Having had a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe and now stopping in Oxford on a UK-wide tour, Unfortunate has a lot of hype around it. Witnessing the rapid development from fringe play to full-on West End musical builds up a weight of expectation, so it was with some trepidation that I headed to Oxford Playhouse to find out for myself whether this stellar reputation is deserved.

Subtitled The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch, this original musical parodies the likes of Maleficent and Wicked while taking aim at the tropes and hypocrisies latent in the world of Disney. We are treated to Ursula as a sexy cabaret hostess, narrating her version of the events of The Little Mermaid with a whip-smart script that pulls no punches, and an accompanying score in which every single song feels like a chart-topping anthem. The plot combines traditional tropes of the fairytale backstory (forbidden lovers pulled apart by misunderstanding and sabotage) with modern realism (Ariel is a main character in a love story yet as a teenager she can’t possibly know what she actually wants) and social commentary (aforementioned sabotage is motivated by imperialist interests and bigotry).

The witty script is sprinkled with thought-provoking jokes, covering everything from conventional beauty standards to the human pillage of the seas, bringing up the latter in a series of side-splitting callbacks which demonstrate how to address serious issues with a light touch. Combining challenging the status quo with smut and silly fish puns ensures there is never a dull moment, while making a complete mockery of the idea that ‘woke’ young people’s sensibilities are ‘ruining comedy’. Adding to the comedic merits of the writing, the actors’ use of physical comedy mined laughs from all directions. I feel unable to pick out a single performance that was a highlight because the entire cast was brilliant: at the same time, it would be remiss not to mention how magnificent Shawna Hamic is as the glamorous, embittered yet ultimately forgiving main character.

Not a single creative decision was half-hearted: clearly great care had been taken over every detail. From the way the lighting evoked under-water magic, to the choreography that transformed human dancers into believable sea creatures and the ingeniously versatile props and set, the entire production serves up a feast for the eyes and ears (the latter not least because of each cast member’s ability to belt out perfect high notes). Despite their having rehearsed and performed countless times, it really felt like every member of the ensemble cast was giving it their all and having the time of their lives, and this enthusiasm and energy was infectious, making the whole production somehow even greater than the sum of its parts.

I did have a couple of gripes with some of the creative decisions: I found that using puppets to represent the child versions of Ursula and Triton made them less relatable than using actors, but perhaps it just wasn’t physically possible to introduce any more costume changes. As the show seems destined to continue growing a cult following and a healthier budget, this may well change in future iterations in any case. At times, the dialogue within the song lyrics was too fast, so that it was impossible to catch each reference . Hopefully this is something else that will be ironed out as the tour continues (or perhaps it was deliberate so that returning audiences are rewarded with new gems each time?!).