At MERMAID and...

[cubanpab]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:04pm

there are so many damn kids here I want to kill myself. Shows starting in a sec. I'll check back in during intermission with my thoughts on the show.

No one is out tonight from what I can tell

[sgv123]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:06pm

cant wait for a review. hopefully a good one.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:08pm

"I want to kill myself."

But then we'd miss your Obama testimonials.

[broadwayfan7]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:17pm

Hope you enjoy the show! Looking forward to your review!

[Liverpool]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:22pm

you're at The Little Mermaid, why are you shocked there are lots of children?

[Not Barker, Todd.]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:23pm

There's a difference between shocked and annoyed. Just because you know something's going to happen doesn't always cushion the blow.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:29pm

Heaven forbid children attend a musical based on an animated film. How dare they?

[Testing1232]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:30pm

The problem that I had was not the number of children, it was their ages ! I heard one mom ask their child if he needed to be changed ! He MIGHT have been three years old.

It shocks me that people would bring children under 6 yrs old (at least) to a Broadway show that is over 2 hrs long !

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:32pm

Well, that's an entirely different matter. They rarely, if ever, enforce the no children under 4 rule.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:35pm

I believe Ticketmaster.com actually has the age min at 6. And you are right... they never enforce that "rule" at Disney shows.

[SDav 10495]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:37pm

I understand the feeling. When I go to Disney World, I am constantly annoyed by how many people bring their kids.

I know it sounds like I'm being sarcastic, but...I'm kind of really not.

Updated On: 2/16/08 at 08:37 PM

[Testing1232]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:42pm

<< I understand the feeling. When I go to Disney World, I am constantly annoyed by how many people bring their kids.

I know it sounds like I'm being sarcastic, but...I'm kind of really not.
>>

LOL. I hear ya--- we are AP holders, and for years people would ask us how we could go to Disney without a child. We used to reply... "how could you go WITH a child?!"

Now we have our daughter (who is a 2-yr old Disney veteran already), but I can definitely (even more so now as a parent) feel your pain !!! LOL

[Eris0303]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 8:58pm

I can understand the annoyance.

Most children under 6 (and some even over) can't sit through a 90 minute Disney film. They need potty breaks, snack breaks, attention breaks, etc.

I can only imagine what they'd be like during a 2 hour musical on Broadway and how distracting that can be for the patrons around them.

When you've paid $100+ for a ticket to see a Broadway show I don't blame you for being annoyed if there are tons of distractions around you.

[cubanpab]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 9:31pm

intermission. First off my comment about the kids was a joke. I knew there'd be tons of kids, in just surprised at home many and how young they are. Unfortunately the ones seated around us are having a hard time staying focused but they've been fairly well behaved.

Ok the show. I came into it expecting a total disaster. And its not that bad. I'm not loving it, but I expected it to be much worse. there are pros and cons. Its not great but its not awful and I can certainly unetatand why families would enjoy it.

The good... The performers are all great. Well not all of them but certainly the principle cast. Sierra and sherie are great. Eddie is good. But what a surprise the little kid playing flounder is! Hes tiny and sings like a pro. I'm not crazy about sean palmer and I really am not enjoying Titus at all but overall the cast is strong.

The lighting and special effects are very well done. Prince eric drowning was pretty cool the way it was done.

The bad... I don't know what else to say about the sets. They are hideous. Ugly ugly ugly. Nothing resembles being under the sea. And even worse are the costumes! The worst I've ever seen. I can't tell what anything is supposed to be. Scuttlesr looks like a clown. The eels look like dino lizards. The under the sea sequence looked like a really bad vegas showgirl number at the golden nugget. The awful colors and bizarre sets / costumes.

But, for all the flack this show has gotten its not the worst thing ive eve seen.. If aything sherie and especially sierra are enchanting enough to keep it afloat (pun intended). C+ so far.... Is act 2 better maybe?

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 9:38pm

I hope the second act is better!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 9:39pm

I think Act 2 is better, for several reasons. First, Sherie gets more to do, and some of the songs in the second act are much better. Plus, you get to hear that gorgeous quartet.

[somuchtodo]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 11:01pm

Brian D'Addario = Flounder.
Really, fabulous voice!

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 11:06pm

act 2 is better because sherie has "more to do"?????

Umm sure, she gets to reprise her two big songs in act 1...awesome.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 2/16/08 at 11:53pm

I've never known the box offices for the Disney shows to do nothing but ignore the age limits. They only enforce that everyone, no matter the age, has a ticket.

[cubanpab]

Posted: 2/17/08 at 12:02am

well act 2 wasn't really much better. Again I'll say that this show could have greatly benefited from different set and costume designs. It wasn't even that the sets were bizarre. Atleast if they were nice looking it wouldn't have been so bad. But god they were just ugly sets. There were these two weird giant poles / rods that kept popping up in every scene. I think sometimes they were supposed to be trees. Other times... I dunno? Something aquatic. Everything was just hideously ugly. Costumes as well. They did not look like fish. Is that what the lion king is like?

But still I think the show has been judged unfairly. It wasn't as awful as everyone said. Id stil give it a modest C+. There just wasn't anything particularly special about it that's all. And thats not such a bad thing. Its just not a good thing either. I guess to some people being mediocre is worse than just being plain bad? And maybe thats why the reviews have been so negative.

Anyhow... The little kid that played flounder got the loudest cheers during curtain call and it was well deserved. What a little pro! And the audience loved it. People were leaving the theater in very high spirits. This show isn't going anywhere for a while... The tourists are going to eat this one up...

[legally_popular]

Posted: 2/17/08 at 12:03am

Haven't seen Mermaid yet, but at Mary Poppins there were a lot of kids in the audience and I was pleasantly surprised that throughout the entire show there was absolutely NO talking / moving around / noises / eating at all. Only during “Temper Temper” though, one kid said out loud “This is scary” when the toys come to life, haha. But back at Beauty and the Beast kids were talking throughout the entire thing and it got annoying.

but to the original poster - enjoy the show!

[cubanpab]

Posted: 2/17/08 at 12:03am

Whoops double post Updated On: 2/17/08 at 12:03 AM

[cubanpab]

Posted: 2/17/08 at 12:04am

Whoops double post Updated On: 2/17/08 at 12:04 AM

[PotO2]

Posted: 2/17/08 at 12:36am

Well I'm glad you didn't um...hate the show! :p It's too bad you didn't like the costumes or sets though (the costumes, minus Scuttle's and Flounders, were one of my favorite aspects of the show).

About children at shows, I agree with what has been said. I really can't believe that some parents bring children under six to a Broadway show! It can sometimes really take away from the show. I can't see how parents would ever think that that was a good idea...

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/17/08 at 12:45am

I guess to some people being mediocre is worse than just being plain bad?

Absolutely. Salvador Dali said something like: If you are mediocre, no matter how hard you try to look bad, you'll always end up looking mediocre = The Little Mermaid.