Disney’s The Little Mermaid - 2020
Scheduled for March 26th, 27th and 28th
Cancelled due to COVID-19
Disney’s The Little Mermaid: The Lost RPHS Musical
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the RPHS Theatre Department was unfortunately unable to present our 2020 Production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Here, we take a look back at the musical that never was.
November 1st, 2019 - Disney’s The Little Mermaid was announced as the 2020 RPHS Theatre Musical.
December 4th, 2019 - Auditions were scheduled to be held December 2nd and 4th, however due to inclement weather, all auditions were held on the 4th.
December 10th, 2019 - Callback auditions were held.
December 21st, 2019 - The first rehearsal was held with a full reading of the script on the RPHS stage.
January 2nd, 2020 - Music rehearsals began and the parent meeting was held.
January 4th, 2020 - Set building began.
January 6th, 2020 - The first dance rehearsal was held.
February 28th, 2020 - The annual RPHS Theatre fundraiser was held at Dowling’s.
March 5th, 2020 - It was announced that tickets would be available on March 12th, 2020.
March 8th, 2020 - The “Storytime with Ariel” fundraiser was announced to be held on March 14th, 2020 at the RPHS Library.
March 11th, 2020 - Our last run through of the full show on stage took place.
March 12th, 2020 - The show and all other musical related activities were officially postponed until further notice.
April 7th, 2020 - The first (and only) full cast Zoom Rehearsal was held.
May 12th, 2020 - A staff meeting was held via Zoom to discuss performance options.
May 18th, 2020 - A Zoom meeting was held with the musical seniors to discuss performance options.
June 25th, 2020 - We were given the green-light by school administration for a one-night-only outdoor performance.
June 30th, 2020 - It was decided between the musical staff and seniors that an outdoor performance of the musical would not be held.
July 1st, 2020 - The RPHS Production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid was officially canceled.
Below is the official cancellation notice, posted on July 1, 2020
An Update Regards the 2020 RPHS Production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid:
To all members of the Roselle Park High School Theatre community,
After long and thoughtful discussions with musical staff, senior cast members and school administration, it has been decided that this year's production of Disney's The Little Mermaid is officially cancelled. While this may seem like a decision that was made for us long ago, over the past three months since the closing of in-person schooling, the musical staff and school administration have been working hard and working together to plan an alternate performance of our show that would have taken place on the football field. Unfortunately, it appears that due to logistical concerns and tepid interest, the planned outdoor event will not take place.
While I have been holding out hope until this very moment that some sort of performance would have been able to take place, I understand that these past months have been unlike anything we have seen before and has been hard on our staff and our students. I would once again like to stress the amount of support and encouragement that the school's administration and the Board of Education has given us not only through the current situation but every year, however, the general feeling I have received from those involved with the musical is that it is better to look towards the future than to try to recreate a version of the past.
As far as the advertisements that were sold by our cast members are concerned, any ad-purchaser (business or personal) that would like a refund is more than welcome to one. I understand that with everything happening in the world money can be tight for businesses and families alike and every dollar counts, so anyone that would like their money back just needs to send me an email and we will make it happen ASAP. If not, we will hold over any and all other ad purchases for our next production with the opportunity to update the ad for new program.
Words cannot express how proud I am of each and every person that was involved with this year's musical. So many people worked incredibly hard and long hours to prepare our musical, a production that I had taken to describing as "spectacular". We as a program are committed to growing creatively each year and this year's planned production of Disney's The Little Mermaid was another leap in that direction. It breaks my heart that we are unable to show the entire community what we had planned because believe me, it would've knocked your socks off. The level of talent and commitment both on and off the Roselle Park High School stage, from the dozens of students involved with cast, crew and orchestra, from our entire staff and from each and every parent and loved one that volunteers their time to make our vision a reality, absolutely blows me away every year. I am overwhelmed by the love and support of our entire RPHS Theatre family.
If any one has any questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly.
Sincerely,
Doug Panetta
RPHS Musical Director
Cast
Isis Gonzales - Ariel
Abigail Medina - Ursula
Ralph Schoner - Prince Eric
Daniel Castaneda - Sebastian
Fransiel Melo - King Triton
Thomas Signorello - Grimsby
Reanna Saldana - Flounder
Ethan Marion - Scuttle
Justin Berrios - Chef Louis
Casey McCall - Flotsam
Allison Blanco - Jetsam
Tiffany Santos - Aquata/Maid/Princess
Juliana Ahmetaj - Andrina/Maid/Princess
Julia Berlinski - Arista/Maid/Princess
Julia Henn - Atina/Maid/Princess
Isabel Paiva - Adella/Maid/Princess/Seagull
Ranai Jones - Allana/Maid/Princess/Seagull
Justin Berrios - Chef Louis/Pilot/Sea Creature/Seagull
Jonathan Cevallos - Windward
Emily Tribiano - Leeward/Seagull
Ensemble
Sylvia Altman - Sea Creature
Nathaniel Arango - Sea Creature
Elizabeth Almeida - Sea Creature/Seagull
Karly Donelly - Sea Creature
Abigail Henn - Sea Creature
Andrea Lee - Sea Creature/ Sailor
Rachel Leone - Sea Creature/ Sailor
Natalie Rengifo - Sea Creature
Lucas Ruiz - Sea Creature/Sailor/Seagull
Emily Sharamova - Sea Creature
Kyle Sisk - Sea Creature/ Sailor
Jamie Stefanski - Sea Creature
Ryan Templeton - Sea Creature/ Sailor
Ekaterina Timura - Sea Creature/Sailor/Seagull
Pablo Chico - Sea Creature
Kylah Frazier - Sea Creature
Ariana Meshi - Sea Creature
Aidan Ponzio- Sea Creature
Gianna Qiu - Sea Creature
Mia Ramos - Sea Creature
Crew
Yunni Bautista - Stage Manager
Alicia Melo-Tejada - Assistant Director
Stage Hands
Charley Abraham, Alison Chabala, Fernando Contreras, Anthony Devito, Patrick Haas, Nick Monaco, Hennessy Ojeda, Sheila Rodriguez, Evan Rodriguez, Sophia Taveras, Kirandeep Virk, Nicole Vives, Angel Vives
Lighting
Kelly Cuadrado, Belen Valencia-Vasquez
Sound
Alicia Melo-Tejada, James Dolan
Orchestra
Julianna Anderson - Reed I
Nina Ignacio - Reed I
Madison Martinez - Reed III
Ryan Marino - Reed III
Brianna Feliciano - Trumpet
Elvis Marcelo - Trumpet
Jasmine Bayot - Percussion
Jason Chen - Percussion
Jared Foy - Percussion
Chris Ley - Percussion
Amanda Perez - Percussion
Staff
Director - Doug Panetta
Vocal Director - Eric Witkowski
Choreographer - Tamara Dombrowski
Orchestra Director - Andrew Williamson
Crew Director - Valentina Arango-Correa
Set Designer - Arthur Henn
Lighting/Special Effects Designer - Ray Tucci
Costume Designer - Linda Green
Makeup Designer - Samantha Nagengast
Hair Designer - Carly Posyton
Sound Designer - Nick Hreczny & Eric Witkowski
Poster/Graphic Designer - Ray Tucci
Parkbill Editor - Valentina Arango-Correa