Unfortunate, tells the tale of Ursula, one of Disney’s baddest and how she came to be, in this crazy, camp, saucy delight of a production. Shawna Hamic, pulls out all the stops in her performance as the unapologetically fat, furious and anarchic Ursula, framed and banished from her true love, becoming Mother to all the un-wantables of the sea. Things come full circle as Arial (played by River Medway, RuPaul’s Drag Race),also finds herself wanting forbidden love outside of the order of things, and Ursula is only too happy to meddle in.
The show moves through colourful cabaret, puppetry, drag, disco and rock ballads, in a fun loving punch to the senses, giving us a pick and mix of all the best things about musical theatre. The performances from cast members, who comically finesse their way through multiple characters and costumes must applauded, as well as the energetic choreography, splits and drops that bring tears to the eyes and smiling shrieks.
Unfortunate’s turns on all the things that are wrong with Disney’s world, on its head, where the different and ugly are condemned to be bad, and the “good” are clean, normal and deserving of happiness over everyone else. There is a fair amount saucy innuendo, as well as outright naughtiness that would make polite people blush.
After decades of Disney’s winning formula of characters whose parents meet an unfortunate end and have an adventure to find themselves or their true destiny against some villain or another, the baddies are biting back.
Unfortunate is at the New Theatre until Saturday 11th May tickets are available from their website – www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk
