The Little Mermaid national tour?

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 3:10pm

Broadway in Atlanta just announced their new 14/15 season and The Little Mermaid is listed as their season opener. Does anyone know if this is a major Disney helmed equity national tour or another short regional tour? Or perhaps it will be non-equity. I thought a Mermaid national tour was dead, but it look like it's right on track.

[DWalk]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 3:25pm

When Dallas announced their season last year they indicated that it was a short, regional tour.

[pittsburghgal89]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 5:58pm

Does anyone know how many more cities that the Little Mermaid is touring?

[DWalk]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 11:00pm

I can't find anything other than an article issued at the time of the Dallas season announcement. It indicated that this production would tour five cities. I believe, although I'm not 100% on this, that four of the cities are Dallas, Houston, Raleigh, and Oklahoma City. I'm not sure about the other one.

[Tag]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 11:47pm

Is this the Papermill production from last June? I remember hearing something about different theatres sharing the production costs by using the same physical production, but their own casts.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 1/17/14 at 12:02am

That's what I wasn't sure of. If this was part of the regional tour or a brand new separate production.

[mikeyb16]

Posted: 1/18/14 at 5:15pm

I remember reading a Glenn Slater interview a while back. He said he hopes the reworked version by Stage Entertainment will tour the US after touring Europe.

It recently finished its run in the Netherlands and is currently playing in Japan and Russia, with another production opening in Argentina this year.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 1/18/14 at 5:39pm

They need to reinstate Vanessa.

[mikeyb16]

Posted: 1/18/14 at 5:41pm

Carlotta is also omitted in the Stage Entertainment version. Her lines in "Beyond My Wildest Dreams" are sung by Grimsby.

[Hex3]

Posted: 1/18/14 at 11:38pm

Is the Stage Entertainment version the one that played at Paper Mill?

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 3:17am

"They need to reinstate Vanessa."

^This.

[Hex3]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 6:48am

Double that^

The ending as it is now, is just plain lazy.

[Fan123]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 8:53am

Speaking of the current ending... According to Wikipedia, Ariel participates in the 'singing' contest by performing a dance, and Eric chooses her as the winner. Can anybody advise what music is used for Ariel's dance, presumably a recognisable reprise/medley from earlier in the show? That number isn't on the cast recording, which is my only experience of this show (along with the movie).
I actually like the idea of that part of the stage show ending. Not sure precisely how it plays out on stage though.
I'm not sure about having Vanessa in the stage version. Would the actress playing Ariel double as Vanessa, to ensure that the voice was identical? That might be difficult to pull off without unduly distracting the audience and/or altering the tone of the show.

[Hex3]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 10:11am

Well remember that in the film the only time you hear Vanessa speak is her is during the attack at the wedding. Before that there is only her short song and the "Aaahs" when she first appears. It would take nothing more than clever dubbing.

As for the dance, it takes all of three seconds and is the same melody as "One Step Closer".

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 10:25am

Yes, but Jodi Benson did provide Vanessa's singing voice.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 11:03am

The only thing Vanessa sings are the "Ahas ahas"... Dub it and they're good to go. Plus Disney cheated the audience on some magic transformations by cutting her. Lazy.

[Hex3]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 12:07pm

It wasn't really Disney but the director that did the cheating. Disney just let it happen.

[bdn223]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 1:44pm

I have said it once and I will say it again, the reason there is no reason to reinstate Vanessa into the stage production, "The Contest" works just fine. The problem lies in the anticlimactic demise of Ursula.
AKA Ariel says "OOOH what's that?"
Ursula responds, "No don't touch that it's my magic shell!!"
Ariel: "My father says you would loose your powers if its broken"
Ursula: "Don't Touch it!"
Ariel breaks the shell the end...
Their needs to be some actual obstacles between Ariel and the shell, whether it's air cannons, lightning, or whatever to give some actual action to the climax. The show needed special effects and instead relied on classic theater tricks of cast doubling and what you don't see...
The Little Mermaid has one of most beautiful scores of all time. I would honestly pay top dollar for simply a concert production with the original cast.

[Hex3]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 2:10pm

I completely agree about the score. I think one of my favorite reviews of the original broadway production said something along the lines of "It's a fantastic show if you close your eyes". But I believe that the laziness of the finale starts off with replacing Vanessa with the contest and goes thru to Ursula's simple and unimaginative demise. It's lazy story telling plain and simple. This Francesca woman clearly got in over her head and instead of working hard to give the show the climax and finale it deserved, we got this wet fart of an ending. And here's the really sad part: I knew someone in the cast, and he said that everyone involved knew that the shown was crap. So it seems like it was all just given up on.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 2:12pm

I think you may be forgetting Vanessas short evil scheme. It would've probably been cut, but it's in there.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 6:01pm

Yes, the scene were she is in her cabin on the ship and singing and looks in the mirror at her Ursula reflection, which scuttle sees.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 6:35pm

The book and score in this production will be the same as what is being licensed by MTI, who will hold the rights and currently has a page for the show. On the page, there is an updated plot synopsis, list of changes from the Broadway version to this licensed version, and information about the different professional productions it has had since its out-of-town tryout. The dates and cities on the "Upcoming Productions" page are those that will be on this upcoming tour.

http://www.mtishows.com/show_detail.asp?showid=000389

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 6:54pm

^^In related news, the license for THE LION KING is also FINALLY coming out. But, only for the Broadway Jr./Kids series though. :/ I give the full show another 1-2 years, like TLM

http://playbill.com/news/article/186640-Disney-Will-Release-Adaptation-of-The-Lion-King-for-Production-in-Schools?tsrc=hph

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 7:02pm

Probably not... the difference being Mermaid has closed on Broadway when Lion King is still running, and quite successfully.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 1/19/14 at 7:08pm

^^True, but Phantom is still on Broadway and the license just came out under R&H :)