The sea’s most feared villain is reimagined in Sea Witch – a dark and thrilling new musical prequel to The Little Mermaid, set to make its world premiere in the UK.
Created and conceived by Kristopher Russell & Michael David Glover, together with Dean Lee, visionary choreographer for Janet Jackson, with music and lyrics composed by Segun Fawole.
Russell and Glover are excited to be announcing Sea Witch (not Ursula), based on the young adult novel of the same name, written by Sarah Henning and published by HarperCollins.
The production will make its World Premiere in the UK with venue, dates and casting still to be announced.
Before she took the mermaid’s voice, she gave up her own heart.
Sea Witch is the untold origin story of the villain from The Little Mermaid, a dark prequel to the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale.
Evie is a young witch cast out in a kingdom where magic is outlawed. Haunted by guilt over the drowning of her best friend Anna, and estranged from Prince Nik, whose family crushed all traces of magic, Evie lives in hiding until Annemette appears.
A mysterious girl who looks just like Anna, Annemette is a mermaid with three days to win a human’s love or vanish forever. Drawn in by their shared powers, Evie agrees to help – but love, loss, and vengeance collide in a fragile triangle that threatens the fate of the kingdom.
To save a life, Evie must risk everything – even if it means embracing the darkness within.
Kristopher Russell & Michael David Glover are visionary British creative forces who have been heralded in Rolling Stone for their groundbreaking work, captivating global audiences with their spectacle-based storytelling, fusing high-impact visuals, bold narratives, and immersive experiences.
They have based the adaptation on the young adult novel Sea Witch, written by Sarah Henning and first published by HarperCollins in 2018. The novel was praised as “deftly transforming a fairy tale into a richly layered exploration of culture and relationships” (Publishers Weekly) and “full of plot twists and heart-in-throat action” (Booklist).
