Amity Creative Theater Premieres Disney’s 'The Little Mermaid'

Amity Regional High School’s acclaimed Amity Creative Theater (ACT) is entering the final days of rehearsal for its production of Disney’s beloved classic The Little Mermaid, premiering April 4, 2025. Featuring music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman & Glenn Slater, and book by Doug Wright, the show promises a captivating performance showcasing vibrant costumes and sets, innovative choreographed dance and roller-skating, and classic songs like “Under the Sea,” “Part of Your World,” and “Kiss the Girl” backed by an all-student live orchestra.

Based on the cherished Disney animated film, Broadway hit, and the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Little Mermaid is a hauntingly beautiful love story for the ages. Ariel, King Triton's youngest daughter, dreams of pursuing Prince Eric in the world above the sea, bargaining with Ursula, the evil sea witch, to trade her tail for legs. With the help of colorful friends Flounder, Scuttle, and Sebastian, Ariel must restore order under the sea.

Director Rob Kennedy and co-director Andrea Kennedy have led the ACT program since 2007. Both Amity alumni themselves, the husband and wife team revived Amity’s theater program after it fell dormant in the late 1990s, and have turned it into one of New England's most successful high school programs. Under the Kennedy’s leadership, ACT has earned two Moss Hart Awards from the New England Theater Conference for Best High School production in New England, twenty-four Connecticut High School Musical Theater Awards, and two awards for Best Musical awards at the prestigious Stephen Sondheim Awards hosted yearly at New Haven’s historic Shubert Theater. 

ACT prides itself in selecting works with current themes and strong social messages that appeal to the school's student population as well as the community at large, including the Sondheim Award-winning productions of Anastasia and Beauty and the Beast, as well as The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Play That Goes Wrong, Love/Sick, Mean Girls and, this past fall, Tracy Letts’s The Minutes. 

Notably, many students from The Little Mermaid cast and crew will represent Connecticut this August at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland—the world’s largest arts festival—through the highly selective American High School Theater Festival (AHSTF). ACT was among a handful of schools chosen from over 4,000 schools nationwide, marking its third selection since 2012. In Edinburgh, students will perform Neil Bartram and Brian Hill’s critically acclaimed musical, The Theory of Relativity.

Amity Regional High School serves the three towns of Bethany, Orange and Woodbridge, and has a long history of theater productions dating back to the school's founding in the early 1950's. Notable Alumni include actor William Atherton (Ghostbusters, The Day of the Locust), Playwright Betsy Kelso (Great American Trailer Park Musical), Matchbox 20 bassist Brian Yale, and Broadway and Radio City Music Hall Stage Manager Hilary Austin. 

ACT’s production is generously sponsored by the Jamie Hulley Arts Foundation.

Performance Schedule

‍All performances at the John J. Brady Center for the Performing Arts, Amity Regional High School, 25 Newton Road Woodbridge, CT 06525

• Friday, April 4 – 7:30 p.m. (Opening Night)
• Saturday, April 5 – 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, April 6 – 2:00 p.m.
• Thursday, April 10 – 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, April 11 – 7:30 p.m.

Tickets

*TICKETS SOLD OUT AS OF 3/27*

‍Tickets ($25 reserved seating) available at amitytheaterdepartment.com, by calling (203) 392-2019 or emailing  boxoffice@amitycreativetheater.org. Limited availability due to high demand—early purchase recommended.