The White Mermaid or The Little Lotus: A Musical Fable
Fresh from his brush with international fame, by coming close to winning the second season of RuPaul’s Drag race, Trevor Ashley is back to earth with his annual adult pantomime.
All the favourite ingredients are back – three eye candy male dancer actors, Trevor in outrageous frocks with a deep cleavage, and gentle cameos from the ageless Carlotta.
The naughty revue opens with three sailor boys prancing onto the stage, dressed to display their achievements in the gym, singing about having “salt on your skin, cum in your hair and faggots below.”
The revue fuses two parodies into one. Disney’s version of the The Little Mermaid – which any parent or young adult has seen a million times - and the hit streaming series The White Lotus - set at a hotel resort in Hawaii and Italy.
Our leading lady Trevor Ashley is voluptuous fusion of both, in the character of Tanya McMermaid.
Tania is a cross between The Little Mermaid’s Ariel and Jennifer Coolidge (Tanya McQuoid), the needy hilarious guest in White Lotus.
The first appearance of Tanya on a rock was spectacular.
Without a little knowledge of The White Lotus, many of the jokes will sail over your head.
Having recently binged on series one, I was in the know and particularly impressed with Stephen Madsen’s brilliant impersonation of the coke snorting Australian hotel manager.
He offers guests all you can eat seaweed buffet at the underwater resort.
Tania McMermaid meets a handsome prince at the resort (Jakob Ambrose) but is under a spell which prevents her from speaking to handsome Italian Prince Jakob Ambrose – which the sea witch Gaviscon (Carlotta) has her tentacles out for.
Overall, the two stories do work well together and it a lively entertaining night out.
There is a good choice of music in the parody, a silly highlight being the song that mixed The Beatles' “We All Live In A Yellow Submarine” with a recent high profile submarine voyage to the Titanic.
A couple of times Trevor and Carlotta forgot their lines – but the two hams showed exactly what to do in a pantomime – tell the audience that you are a little lost and enjoy watching them swim around until they rescue themselves.
Grab a ticket to this silly, hilarious romp and a T-Towel on the way of the theatre.
David Spicer
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