbles between cheeky cabaret and children’s entertainment with a touch of adult panto. The show is most powerful when its parodic scorn is focused, as when Clarke’s wonderfully wriggly puppets sing “We Didn’t Make It to Disney”. Tim Gilvin’s music is belted beautifully throughout – rock anthems and love ballads and pastiches of pop songs – but there are so many as to almost overwhelm.
The show is made with such playfulness and the sense of fun is infectious. It’s a pleasure, too, to get the queer ending audiences deserve, a storyline Disney remains, after so many years, too cowardly to write.
• At Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London, until 17 February. Then touring.
