By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHEN?: Saturday 30 December, runs through 17 February 2024 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

We’re reminded of the old adage that great musicals are not written but re-written as we take our seats for a show we 1st heard the bones of during lockdown and saw originally 18 months ago at London’s Underbelly Festival.

• Read on for reasons including how this could be the next Operation Mincemeat sleeper hit

Writing in the programme, authors Robyn Grant, Daniel Foxx and Tim Gilvin explain 1989 Disney film The Little Mermaid is their inspiration: ‘Conceived one dark and stormy night in 2018 over a generous glass of wine and our favourite post dinner topic (fabulous evil witches) Unfortunate quickly took shape.

‘Pat Caroll’s Ursula inspired by iconic late drag queen Divine, already felt so ahead of her time … and crying out for a deeper dive.

‘Now, in 2023, Unfortunate reaches new heights. With fresh songs, spectacular affects, and a bigger cast than ever, Mother is finally getting the treatment she truly deserves.’

Opened last year Southwark Playhouse (Elephant) is unusual in that it offers an intimate space with a high ceiling suited to the beautiful sunken sea wreck set here and the aerial high-jinks undertaken by many of the cast here to convey the sea in a major glow-up for this parody musical.

Important to say early on we think that the humour is adult, language often sweary and your response to this zinger from our titular heroine probably indicative of how you will feel about this new musical: ‘It isn’t the 1st time I’ve taken a boatload of se(a)men to the chest.’

Unfortunate is the backstory for sea witch Ursula from the Disney movie The Little Mermaid and zips back 20 years to explain her doomed romance with Prince Triton and banishment to the dark waters thanks to an evil King who didn’t want to see 2 people from different backgrounds marry.

Shawna Hamic from Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black plays Ursula, described in the programme as ‘the baddest bitch in the ocean … plus-sized and proud’, and brings maturity and plausibility to the role.

Her beau Triton is given a strong voice and undoubtedly more 80s-styled charisma than intellect by former member of teenage pop band North and South, Thomas Lowe.

The powerhouse behind the main couple are Allie Dart and Jamie Mawson who have multiple roles they make memorable and give Drag Race UK star River Medway as princess Ariel huge support as she riffs on original song Part Of Your World to wish she could be Where The Dicks Are.

This production’s glow-up means its puppets have become bigger and more elaborate as we meet a supporting cast of sea creatures that were too unusual ‘to make it Disney’ underlining the central message of the show about the celebration of the individual.

There’s also a conservation nod about not littering the sea and even a namecheck for both Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough.

It’s not only some of the songs that are new but it also feels as though the plot’s been given an especially queer makeover which we very much enjoyed particularly during the Act 2 opening number when Dart in particular proves just how funny she can be.

We also enjoyed Julian Capolei who we recognised from the prologue company in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club who is called upon in late song Hot Girl Summer to throw a spanner in the works of 1 budding romance.

Looking for the next Operation Mincemeat which transferred to the West End to much acclaim after runs at theatres including the Southwark Playhouse? Well, this could be it.

This new musical’s confidence is perhaps best displayed by its cast encouraging its audience to photograph and record its final number (our picture above) to illustrate just how entertaining it is.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Southwark Playhouse
• Have you seen Unfortunate before and are what did you think of this production? Tickets
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