In El Dorado High School’s The Little Mermaid, three Stagelight Performing Arts’ students can be seen singing, dancing, acting, and performing their hearts out “under the sea.” We caught up with Blake Berggren, Ashley Jones, and Natalie D’Allura to find out more about this great production.
SPA: What are your favorite roles you play in this show, and what makes the roles special?
Blake: I play many roles since I am in the ensemble. I am a sailor, a sea creature (Sea Snail specifically), a tap-dancing seagull, a chef, a turtle, and a human in the finale. This is a great show for the ensemble because there are so many numbers that the ensemble is in, and in every single number you get to act differently because you are so many different characters.
Ashley: I play two roles: Andrina and a rich princess. Andrina is my favorite because it’s fun to be sassy while also concerned for Ariel. I follow Aquata around trying to figure out what’s going on. I’m the smart sister.
Natalie: My roles are lead dancer (water, chef, and a soul) and a tap-dancing seagull. My favorite part is lead dancer because I really get to show what the mood of each scene is through dance, which is something I don’t always get to do.
SPA: Blake, what are some of the challenges you faced in this production?
BLAKE: One of the challenges I faced during this production was having everything done by students. At Stagelight Productions I am used to everything running so smoothly and not having to worry about costumes and sets getting finished before opening night, but at school it’s a bit more stressful since I am a part of the set building and costume construction. In the end, once I saw everything done on stage, I felt like I could point out little things that every single person in the cast worked very hard on, and it ended up looking amazing!
SPA: Ashley, what is one memory you’ll treasure from The Little Mermaid at El Dorado?
ASHLEY: This is my first high school musical in the Performing Arts Center at El Dorado, so it’ll always be really special to me. Everyone in the cast is also really nice, so I’ll remember that.
SPA: Natalie, how did you grow as a performer through this experience?
NATALIE: I grew as a performer during this show because I learned how to better show emotions without saying any words at all!
Well done, Stagelighters! You can catch all three of these Stagelighters and the rest of the fabulous cast this weekend, March 10-12, at El Dorado Performing Arts Center. Visit edhstheatre.com for ticket information.