Chester Academy's Little Mermaid Wows Crowds With Broadway-Level Production Values

Chester Academy's Drama Club closed its spring season with back-to-back sold-out performances of The Little Mermaid on March 20 and 21, drawing praise for production values that rivaled professional theater: a live pit orchestra, nationally experienced costume designers, and student leads who held the stage through a technically demanding show.

Drama club advisor and music teacher Rachel Scali assembled the pit orchestra by tapping her connections with the Orange County Music Educators Association, bringing in professional musicians to perform alongside students. The result stopped sophomore Joseph Veltri, who played King Triton, in his tracks. "I cannot get over that orchestra," Veltri said. "It was a surreal experience."

Sophomore Liam Peterman took the role of Prince Eric, senior Yamilet Lopez-Cortez commanded the stage as Ursula, junior Jake D'Onofrio played Sebastian, and Hailey Garcia led the production as Ariel. The casting drew from multiple class years, a reflection of how broadly the drama club reaches across the student body.

The costumes matched the ambition of the sound. Vincent Scassellati and Kenneth Burrell, professional designers with credits at more than 250 theaters nationwide, dressed the cast, a level of design expertise rarely seen in a school production.

None of it came cheap. Scali and the drama club funded the professional sound equipment, costumes, and orchestra through ticket sales, playbill advertisements, and a school chocolate-bar fundraising campaign. Prior sold-out fall productions had already built both a financial reserve and a community reputation that made advertisers and donors willing to invest in the spring show.

The production extended its reach beyond Chester Academy's auditorium when the drama club organized a visit for Chester Elementary students to meet the cast, an outreach that embedded the show more deeply in the town's community life.

For Chester, hiring professional musicians through the Orange County Music Educators Association and bringing in nationally credited designers channels real money into the regional arts economy while pulling parents, alumni, and local theatergoers through the school's doors. With the fundraising model now proven across two consecutive seasons, Chester Academy's arts program is positioned not just to repeat this standard, but to raise it.