This last weekend I made my way up to Bear Lake to swim in the annual Bear Lake Monster Swim. It is my only open water swim this season because I can’t afford Deer Creek and they didn’t have GSL, so I decided to make a weekend out of it and head up there for a little break. As part of the trip I decided to finally check out the Pickleville Playhouse, which I’d heard about (partly because my friend Camille Chandler does sound for them) but never attended. They have 2 shows a season there but I saw the adaptation of The Little Mermaid over the parody show because parody isn’t my thing. This version based on the iconic Disney film is not my favorite but the folks at Pickleville did what they could with it and it was a very energetic and well done night of theatre.

The strongest part of this production at Pickleville is the cast particularly Rylee Carpenter as Ariel. Devin Davis also brought the right amount of camp to Ursula for the performance. The Little Mermaid is, of course, based on the 1989 animated film with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater with a book by Doug Wright. It’s Wright’s book I take the most issue with, making strange choices like having Flounder be in love with Ariel or the inane choice to have Ursula be Triton’s sister. The news songs are also, for the most part, lame with “I Want the Good Times Back” being the only one I’d keep out of the bunch.

All that said, director Kenzie Davis Kremin has done a wonderful job bring the sea world to life in a relatively small stage. I guess the original Broadway cast used scooters/wheely shoes to give the flow and feel of water, which is also done here, but I thought it was an effective technique to creating that oceanic environment. They also used projections and lighting to bring that underwater vibes (lighting design Dean Bressler) and the costumes (especially for Ursula) by Whitley Osborn Davis were excellent.

So even though I have my issues with the adaptation of The Little Mermaid I still had a good time at Pickleville Playhouse and would recommend seeing the show if you are up at Bear Lake this summer (runs through August18th.) I did have the Mexican grill afterwards and I wouldn’t recommend it. It was very basic for the price and there is other better food in Garden City. You can pick up tickets for the show here.