Under the Sea

Sink or swim. For Scott Lane, adapting characters as beloved as Ariel and Sebastian the crab was daunting enough. But Disney on Ice’s “The Little Mermaid” (opening Christmas Day at the Arrowhead Pond) was also the L.A. costume designer’s first attempt at an ice show.

“I know the lines of ‘The Little Mermaid’ by heart, like any good little 4-year-old,” said the 38-year-old Lane. “I wore one tape out.”

The many hours spent studying the animated creatures of the deep have, however, paid off swimmingly. The costumes--and the show--have been afloat for more than a year, touring the country as the latest ice show adapted by Feld Entertainment from a hit Disney film.

“The Little Mermaid” surfaces for a week in Anaheim, then travels on to Long Beach Arena, the L.A. Sports Arena and the Great Western Forum.

Lane is a Pasadena resident who grew up in Covina. He started out as a performer but always had an interest in what the actors wore.

“Every show I was in, I always studied the costume I was given and what went with it. In high school, everyone would call me to make their Halloween or Renaissance Faire costumes.”

Lane is no stranger to big productions either. For seven years he has designed costumes for the Rose Parade. An ice show, however, poses some unique challenges.

How does one create the illusion of undersea creatures while allowing the characters the freedom to skate? How does one maintain the integrity of the bulky Sebastian the crab and Ursula the sea witch while keeping their costumes lightweight and mobile? The key, Lane said, was to keep it simple.

“For Ursula, we tried out a lot of ideas to get her to move and to skate, because she has six tentacles,” Lane said. “A special harness fits on the actress’ hips and each tentacle is on its own separate mechanism that moves up and down.”

The tips of the tentacles are made of soft foam that allows them to wiggle, so when the unwieldy Ursula rocks left, the right side does the opposite.

Outfitting Ariel also posed a problem. As a mermaid, she might have been stuck on a rock for half the show if not for a little ingenuity.

“We just took a little creative license and created her leggings to look like the scales of her fins and put a fin on each side of her legs,” Lane said.

Russian skater Inna Volianskaia, a former Soviet National Team skater and a veteran Disney on Ice performer, portrays Ariel. Volianskaia, whose favorite film is “Pretty Woman,” has glided enthusiastically into the fairy tale roles of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Belle (“Beauty and the Beast”). For “Mermaid,” she teams up with a fellow Muscovite, Alexei Kiliakov, who portrays the dashing Prince Eric.

The most challenging number for the pair--and the production--comes when Ariel gets her “human legs.” To emphasize the transformation, Volianskaia does the entire number in ballet shoes. Through a series of lifts and athletic maneuvers, Volianskaia never touches the ground.

“It was very new to me,” Volianskaia said through a translator. “It was something very interesting that I wanted to do.”

For Kiliakov, the number requires a great deal of strength to keep Ariel aloft for the entire routine. Because he is a seasoned pairs skater, the lifts were not a problem, he said. (His wife also performs in the show, as another daughter of King Triton.)

“We are enjoying [the show] because the reaction from the public we can see,” Kiliakov said in a heavy Russian accent. “Sometimes we can hear kids, when they shout, ‘No, no, it’s not Ariel, it’s Ursula,’ ” as Ursula tries to trick the prince.

As in the Disney film, the prince falls for the bait, leading to one of the skater’s favorite numbers, the Tango.

“When Ursula is trying to be like Ariel, she becomes a beautiful girl, that’s a good number,” said Marina Aramysheva, who portrays another one of Ariel’s sisters and acts as the Russian translator. “There are amazing costumes and baubles and excellent lights,” she enthuses.

Another unique element of the show is the “stage.” Actually two levels, it gives the impression of land or the ship’s deck at one end and the undersea world at the other, set on the ice. Barnacled characters called merfolk were added to the production to help create an underwater feel.

“They’re part set dressing, part set movers, and they skate with Ariel and allow her to do a swimming motion,” Lane explained.

Otherwise, the story remains true to the Disney film, so the rest of the school of skaters will be recognizable to fans of the famous fish tale--including Flounder, Sebastian the crab and, of course, Ursula, Ariel and Prince Eric.

“It’s like doing a real musical,” Lane said. “There is a story and a cast of characters--but you’re working on a much broader scale. The hardest part about adapting the characters is they have to be able to ice skate. We have to keep in mind that people are coming to see them skate as well as coming to see the story.”

BE THERE

Disney on Ice’s “The Little Mermaid,” Arrowhead Pond, Saturday-Jan. 2; Long Beach Arena, Jan. 5-9; L.A. Sports Arena, Jan. 13-17; Great Western Forum, Jan. 20-23. At each venue: opening night tickets, $10; otherwise, $11.75-$32 (top price of $35 at the Pond). Discounts available. Ticketmaster: (213) 480-3232 or (714) 740-2000.