SYNOPSIS

ACT 1

The Little Mermaid lives in a kingdom beneath the sea and dreams of making the journey to the surface on her 15th birthday to see the birds and flowers her older sisters have told her about. When the time comes she swims to the surface and sees a sailing ship with a Prince on board. While she watches, the ship is capsized by a sudden storm. The Little Mermaid saves the Prince by bearing him to the shore, where she kisses him and falls in love. Scared away first by a fisher couple, and then by a young Princess and her attendant, she returns to the sea. Meanwhile, the Prince wakes and mistakenly believes it is the Princess who rescued him.

Back in the Sea Kingdom, the Little Mermaid cannot forget the Prince and wants to marry him. However her mother explains that humans do not find 'fish tails' beautiful and that the Prince will never marry her because she does not have legs. She also explains that, while humans live only short lives, they have an immortal soul, whereas mermaids live for 300 years but then become foam on the ocean.

The desperate Little Mermaid visits the Sea Witch who promises to make a potion that will give her legs. However there are conditions attached - in return the Little Mermaid must give up her beautiful voice, and walking will always be very painful. Moreover, if the Prince does not marry her but chooses another, the Little Mermaid will die before the sun rises after the wedding celebration.

The Little Mermaid agrees and swims to the shore to take the potion.

INTERVAL

ACT 2

The Little Mermaid is found on the beach and taken to the Prince's court. Everyone finds her exquisite, and is charmed by her dancing but she cannot speak. Although the Prince is also charmed by her, he believes it was the Princess, not the Little Mermaid, who rescued him during the storm and has fallen in love with the Princess. The Little Mermaid gradually understands that she can never be more to the Prince than a friend. On the evening of the wedding day between the Prince and Princess, the Little Mermaid is visited by her sister who has cut off all her hair in a bargain with the Sea Witch to try to save the Little Mermaid's life. In return for her hair, the Sea Witch has given her a dagger. If the Little Mermaid plunges it into the Prince's heart before the sun rises, her life will be spared and she can become a mermaid again, living the rest of her life in the ocean.

The Little Mermaid approaches the Prince, sleeping with his new wife, but he is clearly so happy that she cannot bring herself to kill him. As the sun rises, she throws the dagger into the sea and feels her body being swept into the waves. She then finds herself surrounded by beautiful beings in white - the spirits of the air.

Because her love for the prince was so strong, the Little Mermaid does not die, but becomes a spirit of the air and has the chance one day to have an immortal soul.