#1
Posted: 8/9/07 at 2:28am
Hello All,
I just finished watching the Little Mermaid here in Denver, and I felt compelled to join this board to post a review....of how bad it is. I know some people have been singing its praises and saying how it only needs minor improvements, but I'm here to tell you that unless some drastic changes are made, this show is going to be crucified when it hits broadway. Granted they are still technically in rehearsal and attempting to make improvements, (case in point: Ariel's transformation is now more like the B&B transformation at the end), but there are still tons of problems they need to work out.
Before I get into the problems, let me state first and foremost, the actors are absolutely wonderful. They definitely have the talent, actor wise, to pull off this show. All the leads have strong voices and have really harnassed what the characters are all about, except the guy playing Eric (but more on that later). Unfortunately, this does not make up for the show lacking in almost every other area.
First and foremost, I must state that the costumer needs to be shot. Half the costumes are metaphorical, i.e. Sebastian is in red suit with extra legs and a top hat, and the other half are so literal, they look like something out of a bad Disney on ice production. The biggest example of this are the Mermaids, they are all wearing floor length skirts that look like fish tails, but also have full fish tails that stick straight out from their butts. What's the point? They end up getting in the way of dance numbers, look stupid, and overall just insults the audience's intelligence. It's like they assume we won't get that they're merpeople if they wearing skirst with some fins hanging off the bottom. Fortunately, Triton has that as costume and it looks worlds better than what Ariel and her sisters wear.
Next on the costume front is Flounder's costume. What the hell are they thinking? Baggy, Yellow shorts and a t-shirt with a few spots on it? It's like the costumer thought, "Oh it's only flounder, I don't have time to come up with a decent costume idea." A complete redesign is needed. May I suggest something along the lines of Julie Taymor's Pumba?
Third are Ursula's eels. They're neon green, with tails like the Mermaids. Once again the costumes don't work, as they don't allow them to move like snakes, which is how eels move. Not only that, but I'm not aware of any green eels in existence. They did have one cool inovation, they had thin green lighting on the top of their costumes, which showed that they were electric. As a fix for these costumes, I would suggest a skin tight black leotard with some sort of headpiece that looks like an eel, and outlining the entire costume in that thin lighting they're using, but also having it flash.
Fourthly is Ursula: this costume works about 50% of the time. The problem with this costume is that it is in multiple parts. The Bubble that she enters in, at times, is part of her costume. It has huge tentacles that extend from it and move, which looks really cool, but at other times, she steps out of the bubble and has tentacles that are attached to her dress, but that don't really do anything. They just stand there and moves when she bounces, or manually moves them with her hands. It's kinda of a let down after seeing the huge tentacles move around the bubble. I would suggest just making that bubble a permanent part of Ursula's costume, rather than having her detach from it and moving around. Hopefully they can figure a way to get the bubble to move around stage so Ursula isn't stagnant.
Ok, now that I've gotten my ranting about the costuming out of the way, let's move on to some other aspects that need fixing. To start off with, Eric's characterization needs to change. He comes off as a bratty boy, rather than a guy who just hasn't found the right girl. Get him to drop the Mark Hamill, "But I was going to Toshi station to pick up some power converters" attitude and make a little more of a man.
Next is the set. Once again I have to give a "What the Hell?" It looks like something on a bad acid trip. Nothing actually looks like it's something I would find underwater. Particulalry the two huge set pieces they have in multiple scenes that just look like big bongs. It appears that they tried to rip off Julie Taymor's Lion King designs and plastered it with green, purple and teal colors. Unfortunately for this show, that does not work. There are enough beautiful items in the actual ocean that they should just do a literal translation.
The next issue is their interpretation of "Under the Sea." This number should be this show's "Be Our Guest" and it's not. It's convulated with it starting off looking like they're going to treat the number with a Mardi Gras theme, but then goes Mardi Gras meets Calypso. Combining these two ideas is confusing. Pick one and go with it. And once again, improve the costumes, it took me forever to figure out that the guy with the chinese lantern was representing a Blowfish.
Finally is the finale. So, Disney, did we just decide to completely ignore the movie's plot and go with our own idea? An idea which, by the way, makes no sense. Urusula doesn't show up as the evil Ariel, they defeat Ursula by breaking her magic shell, and Ariel never turns back into a Mermaid (so Triton can't give her legs and show that he understands how Ariel feels). Yes that is actually what happens. Sucks doesn't it?
So you can see how I feel. Please Disney fix these issues. I would actually like to see this on Broadway in a successful run.
I just finished watching the Little Mermaid here in Denver, and I felt compelled to join this board to post a review....of how bad it is. I know some people have been singing its praises and saying how it only needs minor improvements, but I'm here to tell you that unless some drastic changes are made, this show is going to be crucified when it hits broadway. Granted they are still technically in rehearsal and attempting to make improvements, (case in point: Ariel's transformation is now more like the B&B transformation at the end), but there are still tons of problems they need to work out.
Before I get into the problems, let me state first and foremost, the actors are absolutely wonderful. They definitely have the talent, actor wise, to pull off this show. All the leads have strong voices and have really harnassed what the characters are all about, except the guy playing Eric (but more on that later). Unfortunately, this does not make up for the show lacking in almost every other area.
First and foremost, I must state that the costumer needs to be shot. Half the costumes are metaphorical, i.e. Sebastian is in red suit with extra legs and a top hat, and the other half are so literal, they look like something out of a bad Disney on ice production. The biggest example of this are the Mermaids, they are all wearing floor length skirts that look like fish tails, but also have full fish tails that stick straight out from their butts. What's the point? They end up getting in the way of dance numbers, look stupid, and overall just insults the audience's intelligence. It's like they assume we won't get that they're merpeople if they wearing skirst with some fins hanging off the bottom. Fortunately, Triton has that as costume and it looks worlds better than what Ariel and her sisters wear.
Next on the costume front is Flounder's costume. What the hell are they thinking? Baggy, Yellow shorts and a t-shirt with a few spots on it? It's like the costumer thought, "Oh it's only flounder, I don't have time to come up with a decent costume idea." A complete redesign is needed. May I suggest something along the lines of Julie Taymor's Pumba?
Third are Ursula's eels. They're neon green, with tails like the Mermaids. Once again the costumes don't work, as they don't allow them to move like snakes, which is how eels move. Not only that, but I'm not aware of any green eels in existence. They did have one cool inovation, they had thin green lighting on the top of their costumes, which showed that they were electric. As a fix for these costumes, I would suggest a skin tight black leotard with some sort of headpiece that looks like an eel, and outlining the entire costume in that thin lighting they're using, but also having it flash.
Fourthly is Ursula: this costume works about 50% of the time. The problem with this costume is that it is in multiple parts. The Bubble that she enters in, at times, is part of her costume. It has huge tentacles that extend from it and move, which looks really cool, but at other times, she steps out of the bubble and has tentacles that are attached to her dress, but that don't really do anything. They just stand there and moves when she bounces, or manually moves them with her hands. It's kinda of a let down after seeing the huge tentacles move around the bubble. I would suggest just making that bubble a permanent part of Ursula's costume, rather than having her detach from it and moving around. Hopefully they can figure a way to get the bubble to move around stage so Ursula isn't stagnant.
Ok, now that I've gotten my ranting about the costuming out of the way, let's move on to some other aspects that need fixing. To start off with, Eric's characterization needs to change. He comes off as a bratty boy, rather than a guy who just hasn't found the right girl. Get him to drop the Mark Hamill, "But I was going to Toshi station to pick up some power converters" attitude and make a little more of a man.
Next is the set. Once again I have to give a "What the Hell?" It looks like something on a bad acid trip. Nothing actually looks like it's something I would find underwater. Particulalry the two huge set pieces they have in multiple scenes that just look like big bongs. It appears that they tried to rip off Julie Taymor's Lion King designs and plastered it with green, purple and teal colors. Unfortunately for this show, that does not work. There are enough beautiful items in the actual ocean that they should just do a literal translation.
The next issue is their interpretation of "Under the Sea." This number should be this show's "Be Our Guest" and it's not. It's convulated with it starting off looking like they're going to treat the number with a Mardi Gras theme, but then goes Mardi Gras meets Calypso. Combining these two ideas is confusing. Pick one and go with it. And once again, improve the costumes, it took me forever to figure out that the guy with the chinese lantern was representing a Blowfish.
Finally is the finale. So, Disney, did we just decide to completely ignore the movie's plot and go with our own idea? An idea which, by the way, makes no sense. Urusula doesn't show up as the evil Ariel, they defeat Ursula by breaking her magic shell, and Ariel never turns back into a Mermaid (so Triton can't give her legs and show that he understands how Ariel feels). Yes that is actually what happens. Sucks doesn't it?
So you can see how I feel. Please Disney fix these issues. I would actually like to see this on Broadway in a successful run.
