On the morning of April 22nd, 2025, the Morgan musical director, Mrs. Robinson, and choral director, Mrs. Mustakos, shocked everyone when they unveiled what the 2026 musical would be.
The 2025 Morgan musical, Mamma Mia, was a huge success for the program. The first night of the show completely sold out, followed by two more packed shows. A sold-out show has never happened during Principal Hagness’s time at Morgan. Mrs. Robinson mentioned, “I think this year went really well. I have learned that communication and flexibility are key, along with mutual respect between directors and performers.” With such a large budget and big cast, it may be hard to top, but Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Mustakos are certainly prepared to bring it all.
After Mamma Mia came to a close on March 22, a musical bracket was put together on the bulletin board outside the learning commons. It featured 16 different musicals that would slowly get eliminated down to one singular show. Students were led to believe that the final choice was between Cinderella and Once Upon a One More Time; however, that wasn’t the case when the show was revealed. That Tuesday, students were waiting outside the board and turned around to see that the show for next year would be The Little Mermaid.
Junior Lyla Striby said, ”The Little Mermaid has been a dream musical for all of us to perform together, and getting to do this production with the people I have been with since 4th grade is a dream come true.”
The original Broadway production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on January 10, 2008. It is based on the classic animated film, Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Ariel, King Triton’s youngest daughter, wishes to pursue the human Prince Eric in the world above, bargaining with the evil sea witch, Ursula, to trade her tail for legs. But the bargain is not what it seems, and Ariel needs the help of her colorful friends, Flounder the fish, Scuttle the seagull, and Sebastian the crab to restore order under the sea.
Originally, The Little Mermaid had been eliminated before the final four. The final four were Bright Star, a beautiful and intense drama with powerful music; Cinderella, the Enchanted Version with lush music; Once Upon a One More Time, a jukebox musical with a clever story; and Hades Town, a unique telling of Greek Myths. Each of these shows had specific concerns, including obtaining royalties, casting issues, challenging our students in a new way, and audience size. However, the directors secretly brought The Little Mermaid back into the picture.
In the beginning, the directors were concerned about the complexity and expense of the sets and costumes of The Little Mermaid, but in the end, this didn’t matter. Mrs. Mustakos exclaimed, “We chose it because of the beautiful music, the technical challenge, the potential for a large audience, and how the students really wanted to do this show.”
A meeting was held by Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Mustakos with juniors involved in the musical. At this meeting, they were asked to express their opinions on what they wanted the musical to be. “This coming year’s seniors have been involved in theater since their Pierson, and helped rebuild the program after COVID, so we felt that they deserved some of the decision-making,” said Mrs. Mustakos. Not only is this the show they wanted, but according to Mrs. Robinson, it plays to their strengths and gives the most amount of seniors a good chance at being given a highlighted role.
When they were looking for a show for next year, they wanted to do a show with a more serious message, being that Mamma Mia was such an upbeat, fun musical. “Many people commented to me that they left the theater feeling upbeat and happy and were grateful to escape the overall negativity in the world,” stated Mrs. Mustakos. With The Little Mermaid, it will provide a cathartic respite from today’s news and world events for the audience and the cast, and still have a theme hidden behind it. That theme is finding your voice. In Mrs. Robinson’s words, “Ariel’s journey is literally and figuratively about finding her voice, not just her singing voice, but her ability to stand up for herself and follow her dreams. It’s a powerful message about self-expression and empowerment.”
As the school year comes to a close, it’s good to get excited about all the fun things to come with the musical next year, all of which involve music. There will be a live pit orchestra to play the beautiful songs, which will include music that is not in the movies. According to Mrs. Mustakos, “there are plenty of contrasting styles and gorgeous melodic themes for different characters woven into the score.” This allows the actors and actresses to work vocally and grow technically and artistically. There are also more solo and small ensemble opportunities for the ensemble. But most of all, Mrs. Robinson is ”excited to help the audience dive under the water and do the best to portray a fictional underwater world.”
Mrs. Mustakos left off by saying, “Theater can be transformative, and I am so happy to help bring these stories to life at Morgan.”
