“Creature from the Black Lagoon” was one of the first movies Orlando playwright and actor Christian Kelty saw as a kid, and it stuck with him.
In case you haven’t seen it, in “Creature,” a group of scientists traverses the Amazon River searching for evidence of an ancient amphibious life form aka the Gill-man. Despite being set in the Amazon, the underwater scenes in Universal’s 1954 classic creature feature were filmed at North Florida’s Wakulla Springs.
“‘Creature’ is really a super cool movie, and it was a groundbreaking movie for its time, especially for the way that it depicted women,” Kelty told CL. “There’s a female scientist, and the women aren’t necessarily helpless like they are in other creature features and monster movies.”
"The Little Merman from the Black Lagoon" at Tampa Fringe
Sat. Aug. 7 (3:30 p.m.) and Sun. Aug. 8 (7:45 p.m.)
HCC Mainstage Theatre, 1411 E 11th Ave, Tampa
$13 tampafringe.com
Remember to bring a mask and Fringe responsibly
Kelty saw Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” later in life, at a preview screening in Orlando.
“I hadn’t necessarily been a big Disney movie fan at the time, but I absolutely fell in love with it, the songs and the comedy,” Kelty added. “But the thing that I could never understand, and I guess it’s just one of those Disney tropes, is that it’s all about finding love. She’s willing to sacrifice her voice. She’s willing to give all this stuff up just for a guy? As I got older, I thought maybe this wasn’t the right message to be sending.”
“‘Creature’ and ‘Mermaid’ have kind of been sitting in my head for a while,” says Kelty, who merged elements from both movies into his new play, “The Little Merman from the Black Lagoon.”
“One day I took ‘Part Of Your World’ and rewrote the lyrics to it,” says Kelty. “After I did that, the idea for this show—this mashup of these two worlds—came into my head.”
As the two movies merged in his mind, Kelty couldn’t help but notice the toxic masculinity displayed in both films, from King Triton’s overbearing nature to the way the men in “Creature from the Black Lagoon” treat Kay. As he thought of this, Kelty thought of the effects his father’s idea of masculinity had on him growing up. He also thought of his 8-year-old son.
“I think about my son, I really do,” Kelty told CL, “And I think about what kind of lessons I'm trying to teach him and what kind of messages I'm leaving behind for him."
Kelty doesn’t want his kid to internalize any of that 1950s-era toxic masculinity.
“I don't want to put any of those imprints on him that were put on me, that were put on my dad by his dad,” says Kelty. “I want to break that cycle, and I get to do that with my son.”
Rather than try and erase toxic masculinity from these films, Kelty makes fun of it in “The Little Merman from the Black Lagoon.” But more than that, Kelty’s show sends the message that it’s OK to be whoever you are and love whoever you want, and it does it in a way that’s both heartwarming and funny.
"I like exploring deep, dark themes, but wrapping them up in a way where the audience is laughing and having a really great time,” Kelty explains.
The Little Merman from the Black Lagoon premiered at Orlando’s Stonewall Bar in 2019. With its merman tank (no really, it’s a thing) and upstairs area, the hot and sweaty gay bar was the perfect fit for Kelty’s Little Merman from the Black Lagoon, and people came. Unfortunately, so did a storm.
“It rained sideways into the bar area,” Kelty told CL. How Florida is that?
After its run at Stonewall, Kelty brought “Merman” to Orlando Fringe where it sold out its entire run. It was here that Tampa Fringe Producer Trish Parry saw the show and invited Kelty to perform it at Tampa Fringe 2022.
With its puppets, fan fiction elements, and humor, The Little Merman from the Black Lagoon is super-fringey and fun. But it’s also different from most of the shows I’ve seen at Tampa Fringe over the years. It has a cast of six actors for starters, which is large for Fringe, a festival known for one-person shows. It also has uncommonly sophisticated props, costumes, makeup, lighting and music compared to Tampa Fringe norms.
Kelty’s been making theater in Orlando for over 20 years and it shows. I loved watching him shimmy across the stage as Ethyl the Merman and seeing Anita Pritchard-Bryant’s unique rendition of Ursula. I laughed my ass off at Kelty’s revised “Part of Your World” lyrics. And that surprise ending…
Altogether, The Little Merman from the Black Lagoon is as good as Florida Fringe gets, and you really shouldn’t miss it.
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This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2021.