Little Mermaid: The Roller Skating Extravaganza?- Page 2

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 1:49am

I'm here.
I'm reading.
From now on, for reasons I won't get into, I am just avoiding this mess on here until the show is up and running...
Wait and see how it's done. At minimum, it will be very interesting to see.

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 1:53am

A friend of mine who has been apprentice to the scenic designer told me about a year and a half ago that matthew borne had come to Disney with a concept on how to create an underwater, swimming feel to the show. Disney rejected his concept and moved on. If they chose roller skates of Matthew Borne, ill laugh my ass off.

[singtopher]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 2:04am

Disney's answer to Starlight Express.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 2:28am

Link?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 7:11am

>> has anybody phoned John Napier yet?

Is this in reference to his MGM Grand fiasco?

For those who might not know, Napier came off the heels of designing the film version of CAMELOT with being given the plum assignment of designing the first major show at the then-new MGM Grand in Vegas. The production was to showcase every major MGM musical for the last four millenia, I think.

Problem was, Napier's a *film* designer, not a stage one, so he designed everything as though it were part of a movie. As a result, everything was *very* concrete in its approach. So the story goes that he was working on the tribute to Esther Wiliams and had this marvlous idea of this gigantic tank of water where we would see this underwater ballet. So they build this thing, fill it with water, and roll it out on the stage...

... at which point, the sheer weight of the thing causes it to crash through the stage floor and destroy the elevator drive mechanisms for the hotel (not to mention just about all of the surrounding infrastructure), setting back the opening of the hotel by at least eight months.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 8:43am

So they're doing the show with roller skates?????

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 11:06am

"Disney's answer to Starlight Express."

Or a way to get Disney on Ice to Broadway. Ice skates, roller skates, tomato, tomahto.

I won't be satisfied until the actors are also competing in real tennis games during the onstage action.

[sunsignleo]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 11:17am

They're using those roller sneakers with the retractable wheel that is only in the heel of the shoe.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 11:30am

To quote Charlie Brown:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 11:32am

I hate kids that wear those.

They wouldn't allow normal folks to roller skate through stores or malls, but they let those kids fly around everywhere with those damn things on.

[MotorTink]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 11:34am

I agree with you Diva. I was pretty much mowed down at the mall the other day by a kid wearing those.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 11:36am

Wait till you see human-sized fish wearing them.

[MotorTink]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 11:41am

I do not scare easily, but the thought of that, Rath, is freaking me out!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 11:58am

That must THRILL you Rath....

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 12:08pm

Roller skates? Seriously?

With all the flying technology Disney can afford and use in practically every Broadway production they've done that's the best solution they could come up with?

I hate to judge, but I'm very skeptical

[FosseForever3]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 12:19pm

No, see, I invisioned having Ariel flying around when she's "swimming" and then sitting on a rock for songs and scene work..

See? fly
sit on a rock
fly
sit on a rock

It'll be thrilling, just wait!!

(of course the ensemble will wear the sneaker skates

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 6:24pm

so obviously there will be NO swiming for this production. So it's either Ariel on skates, or Ariel walking with a fin type extention on her costume (which is what my production did when we did a Mermaid show) The producers are coming up with a way to satisfy the audience, who will be paying to see the show. If she "walks", people will say "why didn't they try to have a swiming effect?" So they came up with the skates, but now people are saying "Skates? What are they smoking?" Either way, they'll won't win. Unless, they defy gravity and have her "swim" on stage, we are just going to have to accept what they give us.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 6:29pm

The Little Mermaid is....ME, it's the reason I started singing as a child...if they ruin it...I will be so angry.

Wow. If you continue to be continually outraged like that, you're going to burn out by the time you're 30.

Just FYI.

But hey, at least you will be FREE of FURY!!!! So much ANGER! At a corporation!

[B3TA07]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 7:19pm

Stick it to the man!

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 7:44pm

Heely's (or however you spell such a silly thing) are a better solution than bulky skates, but they don't solve the problem of the performers remaining in a single plane at the bottom of the stage. It will simply look like the mermaids are on treadmills at the bottom of the ocean. It's not the ridiculously campy solution full skates would have been, so in a sense it's sort of a let down.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 7:49pm

Rath, regarding tennis...Didn't you hear about Deuce?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 8:48pm

Oh please - who wants to see two old ladies creaking around a tennis court when we could see actors singing, dancing, wearing puppet heads and roller skates AND playing live games?

Now THAT is a musical.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 8:52pm

Oh please - who wants to see two old ladies creaking around a tennis court

:raises hand:

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 9:25am

CORRECTION

On January 21, Sean Martin wrote, in part: "Napier came off the heels of designing the film version of CAMELOT with being given the plum assignment of designing the first major show at the then-new MGM Grand in Vegas."

It was John Truscott to designed CAMELOT and the famous water tank, not John Napier. John Napier is a brilliant set designer for the RSC who would never dream of designing a fish tank like that.

Mr. Martin apologizes for the confusion and any inadvertant harm this may have caused to either Mr. Truscott or Mr. Napier. However, regardless who designs it, he still thinks putting MERMAID onstage is a stupid idea, little more than easy money grubbing by a company that really should know better in the first place.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 12:38pm

Love you for that last part.