Rose's Little Mermaid review

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 3:25am

Okay, so I'll start with an overall statement: On the whole I enjoyed it immensely, though it's not without its flaws. And also, I’m very tired and writing things as they come to me, so I apologize for the ADD-ness of this post.

One word to describe Sierra Boggess: Goosebumps. I got chills all through "Part of Your World" and the reprises. She IS Ariel, plain and simple.

Sherie Rene Scott's Ursula is delightfully over the top. She's campy and funny, and I think it works wonderfully. You can tell she's having a blast on stage.

JJ Singleton was on as Flounder tonight, and he is a tremendous singer. Keep an eye on this kid. He has a number with Ariel's sisters, "She's In Love," where he gets to shine.

I liked Sean Palmer as Eric. He's very playful and adventurous, and can sing the hell out of the song "Her Voice."

Eddie Korbich makes a good Scuttle. He does his own interpretation instead of copying Buddy Hackett and I like what he did. He makes Scuttle a goofy, silly bird. And he has a tap number, "Positoovity," that was nice but not really necessary. It's ostensibly about Scuttle and his seagull buddies teaching Ariel how to walk, but it's just a thinly veiled excuse for Korbich to show off his tap prowess (which I quite enjoyed). It's still a nice dance break, though, so I hope it stays.

I can't help but feel that Norm Lewis is being underutilized. He's a forceful presence, but Triton doesn't have much to do.

For the most part, the musical sticks to the movie, especially in the first act. Maybe this explains why I enjoyed the first act more. I was wondering how they would open the show, and I was totally not expecting what happened: We get a little taste of life underwater, and then everybody swims away as the ship LOWERS FROM THE FLIES. It was jaw-dropping. Best. Opening. Ever.

The sinking sequence was nicely done: The ship sort of divides into 3 pieces and is flown out. Then, we see Eric underwater, slowly sinking (which elicited many gasps). Ariel pushes him to the surface and next thing you know he's on the beach about 15 seconds after being in midair. It was pretty cool.

Ariel's transformation is less grand than in the movie, but it works: She steps into a bubble set piece and we see her start to thrash about. Then she slowly begins to rise, revealing legs as she swims for the surface. She has to kick her way out of her tail, which was kind of a cheat since you can see it fall to the stage in a sad little heap. But she breaks the surface and triumphantly stands up as the curtain falls.

The second act isn't bad, but there's one huge departure: Eric and Grimsby decide to hold a contest to find the girl with the haunting voice, rather than Ursula posing as Ariel and bewitching him. So there's no Ariel doppleganger, no wedding, and no uber-Ursula who blows up at the end. While I'm glad they didn't stick strictly to the movie in that regard, the contest idea has to go. It's boring and adds nothing to the story.

Things kind of bottom out from there. Ursula's downfall is very anticlimactic (if I remember correctly, Ariel just hits her with the trident) and the resolution feels rushed and underdeveloped. Basically, Eric asks Triton for permission to marry Ariel, he says yes and as they kiss, Ariel's voice is suddenly restored. Blah. I really, really wish it had been handled more like the movie.

Surprisingly, "Under The Sea" isn't much of a showstopper. That honor actually goes to "Les Poissons" in act 2. Sebastian wreaks all kinds of havoc at dinner, a chase ensues, it's chaotic and crazy and colorful and generally fun.

I am on the fence about how I feel about the design (George Tsypin's scenic design and Tatiana Noginova's costumes). While the ship is fabulous, there are very few physical set pieces. Most of the design is done through projections and two unfortunate structures that look, hand to God, like bongs. There is often a lot of dead space onstage, especially in the underwater scenes. And the set is almost always dominated by a big, rather ugly shape that's supposed to be the sun as seen underwater, but looks more like a jellyfish on acid. I think I can safely say that the set design is my least favorite aspect of the show.

Noginova's costumes are very hit and miss. It's hard to describe the merpeople's costumes. There are fish tails, which are somehow suspended and rigged behind the actors so as to look like they're actually swimming, Their legs are hidden by skirts that match the tails. I know that sounds weird, but it looks much better than it sounds. It takes some getting used to, but I like it. And the Heelys worked much better than I thought they would. You barely notice that they're on wheels.

The best costume, by far, is Ursula's. She wears a dress that gives her octopus curves and tentacles to match. And the skirt is huge, so it can be spread out to mimic the look of a floating octopus.

While she nailed Ariel and Eric and the principles in general, the ensemble's costumes are less than brilliant. A few of the female sea characters look more like aquatic showgirls than marine life. Flotsam and Jetsam look more like dinosaurs than eels, and I hate Flouder's costume. All he wears is an oversized shirt and baggy shorts with a vague pattern. Also, a lot of the underwater scenes use blacklighting, and the costumes are reactive to that. Frankly, I thought there was a little fluorescent overkill, especially in the ensemble numbers.

And as a fabulous cap to the evening, I got lots of autographs! I went to the stage door and got Sierra, SRS, Derrick Baskin, Tyler Maynard, Norm Lewis and Tituss Burgess to sign my poster. Everyone was a doll. It was obvious that SRS was eager to get out of there, but she was perfectly gracious and I think she signed everybody's stuff.

I think the coolest one I got, though, was Alan Menken. I happened to spot him at intermission and when I approached him, his face lit up and he signed my playbill. I had a spaz moment and told him that TLM was my favorite movie when I was a kid. He was absolutely wonderful, and it made my evening. And I'll be framing both of these items…

Sorry for any incoherence, but it's almost 1:30 and I'm dog-ass tired. Feel free to ask questions!

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 3:30am

What were your feelings on the new songs and book?

Very nice review! Glad you enjoyed it!

[overthemoonboy]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 3:31am

THANK YOU!!!!

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 3:36am

Well, I'm super-glad that you enjoyed yourself, and thank you ever-so-kindly for the lovely review!

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 3:38am

The new songs blend seamlessly with the originals. Glenn Slater did a brilliant job as lyricist. He's very similar to Howard Ashman's style, which made me very happy. My new highlights were:

*"She's In Love," by Ariel's sisters and Flounder, that has a very LSOH feel to it. Also, many of the new songs are based on themes in the movie, which I liked.

*"Her Voice," Eric's song about Ariel's haunting voice.

*"One Step Closer," a number about how you don't need to speak to communicate. Eric teaches Ariel to dance, and it's a lovely, squee-inducing song.

I like the book, but like I said before, act 2 needs work. It feels a little rushed and I don't like the whole contest idea at all. It doesn't do anything for me.

ETA: You're welcome! Now I have to go to bed, or I'll be up all night!

Updated On: 7/27/07 at 03:38 AM

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 3:46am

Thanks for the well-written review! I'm really looking forward to it.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 3:46am

What exactly is this "Contest" is Act II? By the by, being the super-Jonathan Freeman fan that I am, "How was his Grimsby?" Does he sound like "Jafar" or does he work in another voice? Heehee!

Best,
- Mike

[jagfkb]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 6:37am

Ok, just so everyone knows, the contest will mostlikely not be included in the Broadway tryouts. The large Ursula will, however, be included and will apparently be using a similar mechanical system to Elphaba's Defying Gravity. Hopefully this production will be modified before it hits NYC. Also, I don' think this was really a performance, but more of a dress rehearsel, due to the fact that many of the costumes don't seem completed.

[Out In The Sticks]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 7:46am

Good review. What was Stephen Mears choreography like?

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:16am

Fantastic review! I really want to get up to NY in December and see it.

Haha, are there any pictures out yet?

[misschung]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 10:34am

thank you so much for the review. Very interesting points made, I hope some of the kinks get worked out before the previews in NY.

Too bad Norm Lewis seemed underutilized - I think he's fantastic.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 10:46am

What was the audience reaction?

Updated On: 7/27/07 at 10:46 AM

[it'sjustshowbiz]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 10:51am

Thanks for the review, Rose_MacShane. Besides a poster, did they have a program or other merchandise?

Thanks!

[Steve2]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 10:56am

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Very well written review. I skipped over some "spoilers" but anxiously read everything else.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 11:01am

Thanks for posting this. The Little Mermaid is my favorite movie of all time (feel free to laugh at me), so I don't know if that means I should stay away from this be jumping out of my skin with excitement.

Can you talk a little more about how they do the swimming? If you could tell? Or even... what it looks like? I'm having trouble imagining it... but I'm hoping it doesn't look as ridiculous as it does in my head.

I hope they get rid of that contest thing and stay faithful to the movie. Ursula putting the stolen voice to use and tricking Eric is a huge part of the story -- and a big part of her status as the villain. It needs to be there. I'm really angry that they changed it. It kind of ruins that whole chunk of the story.

[ElFantasma14]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 11:13am

Yeah, I hope they do away with the contest idea. Looks stupid. But it sounds like it's gonna be a great production! And so much talent too!

[misschung]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 11:15am

Ursula's death totally freaked me out when I saw that in the theaters. I hope they do something more with that.

Also, how was the ending?

That's so great that you got everyone's signatures! I cannot WAIT for previews to start in NY. I'm happy to hear that Sierra inhabits this role so well - she seems so excited and invested in it from her interviews.

[Kelly2]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 11:56am

I know, I know, I'm lame, but how was Tyler Maynard onstage? Did he gel with Derrick? And really, do the eels even get much stage time?

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 12:16pm

How was: "All Good Things Must End"? It has to be my favorite song on the demo and I hope it was included in the show. I really hope they work out all the kinks in act two. I was always thinking of "Under The Sea" done like "Be Our Guest."

[MerMaggieGalinda]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 12:22pm

Thanks for the detailed review! But it's making me so anxious to see this in January!

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 1:02pm

This may be common knowledge that I don't know about but is SRS really hit-or-miss on whether or not she'll be in the mood to sign stuff?

[Jonny boy]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 1:03pm

Can anyone tell me more about Tituss??

[TapTapTapioca]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 1:09pm

I was just going to say "How is Tituss?"

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 1:10pm

As was I!

[EganFan2]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 1:36pm

Sounds cool for the most part, but they really need to re-work Act Two, it seems. It sounds like a community theatre/high school production with Ariel just hitting Ursula with the trident, Eric asking to marry Ariel, etc.