Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch releases cast album

Exclusive: A studio cast recording of hit musical parody Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch is now available across all streaming platforms.

Produced by Nikki Davison and Joe Davison for Auburn Jam, the album features 17 original tracks, including “Sucking On You”, “We Didn’t Make It To Disney” and the show’s titular song.

Unfortunate has book and lyrics by Robyn Grant (who also directs) and Daniel Foxx, with music, arrangements and orchestrations by Tim Gilvin.

The not-so-family-friendly musical parody tells the backstory of one of Disney’s most illustrious villains, immortalised through the 1989 animated classic The Little Mermaid.

Grant and Foxx commented: “It took us the best part of five years and nine gallons of aperol, but we think we have found every rhyme for synonyms of ‘fish’ and ‘sex’. We hope people like it.”

Gilvin added: “Howard Ashman and Alan Menken created one of the great Disney soundtracks of all time in 1989 (the same year I was born) and set the blueprint for all Disney films to come. The Little Mermaid is full of pastiche, with calypso, chansons and burlesque, and this score is written fully in that same spirit, embracing modern drag cabaret and the classic Disney orchestral sound. We’ve been refining and elevating the score since its debut in 2019, and the cherry on top has been the joy of working with Auburn Jam on these arrangements, which have taken on a whole new dimension with their careful, virtuosic and detailed work.”

Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch is currently on a UK tour until 14 July and is being staged at York Grand Opera House until tomorrow, 15 June. Further stops include Churchill Theatre, Bromley (18 to 22 June), Theatre Royal Nottingham (24 to 29 June), Newcastle Theatre Royal (2 to 4 July), Southampton Mayflower Theatre (6 to 7 July), and Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton (11 to 14 July).

The cast includes Orange Is the New Black star Shawna Hamic (as Ursula) in her UK theatre debut, alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race UK‘s River Medway (as Ariel), Thomas Lowe (as Triton), Allie Dart (as Sebastian), Jamie Mawson (as Eric), and Julian Capolei (as Grimsby), with Corrina Buchan, Jack Gray, Jamie McKillop and Milly Willows serving as ensemble members and understudies. Casting is by Sarah Leung.

The production features set, costume and puppet design by Abby Clarke, choreography by Melody Sinclair, musical direction and supervision by Arlene McNaught, lighting design by Adam King, sound design by Lucy Baker, Oscar Thompson and Will Thompson, flying and effects by John Maddox for Suspended Illusions, make-up design by Maya Lewis, production management by Titch Gosling, intimacy and fight coordination by Claire Llewellyn for RC-Annie, puppet builds by Aled Williams, costume supervision by Sian Clare and assistant direction by Stephenson Ardern-Sodje. Additional orchestrations are by Nikki Davison and Joe Davison for Auburn Jam.

Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch is presented by Wildpark Entertainment and Dianne Roberts.