Ben
Brantley

June 9, 2017

“Darling, it’s better down where it’s wetter,” sang the calypso crab to the fishtailed heroine of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” in 1989, hymning the joys of ocean-floor habitation. Nearly 30 years later, another set of aquatic creatures, wearing homemade tulle seaweed and sequin scales, have shown up to acknowledge that life under the sea isn’t so great these days.

Then again, is life all that great anywhere on this dangerous planet? Does it harbor anything like a snug, secure place to call home? As the performers in the endearingly amateur “Little Mermaid”-style musical pageant now at the Wild Project warble (a tad raggedly), imperfection and uncertainty are everywhere.