"The Little Mermaid" by The Young Performers.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

The Little Mermaid, Ariel, has always wanted to rise above the waves, and while she hears the wondrous tales related by her sisters, she can't wait to see what life is like above the waves and be part of that world.

Ariel sees a marvellous party on board a ship for Prince Eric who is celebrating his 16 Birthday. Eric is besotted with Ariel's enigmatic voice. She falls madly in love with him but a storm wrecks his ship and he plummets to the bottom of the ocean. Ariel carries him to the surface and leaves him on the shore, saving his life.

She is absolutely smitten with the handsome Prince and seeks advice on how to woo him, but as she can't live on land, and the Prince would drown in the sea, the romance looks failed from the start. The answer though lies with the Sea Witch, Ursula, but there are consequences and prices to be paid!

This has a lovely child friendly feel about it. And when I say child friendly, I mean children of any age.

Finn Boswell plays the handsome and friendly Prince Eric who is rebelling against his father’s dying wish to take up the crown. He becomes enraptured by Ariel’s voice and makes it his quest to seek out and meet the fair maiden to whom it belongs to. Finn looks very comfortable in leading man shoes and has great charm on stage.

And the voice that Eric has fallen hook, line and sinker for belongs to Ella Charlesworth who plays Ariel, daughter to King Triton and a mermaid. I've seen Ella in so many productions, so I know that when I see her name on a cast list that I can be comfortable in knowing that she is going to deliver a wonderful performance, and she did, as always.

Theo Brewer plays Sebastian, a friendly crab who is King Triton’s advisor and the court's composer. This is a brilliant comedy role, and a brilliant costume and accent to go with it. I did at times have a bit of trouble hearing some of the script, which may be due to an unbalanced sound on the mic pack, but the fun and feisty - I won't say crabby - character came through Theo's physicality.

William Mellor is Grimsby, caring and considerate of Prince Eric's welfare and tries his best to guide, inform and encourage him to fulfill his obligations and destiny. He thinks the stories of mermaids and a King of the Sea as superstitious nonsense though, but that is soon dispelled. Again, a slightly muffled sound, but I got everything that Will delivered.

Elijah Green is Flounder, Ariel’s best friend. Elijah is another young man who is so much fun to watch on stage, and this role is a joy to see performed by Elijah. there were a few times that Elijah though looked slightly nervous - I put that down to first night nerves because I've seen him without those nerves in other shows. Elijah has a great voice and puts feeling into his characters that he plays, but I had trouble catching some of his delivery, again that could be due to the sound balance. It's opening night and the sound from the mixing desk can sound very different when there's an audience in. That said, Elijah is still a fantastic young actor who puts a smile on my face, especially whizzing about on heelies.

Jess Henshaw is Scuttle, a seagull who is fascinated by humans and all things humanish! He come across as a very confident bird but he actually doesn't know as much as it seems! His enthusiasm is infectious and has a "positoovity" outlook on life. He is friendly and believes anything can happen if you just believe.

King Triton is played by Lewis McDowall. With an imposing presence, commanding nature and magic trident, left to him by his father, he rules his kingdom and the sea and holds the devotion and respect of the sea creatures. But as a single, widowed father of seven girls, there are times when he feels out of his depth. Lewis ticks every box of the description of the King. He is imposing. He is commanding. He also is believable at playing a character so much older than he is.

Finlay Tomlinson plays Chef Louis. French to the core with more than a liking for blades. A flamboyant character with a passion for cooking "Le Poisson", nothing fishy there then! An ideal comedy role for Fin who I've seen on stage many times: a young actor who always entertains in whatever role he is given, especially in a comedy role.

Flotsam is played by Isobel Pickering and Jetsam is played by Neve Johnson. This pair are the loyal sidekicks of Ursula. Both Isobel and Neve have really strong voices and have now added puppetry to their list of skills as they operated the two puppet characters superbly.

Summer McNorton plays Ursula, a sea witch, a daughter of Poseidon and the oldest sister of King Triton. Summer has an amazing voice that I had not noticed before in previous Young Performers shows. The quality, strength and control of those long notes gave me tingles. Not only did she perform her songs, she had the evil characteristics down to a tee. Her main songs "Daddy's Little Girl" and "Poor Unfortunate Fools" were stand out performances for me. This is how to deliver an evil Witch on stage!

Ariel's six sisters are played by Isabella Frampton (Adrina), Lucy Coulson-Jones (Aquata), Hattie McEwan (Arista), Amelia Forecast (Atina), Liv McEwan (Adella) and Lottie Ellis (Allana).

The other cast members and Ensemble members are Will Hamilton (Pilot), Millie Weston (Windward), Emily Wilkins (Leeward) and Dillan Brookes, Carly Gaunt, Keeley Rickerby, Violet Graney, AJ Chamberlain, Olivia Monk, Lexi-Mae Hart, Lucie Artis, Sophie Longcroft, Emily-Mae Taylor, Sophie Dexter, Emmie Simmons, Clarissa Armitage, Molly Price, Alex Povey and Livvy Read.

Directed by Zak Charlesworth, choreographed by Ellie Simmonds and the Musical Director is Ben Ward are the dream team production trio who have made this production such a success. The Production Assistants are Tricia Freer and Fiona McDowall.

The soundtrack includes some delightful Disney delicacies. "Kiss The Girl", "Under The Sea", "Part Of Your World", "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and "Daddy's Little Angel", plus a song that I'd not really noticed until this production in the 1960's seasoned song "She's In Love", which really made me prick my ears up.

Little things can mean a lot and changing the first few rows of non static seats to form the shape of the bow of a ship, and also extending the stage outwards, incorporating a cavity space, gave the performance space and shape a new feel.

The video design is one of the best that I have seen for a local production. Designed by Roydon Charlesworth it manages to tie in parts of the film that can't be replicated on stage, like Ariel rising to the surface of the sea transformed from a mermaid to a young woman and the shipwreck with Prince Eric sinking below the waves and being saved by Ariel. The timings in the scenic design is also spot on, which gives a real cinematic effect to this musical.

Sound is by Harvey Tavener, who also overlooked the Young Techies, and the lighting is by Dave Martin. A few little glitches but, as I said, this is the opening night performance and an audience makes a difference to the sound in the theatre, but I have no doubts that any technical issues will be ironed out for Thursday's performance.

The costumes are fantastic and courtesy of Spotlight Theatre.

Nice to see the stage team of Paul Wheedon and Kevin McDowall all in black and shifting parts of the set around when the lights were off the stage or just when the video backdrop was playing, making them almost inconspicuous.

What is there not to like in this production? Well, I couldn't find anything, and with just a bit of tweaking in the sound department, this could be the best thing that I've seen from The Young Performers since the last best thing I saw by The Young Performers, which would have been their last production.

"The Little Mermaid" is at the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 15 June.