“Little Mermaid” finds love in El Segundo

Helping Eric and Ariel fall in love: Concept art for “The Little Mermaid” by Samantha Vinzon

Helping Eric and Ariel fall in love: Concept art for “The Little Mermaid” by Samantha Vinzon

Swimming with the Fishes
Sound Stage Live!’s production of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” opens tonight (Thursday) in El Segundo

We can help Eric and Ariel fall in love by pretending to be birds and frogs. Really! Just keep reading and you’ll find out how. But first…
Jeff Cason is sitting towards the back of the El Segundo Performing Arts Center while the tech crew is setting up for tonight’s opening of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which Cason is promoting as the first-ever immersive musical theater experience. He and his sister, Beth, recently formed Sound Stage Live! and it’s a company that intends to produce musicals for the next generation, presumably without leaving the old generation out in the cold.
Cason actually has quite a résumé, having served as the lighting, scenic, and projection designer for musicals and other events throughout the South Bay, from El Segundo to Rolling Hills Estates. And speaking of El Segundo…

Home grown
“I grew up in El Segundo,” Cason says. “I’m a third-generation El Segundo resident, and both my sister and I were part of the El Segundo Recreation and Parks drama department.” They attended the local schools and, he adds, pointing to the far side of the auditorium, “We performed on this stage many times.
“So it’s really neat, now that we’re both professionals in the industry, to be able to return to the place where we grew up, and to bring this new theater to life.”
El Segundo residents may recall the Broadway in the Park series, which Cason produced.
“Broadway in the Park ran for six years,” Cason says, “and like any good television show it had its run, and at the end of that we felt that we had done what we could with that project.” But his involvement with the city didn’t end there, and last October Cason coordinated the fireworks display when El Segundo celebrated its centennial.
But let’s get back to Eric Ariel, the prince and the mermaid, and to why Cason feels that he and his new organization are up to something that’s fresh and innovative.

Beth and Jeff Cason, co-producers of Sound Stage Live!’s “The Little Little Mermaid.” Photo

Audience participation
“At Sound Stage Live! we’re trying to reimagine a theater experience for a new generation. Sound Stage Live! mixes live actors, projections that paint the walls of the theater, and the audience’s mobile device actually syncs up with the show. Guests can download the Sound Stage Live! app, and we’ll take over their phone at key moments of the show so they can participate in the story.
“In ‘The Little Mermaid,’” Cason continues, “Eric and Ariel are in the boat together. Ariel can’t speak, and the frogs and the birds and the reeds are all creating this symphony of music to help them fall in love.
“We randomize content across the audience’s cell phones so that they become the birds and the ducks and the reeds and the fish.” In short, “The audience creates a symphony of sound,” and this provides the romantic backdrop for characters that maybe, if you think about it, aren’t so different from those in Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water.”
For the older crowd, it’s sort of an update to when you’d attend a 1970s Led Zeppelin concert and would hold up your Zippo lighter as you swayed back and forth.

Chassey Bennett as Ariel. Photo by Michelle Monique

“So it’s a new way of making theater feel very immersive and participatory,” Cason says. “You’re not just a spectator; you get to be part of telling a story.”
While this kind of approach adds greatly to the theatrical experience, it’s not untried territory. I’ve attended shows such as “Cabaret,” “Song of Singapore,” and even the operatic “La Voix Humaine,” in which the venue is seemingly transformed into a bar, a canteen, or a cabaret. And Long Beach Opera has often set its productions in out of the way places ranging from an aquarium and a parking garage to a National Guard armory and the inside of a pool house. Cirque du Soleil’s “Toruk” also engaged with audience cell phones to further enhance their show.
However, those are rare or big ticket items and not readily accessible for local residents.
“The production is for all ages,” Cason says, adding that the aim of Sound Stage Live! is not only to connect with people young and old, but to combine the best of traditional storytelling with technologies that younger people, in particular, are familiar with: “I think that helps bridge that gap so that a whole new generation can discover how wonderful live theater can be.”
As for the performers gracing the stage…
“The cast is a mix of Southern California actors,” Cason says. “We also have some actors from New York,” and this includes Neil Starkenberg, performing as Prince Eric, who has appeared on Broadway. The role of Ariel is played by Chassey Bennett, who has performed with 3-D Theatricals, La Mirada Theatre, Musical Theatre West, and other companies.

And that’s only the beginning
The adventure actually begins the moment we walk up the theater.
“In addition to doing this really immersive show,” Cason explains, “we’re building this out to be a whole theater-going experience. We don’t just want to imagine what happens on the stage. So, we have a red carpet entrance; we have photo zones in the lobby where people can take pictures; we have unique snacks: Instead of the typical candy and water we have mermaid churros and mermaid-themed lemonade.”
Maybe fish sticks and salt water taffy…

Nick Waaland as Triton. Photo by Michelle Monique

“And then the biggest thing that we’re doing before the show is a celebrity pre-show. Todrick Hall, who is a YouTube and Broadway star, is going to be hosting that show. Todrick will perform some of his YouTube videos live on stage. And one really neat thing we’re doing is a mermaid lip sync battle; so we’ll invite sme members of the audience up on stage with Todrick. It’s just a great way for people to participate with the story.”
If all goes well, and how could it not, Sound Stage Live! will return with another all-inclusive theatrical venture.
“This is our inaugural production,” Cason says. “We picked ‘The Little Mermaid’ for the first show because it’s such an immersive story. It takes place under the sea. There’s water and there’s fish, and there’s this whole world that surrounds you. And so, what better show to start with than one where the story’s all about being immersed in another world?”
As it turns out, a second production is in the works and it’ll be announced during the weekend’s performances. This writer was hoping for a scoop, but no dice. Cason will only say that it, too, will be an immersive experience.
Since this one takes place under the ocean, I reply, then probably the next one takes place up in the sky somewhere.
Cason laughs. “It very well may.”
But no matter what show it is or where it’s set, it’s bound to be ambitious and captivating, especially for the younger members of the audience.
The Little Mermaid opens tonight, Thursday, with additional 7:30 p.m. performances on Friday and Saturday, plus 2:30 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday, in the El Segundo Performing Arts Center (at El Segundo High School), 640 Main Street, El Segundo. Tickets, $29 general; $79 upgraded seats; $129 VIP seats. Details if you visit soundstage.live/tickets. ER

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