Reviewed: Unfortunate – A Musical Parody

Disney got it all wrong. Ursula was never the baddie in the story of The Little Mermaid, she was instead framed for a crime she did not commit, was misunderstood and victimised for being poor but clever, and was only trying to help Arial see that frankly, all men are bastards who will leave you and betray you, one way or another. This is the premise of the absolutely filthy, and totally hilarious ‘Unfortunate – The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch’, which arrived at the Wolves Grand last night in an avalanche of rude words, bawdy fun, and just about the campest show you will see all year. I loved it, I’m still belly laughing this morning at some of those one liners…

And let’s not get talking about the dirtiest songs you will find this side of the Rocky Horror Show. Any show that has a song (and a reprise no less) called ‘Where the dicks are’ is frankly going to enchant or horrify, luckily this audience was in tears of laughter, helped on by the totally winning delivery by River Medway, who reimagines Arial as a kind of Joey Essex character, both in voice and the brains department, and is frankly perfect in the role.

But if we are talking perfect, we have to look at the brilliant force of nature Shawna Hamic as our heroine( yes heroine, do keep up!) Ursula. She plays Ursula Squid (who knew!) as a strident, brilliant and downright ballsy character, one who may live in the depths of the ocean (down the shit pipe no less), but is still a queen of all she surveys. It is a tour de force and Shawna is just incredible, ably matched by the hunk that is Triton, all muscles and hair. Thomas Lowe, who is a wow in the vocal department, plays Triton totally deadpan, to fabulous effect, particularly when performing the filthy power ballad ‘Sucking on You.’

Allie Dart and Julian Capolei are a wow, playing multiple parts with aplomb and bringing the house down with ‘Les Poissons’ and ‘Hot Girl Summer’. The cast is rounded out by the delightfully thick himbo Eric, played wonderfully by Jamie Mawson.

Unfortunate is just a hoot, an adult pantomime made up of the characters who ‘didn’t make it to Disney’. It is rude, often vulgar, completely filthy, and I, frankly loved it. Definitely what was needed on a rather wet (ahem!) Thursday night.

For more ticket information, click here.

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