THE LITTLE MERMAID Write-Up- Page 3

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 2:53pm

I have center orchestra seats for it here in Denver on the 21st of August. 2 days before its official opening night here. I could have gone earlier but decided to give it a few weeks into previews.

[Justin D]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 2:48pm

lol

Updated On: 7/13/07 at 02:48 PM

[HBBrock]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 3:09pm

Imagine if they could get THAT on a stage!

[TheFriarsDruggist]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 6:18pm

I get to see this on July 27th...

Strangely the thing I'm most excited to see are Flotsam and Jetsam...I love those 2, and they actually get their own song now! And I'm definitely curious to see what Sherie Rene Scott's doing with Ursula. She's about as far from Pat Carroll as you could get...Should be interesting to see what she's doing with that character...

The 27th needs to get here quicker!!

[HBBrock]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 6:38pm

Please post a review here after you see it! Thanks

Posted: 7/13/07 at 7:34pm

God Jim Hill and the way he gathers rumours and other items and then presents them as if they were fact that he saw first hand drives me crazy. But I have high hopes for this I admit (wasn't Matthew Bourne at one time going to be doing Mermaid for Disney?)

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 8:56pm

Yes, originally Little Mermaid was going to be a ballet; like they did with Edward Scissorhands, but they never did it and then Francesca Zambello decided to make it into a musical instead..

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 7/18/07 at 2:18pm

B. U. M. P.

For anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to read the article.

[Barihunk]

Posted: 7/18/07 at 4:11pm

This is either going to be brilliant or an unmitigated disaster. Francesca Zambello has her moments of brilliance but equal moments of filth (her Lucia di Lammermoor at the MET was booed out of the house after one season and never seen again). She is no Julie Taymor, that is for sure. George Tsypin has done great work with Taymor but his vision can sometimes get out of hand (his Grendel set at LA Opera, while brilliant, caused the delay of the opera for 12 days due to a computer malfunction). Also his recent collaboration with Mermaid's costume designer is on view at the MET - the Kirov Ring Cycle. The NYTimes said:

"Too often the sets by George Tsypin and the costumes by Tatiana Noginova just looked, well, cheap and tacky. If only this staging, a joint concept of the conductor Valery Gergiev and Mr. Tsypin, had had a proper budget, I kept thinking.

Even some of the props looked like stuff from a high school theatrical. In “Das Rheingold” on Friday night the magic Tarnhelm that allows Alberich the Nibelung dwarf to change form or become invisible looked like a kitschy sorcerer’s apprentice hat covered with gold foil, a silly thing that crinkled and threatened to come apart every time Alberich put it on.

In “Die Walküre” on Saturday night Brünnhilde and her Valkyrie sisters were dressed a little like Morticia in “The Addams Family.” Their warrior helmets were glittering, feathered headdresses that would have looked right in a Las Vegas chorus girl revue. And did some prop person find their black, rubbery battle shields in the Halloween costume bin at Wal-Mart?"

Granted, they now have the Disney coffers backing them, but I for one remain skeptical. Heelys? Fish body hat mask combos? Art Nouveau waves? Full-sized swimming whales? Just because a creative team has operatic creds does not mean they're a sure thing with a Broadway musical.

Posted: 7/18/07 at 4:31pm

What are some of the new songs? Flotsam and Jetsam have on, and presumably Eric gets his own song, considering the fact that he doesn't sing one in the movie.
What is the cast so far? All I know is that... one guy for Sebastian, and Sherie Rene Scott for Ursala, which will be fabulous to see.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 7/18/07 at 4:37pm

The song list, as per the demo recording, consisted of:

1. Daughters Of Triton
2. Human Stuff
3. Wasting Away
4. Part of Your World (reprise)
5. Under the Sea
6. That World Above
7. Sweet Child
8. Her Voice
9. Poor Unfortunate Souls
10. Posituvity
11. Beyond My Wildest Dreams
12. Les Poissons
13. If Only
14. If Only (reprise)
15. Poor Unfortunate Souls (reprise)
16. Kiss the Girl
17. All Good Things Must End
18. Finale

New songs have been added, totaling 28 or 29, if I'm not mistaken. Search the Message Board for the updated list.

The cast for the Denver AND Broadway runs will consist of:

Sierra Boggess as Ariel
Sherie Rene Scott as Ursula
Norm Lewis as King Triton
Sean Palmer as Prince Eric
Tituss Burgess as Sebastian
Eddie Korbich as Scuttle
Jonathan Freeman as Grimsby
Derrick Baskin as Jetsam
Tyler Maynard as Flotsam
Cody Hanford as Flounder (alternating)
J.J. Singleton as Flounder (alternatiing)
John Treacy Egan as Chef Louie


Updated On: 7/18/07 at 04:37 PM

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 7/18/07 at 5:30pm

All Good Things Must End is magnificent. I think Ursula will already be my favorite character because she has the best songs. Does anyone know who sang for Ursula on the the demo?

[PhantomMag234]

Posted: 7/18/07 at 6:59pm

Emily Skinner.

Posted: 7/18/07 at 8:25pm

"I was referring to the performances. I saw the original tour (original concept) and the tour (cheaper concept) and felt that the second one was a more mature interpretation of the script. Later I read that that was one thing the producers had done in the re-do. "

This was about BatB--just curious exactly when was Beauty revamped?? :S was it redesigned for the cheaper tour? I only saw it in London in 99 (where I think it only ran a few years--I saw Barrowman as the beast) I liked it but still felt like it was basically just a very very good theme park show--no real theatrically new artistic vision for it

[me2]

Posted: 7/18/07 at 8:55pm

Does anyone know to what extent Ms. Marvelous Skinner's early departure from ON THE RECORD jeopardized her ability tobe cast in this one? I think she had been attached for some time, wasn't she?
Broadway Blog: “When you’re listening to this, try to ignore the lyrics. I know it’ll be difficult, but block them out. They’re not the best. But the tune is beautiful.”

[yankees1253]

Posted: 7/18/07 at 10:35pm

justin D yeah that is how the set will be or something like that. i heard it from a fam friend who works as a usher for the broadway theatre. I cant wait to see flounder and sebastian costumes.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 12:52am

BUMPIN' ain't EASY...

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 2:41am

>> Also his recent collaboration with Mermaid's costume designer is on view at the MET - the Kirov Ring Cycle.

I've seen several photos of that production (It's showcased in Tsypin's book, The Opera Factory, and it's a very perplexing piece of work. Like so much of his design, the core concept is fascinating but, as with Magic Flute and Oedipus Rex, *very* cerebral, sometimes to the point of emotionally arid. Tyspin is all about ideas and concepts and rarely, if ever, about emotion; his work on West Side Story, while stunning to look at, so overpowered the production that it became a musical about a skyscraper and little more. I'm sure the work he'll do on Mermaid will be gorgeous to look at, but at the same time I'm worried that it wont even come close to the heart of the material. Exploring emotions isnt something Tyspin appears interested in doing.

Posted: 7/19/07 at 8:15am

That's a good point albeit I think part of why WSS's design was so overpowering was due to the outdoor venue (I read one review that commented on how far some seats were and how he thought they made the set so massive for that benefit--which is probably oversimplifying it but...)

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 2:28pm

WSS was performed on a huge barge, as part of an annual summer festival. Usually, it's an opera, and in all cases, the sets are not just huge -- they're MASSIVE, and more often than not, pretty awful. LA BOHEME was performed against a rack of giant postcards, and we're talking *giant* here. One opera (NABUCCO) featured a wall that rose up from the deck that was easily 15 stories high: characters would climb up ladders to sit in chairs bolted to the side of the wall.

The WSS set was a study in visual excess: a gigantic, off-angle skyscraper that flowed off into a series of rolling ramps at floor level. It truly was style over concept, although Tsypin says it was about the "deconstruction of the urban centre", although I think he was trying a little too hard. The stage really cut off the choreography by confining it to what were pretty much little laneways. But the sheer scale of the thing makes me wonder how they pulled off the balcony scene or the moment when Anita catches them in bed. Those were no doubt completely lost.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 6:06am

I don't know who said that "Little Mermaid" was originally going to be a ballet. As far as I know that is incorrect. I first saw it announced as a musical in 2002. David Ives ("Dance Of The Vampires") was supposed to write the book with Alan Menken and Glenn Slater creating the 10 new songs. I know this because Ives was on a high, also working on the "Batman" musical for Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures. "Batman" was canned, WB went ahead with "Lestat" (Curses!) and Ives was replaced by Doug Wright for some reason or other that's never been disclosed. And yes, Matthew Bourne was talked about as the director at one stage.

Updated On: 7/20/07 at 06:06 AM

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 7:50am

You didn't provide a source for the article....

In any case, I kind of want to see this. Sure, I would like it better if Emily Skinner was Ursula, but she is clearly better than the Disney machine and deserves better vehicle where people focus on the cast rather than the source of the material and the spectacle.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 10:08am

wow that was some George Tsypin bashing there! He's a GOD and I think his sets are all about emotion - translated to form and shape. Just because they are completely different than what you've seen before doesnt' make them wrong for the show. Keep an open mind.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 10:38am

It's not "bashing" Tsypin at all, sorry. When he's good, he's amazing, no question about it. But there *are* moments when he seems disconnected from everything else in the production, and he's pursuing *concepts* buried so deep in the story that the audience has no idea what's going on. His VANESSA was a row of over-scaled, antique glass bottles: what's the emotional centre there? Fragility? Old age? Maybe, but you'd be reaching a bit to establish that as a *visual* link with the opera itself. His BORIS GUNYNOV had a series of onion-shaped tower tops floating in mid-air, made of various materials, some of which looked like plastic and glass; at key moments they looked more like Tiffany iwndow display. And sorry but my comments on WSS stand. Look at the production photos and tell me what's supposed to be going on there. City in upheaval? Dissolution of the urban core? Sure, those are all parts of the deep understory in WSS, but are they aspects that merit being hauled front and centre like this? Honestly, I dont think so.

I love Tyspin as a stylist, but when he misses the mark, it's almost like he's shooting in the opposite direction.

[misschung]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 2:38pm

there's going to be whales? woah...

chose not to try & replicate the look of Disney's 1989 animated version of "The Little Mermaid." But -- rather -- went back to the source material (I.E. Hans Christian Andersen's original story) to draw his inspiration. With the hope that George might then create something that looked both classic & romantic.

It's interesting that they chose to do this, seeing as how the advertisement for the musical looks like it's been lifted off the back of The Little Mermaid DVD.

Some of the new songs are really great - IMO "Beyond My Wildest Dreams" is one of the strongest, if not the best. Like Beauty and the Beast, I thought some of the other new songs were a little weak, but they could improve by the time the show opens.