My Thoughts on MERMAID

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 2:00pm

I attended last night's performance of THE LITTLE MERMAID, and here are my thoughts.

Overall, I thought the show was just "okay." It had a lot of fun moments, but it was very disjointed, and I hate to say that with a more experienced Broadway director, it could have been a more cohesive production.

Some of the costumes and sets were pretty stellar, such as Ursula's and Ariel's costumes and the ship, but then some of the costumes and sets were IMO pretty terrible and distracting, like Flounder's costume (form fitting shirt please), the seagull's costume, the SUn that was used as other things throughout then the sets for Prince Eric's palace that had these fake columns that reflected ANY light that came near and were very distracting. As for the two giant glass "bongs," I actually liked them after awhile, though, they really took up a lot of room when fully open.

The new songs were just mediocre at best ("She's in Love" was cute and "Positoovity" was fine, but did we really need Ariel tap dacing with 8 seagulls?). However, most numbers from the movie really were great, such as "Part of Your World," "Poor Unfortunate Souls," "Under the Sea," and "Kiss The Girl" (where the glass towers really added to the staging). However, "One Step Closer" and "If Only" were songs that seemed like they were from another show, they just felt out of place and kind of like filler.

As for performances, Boggess was good, nothing extraordinary, but very good. The real standout was Sherie Rene Scott who I felt really made Ursula a larger than life character on stage as opposed to just kind of copying from the film like most of the others.

Now, on to the really bad. Titus as Sebastian. He has a wonderful voice and it's really showcased, but in terms of his overall performance, I haven't had that much ham since last year's Christmas dinner. Whenever he was speaking a line and moving, it was so awkward I almost felt bad for him. I'm not sure how Sebastian being taller than Ariel can be fixed, I guess have him be on his knees? I'm not sure, but whenever Sebastian was on stage delivering lines, I wanted him to go away. His costume kind of resembles a really narrow heart with valves sticking out.

Norm Lewis is underused though good when on stage, and the rest of the cast is fine, Palmer, Baskin and Maynard and Korbich.

Overall, the audience loved it, which was great and you can tell that the cast was feeling the energy, but in the end, I just felt that the show was too busy, and with some toning down and more cohesiveness it coud have been much more enjoyable.
Updated On: 12/19/07 at 02:00 PM

[PotO2]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 2:49pm

It's good to see some different opinions! Thanks for typing that up.

[sit&dither]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 3:06pm

Thanks for posting. Quick question about Flounder's costume: the shirt is now form fitting? It used to be a little more than a smock that just hung over those baggy shorts.

[MovieGuy1031]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 4:09pm

sit&dither,

I think Thesbijean was REQUESTING that they ALTER the shirt to be form-fitting, not saying that it now is. I believe it still is a ridiculous t-shirt with blue blotches.

[sit&dither]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 4:40pm

Thanks MovieGuy...I guess I read it as "form fitting shirt? puh-lease!"...as if that still wasn't good enough.

[fengshuihellnyc]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 5:22pm

Hi... I went also last night and had a similar experience in my opinions for the large part that is was very disjointed and the new songs... ok lets just say it, SUCKED. For most of the show I felt that the Dialogue was HORRIBLE. It felt like a bad tv show that was going to be cancelled after 1 pilot. As for the actors....
I felt Sierra (Ariel) and Titus (sebastian)were the only two characters that really stood out on stage as giving a good performance and really getting the character. I'm a huge Sherie fan and was just completely let down. Though her singing was good (though I think she was miscast in this show and the part requires an older woman with a brassier voice)I felt her part was entirely laughable. I mean the dialogue was beyond cheesy and horribly written and she seemed like she was just trying to get through the night to go home. I felt the poor unfortunate souls song was tooo slow and that it needed to be slightly faster in the way which it was sung. It felt like when an old cassette player draggs a little bit. Quicken the beat already.
Norm lewis was completely underused and all of his dialogue had cheese whiz all over it. He is such an amazing actor and HELLO he wasn't very good in the part. I think that is mainly due to horrible writing.
ALL The Costumes in the SHOW were WRETCHED. Heart breakingly horrible. Flounder characters costume looked like he should put on some bling and a grill and say YO a lot. Little Yellow Hood fish with his Yellow Air Force 1's and blue spotted tattoos.
The eels look a lot more like swimming iguanas than eels. Hell they were green... I always pictured an eel as a gray color but hey that might just be me.
I hated that the Ursula characters costume wasn't more active. Sherie really didn't have a way to play with her tenticles much or move them or really anything that gave a fluid moment. And then she always arrived on what i call the POD-DY SNATCHER. In an out this thing would come on which she would stand. Also similar is the arrival of king triton at the beginging on this shell looking thing which two ensemble members bring in wearing seahorse costumes. Is it just me or shouldn't have been a Chariot that he comes in on.... ANd if that was suppose to be a chariot it sure didn't look like one.
The set... I liked the plastic water effect but the Sun and the Two Tower Items that Thesbijean called bongs (LOL) were really over used and annoying. The show up consistently in every other scene. I was totally disappointed in any of the palace scenes. I wasn't given the sense that they were in a palace. I still felt they were outside. LOL
John Treacy Egan as the chef was Wonderful also... Couldn't have chosen a better person.
I hated the ship.... It was suppose to look like you were looking at it from a front Bow View but it really wasn't done well and took me a moment to figure out that that was what the designer was trying to convey.
Overall I felt that the show was OK and as entertaining as it was it did leave me with issues that were somewhat annoyed.
While there were parts I liked and a couple of performances that were good.... Someone should WAVE A SKUNK AT IT!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 6:18pm

Glad I'm not alone in my opinions.

[PotO2]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 9:43pm

Wow, that's really too bad you didn't like it. I enjoyed it a lot, but meh, everyone has a different opinion.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 9:45pm

It felt like when an old cassette player draggs a little bit.

That's hilarious!

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 9:40am

i saw it last night and have some different and similar opinions...

i think that Titus and Sherie were both fabulous. Titus, in particular, truly stole the show, in my opinion. If he doesn't get a Tony nom, I'm going to be bummed out!

Sierra was disappointing to me. She's really pretty and looked perfect for the part, but she was so clearly straining on those high notes and could barely project them. her belt was fine, but the high notes weren't mixed or anything and they were too heady and small. I was in the third row and swear I had a hard time hearing her. I thought her acting was best when she couldn't talk because she couldn't get away with not being animated. I really was hoping for more for her and found her really disappointing for BROADWAY. this is supposed to be the best of the best. i'm really sorry if i come across hard.

i also didn't like sean as the prince. he just looked uncomfortable to me and i just found him really boring. i realize the part isn't supposed to be super interesting, but he seemed really bland

i thought the vision was brilliant, and even though the show was only "ok," it came together because the set and costumes were so creative. i really loved how they created that vision.

so yeah, all in all, show was fine. little kids will like it and they'll love sierra because she looks perfect for the part...it will be intersting to see what reviews say