Sheri Rene Scott as Ursula

I am disgusted with Sheri Rene Scott as Ursula. I can't understand her characterization of this seemily classic villain.

Up and down and back and forth between accents and vibrato with no real sense of what kind of character she is trying to portray. Is Ursula British or is she a Jewish mother from Brooklyn. I had to press skip, half way through her song "Good Times" because I felt like i was listening to Rosie O'Donnell singing.

I am not sure if this was her choice or she was directed in this direction, either way it is such a dissapointment especially when Ursula is such a great and easy character to create for the stage.

I agree.

I agree that Ursula works as someone so theatrical she likes acting different ways all the time, even like different people all the time.

Pat Carroll said, "I (saw Ursula as this) ex-Shakespearean actress who now sold cars." She also deepened her voice for the role, and they "sharpened and heightened" her voice, particularly the singing. She said she was not really a singer and would have prefered to talk-sing. But that just shows how incredibly dedicated she was.

Also, she loved the way Sherie played Ursula after seeing her (I think opening night)and said she would have loved to sing a song like "I Want The Good Times Back" in the film.

I LOVE sherie's interpretation.
Sierra and she, the best of the show

I love that she did something different from the movie. It was a risk, and I love it!!

I must have missed the past movies and shows that Ursula ( the character ) was in, can someone fill me in?

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Updated On: 3/2/08 at 05:01 PM

Initially, I hated her interpretation but now I absolutely love it. I think she does a great job at emphasizing certain words and points in the song with her changes in accents. One example that sticks out is in Poor Unfortunate Souls when she says, "I'm not asking for much", almost sounds mafia-like and then the "Only" that follows is very playful and deceptive as if to throw Ariel off track and she brings it home with the "your voice". All three are said very differently but it works incredibly well.

You can also hear these 3 sharp changes in 1. You'll have your looks... 2. and don't underestimate the power of (which is very playful) 3. and then sticks it with "body language"

Her "Make your choice!" is just great too.

Surprisingly, I've sympathized with Ursula's character in the show - mostly from that one publicity image that Disney released with Sherie looking up above with her tentacles fully extended behind her. I've asked myself why Disney would take a photo like that with that kind of expression on Ursula's face, very sad and yet hopeful. Disney probably only released such an image to show off the costume, but I think more can be read into it. I almost see Ursula as being on her last tentacle sort of speak, trying to scrape by and survive - which is why she conceives that scheme to get Triton's power. Almost like this is her last chance, and perhaps her changes in accents reflects this in a way that she doesn't want to appear weak both in front of Ariel/Triton or her minions Flotsam and Jetsam and is almost playing with these different personalities in order to find which is most convincing. I love Disney because none of the so-called "villains" are inherently evil. I've never seen The Lion King, but I know in Beauty and the Beast, and TLM Gaston and Ursula (at least when I saw them) they both got one of the loudest applauses and I think that says something about a humanity that people see in these characters.

I'm sure no one will read all of that, and I cant believe I tried to analyze Disney but that's what I think :)

I know the official site for the show http://disney.go.com/theatre/thelittlemermaid/ has a wallpaper version of it under fun stuff.

mmmm love it

the show is a mess. i hated it. it is awful. end of story. what a waste of money. dare i say i enjoyed tarzan more. i hope mermaid closes.

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Who is "Sheri" anyway?

Sherie Rene Scott's u/s who couldn't afford the 3rd vowel?

Updated On: 3/2/08 at 08:51 PM

Just to bump this thread up - last night, Cecily Daniels performed "Poor Unfortunate Souls" at the At This Performance concert, and I was blown away. She brought back more of the sexy dark Ursula that's so powerful in the movie. She doesn't know of any dates she may be going on yet, but keep a lookout on BroadwayUnderstudies.com.

I thought her very different portrayal worked quite well. I also immediately thought of Norma Desmond while watching her. Sherie remains far and away the best reason to see this show (Sierra is also fabulous).