Little Mermaid Review/Update

First off, I went into this show with a clear and open mind. I've spent the last month in Russia, and as such have not read previous reviews on it, so everything here was of first-hand account. But having now read some other opinions, I have to agree:



Yes. It REALLY does need to be examined. I will say that the audience seemed extemely receptive, on their feet before the cast was even out for a bow, however I personally was less than wowed.

The cast is, needless to say, amazing. Sherie Renne Scott plays Ursula like a Norma Desmond out of hell, and is given one of my favorite numbers in the show, "Good Times". Contrary to what many people have said however, I did enjoy Price Eric. He had a gorgeous tenor, and really lent youth to the part. Sierra Boggess does a passing job as Ariel. She plays the part wonderfully, but really doesn't do anything new or revolutionary with it.

The most painful thing to say is that all this talent is wasted. Every other element of the show was a total mess. Sitting front orchestra my view was blocked by large, random set pieces throughout the show. Large structures rolled in and out without serving any purpose. At the performance I witnessed, I even saw parts falling off the set during the show. In the midst of "Under the Sea", some random ball came off a large lever structure and Titus Burgess was considerate enough to pick it up mid-number to prevent a serious dancing injury. I found myself fearing for the actor's safety as fiberglass soared carelessly across the stage.

Even worse however, are the costumes. Throughout the show I heard people around me asking just "WHAT" a particular character was supposed to be. The seagull chorus looked more like Ruprecht's (from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) cousins crossed with a rooster than anything. The mermaid tails protruding directly out of the actresses butts, hindering all movement. The worst however, is Flounder. The kid literally looked as if he was a homeless bum- walking around in a yellow rag-shroud with blue spots, and sneakers. The designer didn't seem to be quite sure where they were going- metaphorical or literal. I suggest choose one or the other, and go with it. You can have mer-butts or shrouds..but not both.

The score was passable, and as a ballad fan, I found myself more than satisfied with new songs such as "If Only". But many of the numbers which should have stopped the show (Under the Sea)..didn't. Both Ursula songs however did manage a large applause break- and rightfully so. I have to say that with all the "adult" emphasis that has been flouted by cast members, all this is really is a bunch of tounge in cheek humor that goes beyond most kids in the audience, and borders on excess even for the adults.


The main issue with the show at this point is that it has no climax. Everthing just zips by so fast, and I personally felt overwhelmed by the constant push of energy. The second act is pratically a brief synopsis of what the movie once was. Ursula never transforms into her beautiful self (a shame that Sherie was stuck in her ugly big-hips costume the whole show), Ariel never changes back into a mermaid, and remember when you were little and Ursula suddenly grows into a giant, as large as the seas themselves? Doesn't happen. Sorry. All you get is a few spotlights zooming around the audience, and Sherie (Ursula) blocked from the center viewers by a giant ship.

Mary Poppins at least had the Bourne dancing, but when "Mermaid" swims to Broadway, it will (forgive the pun) be left out in the open ocean with no defenses at all.

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Updated On: 8/13/07 at 08:51 PM

Sunday the 12th, the 2:00 matinee

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That sounds crazy. Haven't heard about sets falling apart.

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Me neither.

Well, it's a Disney show. A good chunk of the people seeing the show have already seen the movie. Because of this, the book probably won't stand out as most people know a good chunk of what is said before the show starts. Also, there isn't really a whole lot of storyline to work with.

With Disney shows it's all about translating people's childhood memories of the movies onto the stage, and because of this, people want to see something that's visually pleasing.

You need the original ending, with Triton giving his blessing to Ariel's transformation. It's cathartic. It's a right of passage. She can't stay a human in vain due to Ursula. And there are theatrical ways of doing it. MGM Studios' Little Mermaid show does it 5x a day. And you need the Ursula/Vanessa line, because it shows Ursula is capable of ultimate evil. She's not just a big brassy piece of comic relief. That at her core, Ursula will do anything to get what she wants and ruin whatever lives she needs too.

The movie's story is too perfect to mess around with. Actually, I'd prefer Ariel to be the cause of Ursula's demise, but that's only because I'm all for women's rights. Haha.

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The scene when Triton transforms Ariel is one of my favorite moments of the movie. It's so simple and so touching. I would really love to see that restored.

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^ That's all I have hoped for was a giant behemoth Ursula!

Yes, I guess I didn't speak much about the book, but as people said, it's just one of the many problems right now. I hadn't heard the bit about possibly changing the ending, but yes, the current one with the "contest" is a sort of cheap way out. However, there was a new song included that sort of gains it's entire function, "One Step Closer" with the contest scene. And personally, I really like that song.

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I haven't actually seen the show, so this is based entirely on what I've read from reviews, which may seem unreliable, but anyway, I think that they've changed the story too much. At the end of the day, they're putting a movie on stage, yes it needs to be different, but if it's changed too much, it becomes unrecognisable. When Beauty and the Beast was brought to the stage, the story was the same. It was a fleshed out version of the movie. Everything from the movie was there, but more was added on top of it so that we could learn more about the story and characters. If they had changed the story, I don't think it would have lasted as long as it did if the characters and plot had altered. It was really a very literal translation of the movie. The Little Mermaid seems to be caught between the literal translation seen in Beauty and the Beast and the metaphorical-representational style used for The Lion King.

I can't wait to see images from the show so I can see it's overall "look" for myself, and I'm sure that after that my thoughts will change, so just be aware that what I wrote above is based purely on what I've read about the show.

This can only get better! Curtains must be loving these posts.....

First off, I'd like to thank Kat for validating my opinion of the fish tails as horrible.

That being said, I think we can all agree that B&TB and Lion King are successful Disney translations of their animated features to the stage. And, after seeing Lion King again this weekend, (it was only the tourning version, but it was still better than TLM), I believe I've uncovered two things: 1 on observation on Disney Shows in general and 1 about an idea they could use with TLM.

First, I think the common trait with B&TB and Lion King is that both these shows only added to to the story, they didn't take away. Granted, I didn't see Tarzan (thank god) or Mary Poppins, so I don't know if they heavily altered those and took away story elements from those shows. Though I did see a snippet of Mary Poppins on the Tony's and didn't look like Step in Time is all that it should be. But I digress, I believe that is key, they only should add to shows, not alter, and certainly not subtract from it.

As for the adivce for TLM, after watching Lion King, during Can You Feel the Love Tonight, I saw four actors on wire rigs, flipping and moving around. Now why doesn't TLM do that? It would absolutely create a better illusion of swimming under water. People could do flips and flap their legs like dolphins. I imagine blocking would be a nightmare, but hell, most of the time they're only staying on one plane when they're on the ground.

Just another 2 cents.

Disney completely overhauled "Elaborate Lives the Legend of Aida" after a tryout. I can't imagine this show moving forward without some significant amount of changes. With Tarzan Shumacher made a huge mistake getting too close with Crawley and not seeing the big picture. Out of town tryouts are for firing talent. This show is not good enough for a long run on Broadway, and not suitable for a Disney theme park (See Aladdin at Disney Land).

I saw this last week and I’m trying to get pictures uploaded from my friends phone. Anyways I agree with the comments posted here, the costumes are horrendously ill conceived and the second act (book) needs serious work. Tatiana needs to be fired. The book needs to return to its roots. I saw that video where they talked about Shakespeare… um… this needs to have some more drama.

Schumacher still has the scars from Tarzan and his venture into theatrical is starting to reflect his latter years in feature animation. If this sinks he will go down with the ship. He closed Beauty for this, in it’s present state TLM will get Tarzan reviews and will last just as long. I’m not kidding. Not even the kids will be able to sit through this.