Where Did TLM go wrong?
Where Did TLM go wrong?
#1Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 8:39pmAfter having successful shows with The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast, and Mary Poppins where did Disney Theatrics go wrong with The Little Mermaid in your opinion? Thoughts?
#2Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 8:42pmFrancesca Zambello. Her "vision" for the show just misguided the whole production.
#2Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 8:49pmChanging the ending to the story and having Ariel kill Ursula just didn't work for me. Cutting Ursula's transformation into a human was a HUGE mistake IMO. That would have added so much more to the show. I also think the design is just terrible all around. This show should have been something beautiful to look at, and it should have transported the audience to a whimsical under the water world, instead it was just a tacky and cheap collage of plastic.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
PiraguaGuy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/10/08
#3Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 8:51pm
In my opinion, the whole damn thing had zero imagination, zero charm, zero craft. Beauty and the Beast injected more heart and pathos into the story, The Lion King was a Broadway spectacle the likes of which had rarely been seen (not to mention the inventive costumes and staging), and Mary Poppins has charm and wit.
The Little Mermaid seemed like a more cynical attempt to throw the movie up on stage. The sets were an eyesore and the new songs an affront to Menken and Ashman's spectacular work on the original. Quite simply, the Broadway adaptation not only added nothing new, but it retained none of the charm of the original, instead drowning it in ridiculous songs, gruesome sets, and an overall struggle by Zambello to find the right tone for the show.
Formerly SirNotAppearing - Joined 3/08
eatlasagna
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#4Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 8:53pmi can't comment on the sets and costumes, etc. since I never saw it on Broadway... but I actually enjoyed the new score written for the stage...
#5Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:01pm
By putting Flounder in a yellow t-shirt and shorts.
Instant wrong.
Everything in life...is only for now.
musicalperson17
Understudy Joined: 9/2/10
#6Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:16pmthose shoes with wheels were strange, the set looked like a shower curtain
#7Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:26pmOne of the set pieces from "Under the Sea" looked like a giant sex toy with actors stuck to it...
#8Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:27pmThey didn't even get it right with the MTI Jr. version. They cut "Her Voice" and kept "One Step Closer." WTF?
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#9Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:34pm
To be fair they had even more of a disaster with Tarzan. But Mermaid seemed like, even with the water element, it could work much better on stage. (The film is much more structured like a traditional Broadway musical than Tarzan or even Lion King, for starters). As much as I appreciated them making an interesting choice in director with Francesca Zambello, I do think her vision largely was to blame--among many smaller elements. I do largely love the new score though--love how some of the songs are based around some of my fave bits of incidental music in the original movie (something Menken did with the stage Beauty and the Beast and Hunchback as well).
Doug Wright perhaps deserves some blame too--again he was an interesting, even bold choice by Disney but I have no idea why they thought he'd capture the tone of the piece.
Updated On: 6/1/11 at 09:34 PM
beautywickedlover
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/07
#10Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:38pm
"By putting Flounder in a yellow t-shirt and shorts."
This and making Carlotta and the maids look like chickens. Also, Zambello was a bad director. The book changed the film a little too much and Ariel's Grotto was a major disappointment.
#11Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:41pm
In my opinion some of the fish jokes in the show had zero personality and zero humor. But they cut two lines that Ursula said in the Denver try-out that I loved!
"Like an oyster darlings mama knows when she's been shucked"
"And now boys SING TO MAMA! Sing or I'll skin ya alive and turn ya both into handbags!"
I loved those lines and I was crushed when they were cut from the Broadway production but otherwise it was my first experience with an Original Cast before Broadway and I'll never forget it.
#12Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:47pm
I believe the main problem was the book. I feel Francesca Zambello's concept worked on paper, but the execution was just wrong.
The costumes were bad, and the choreography was unimaginative and just blahh.
Broadway Star Joined: 12/31/69
#13Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:48pm
It's interesting, Zambello and Tsypin have done some brilliant opera work and foreign musicals (their staging of Rebecca is the best part of that show--by far--IMHO), but again they just seemed all wrong for this. I guess it was a big hit in Denver which is why Disney didn't feel the need to change all that (though it sounds like they made the ending worse).
I rarely follow tour news--is a tour still happening and will it be the same production, or the new production being worked on for other countries?
#14Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:50pm
It was announced Tuesday
Dutch Production of TLM
Updated On: 6/1/11 at 09:50 PM
Broadway Star Joined: 12/31/69
#15Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/1/11 at 9:52pmWhile I don't love the Beauty and the Beast stage musical (which I saw in London where it had a much shorter run, with John Barrowman) as much as many here seem to--I feel it's solid but not particularly inspired though I love most of the new score--I do wonder why Disney didn't just hire back director Robert Jess Roth to do a more basic Mermaid? Cynically, that's what I would have expected, although it's true that after Lion King they got something of a reputation for at the least trying to make interesting director and designer choices.
degrassifan
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/23/08
#16Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/2/11 at 12:38am
I honestly really enjoyed the new songs. I think where they went wrong were the designs and costumes. People were expecting to see the movie on stage. Instead, all they got were abstract costumes and sets. I never saw the show, but from pictures and videos, it should have been big sets that made sense, colorful costumes that looked like the actual characters, and all the fantastical spectacle. I really didn't mind the whole Contest idea, but it would have been nice if Vanessa came in during that scene with Ariel's voice and continued on from there. Furthermore, the whole magic shell concept just didn't work for me.
Question: how would you guys handle the whole swimming underwater and merman/mermaid tails?
#17Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/2/11 at 12:59amI remember that it was two of the new numbers that stuck with me the most when I saw the show. I thought Positoovity and One Step Closer were both numbers that harkened back to a different time in musical theatre. One Step Closer had a Marge/Gower feel to it that I really enjoyed and Positoovity was a great group tap number that you just don't see much anymore.
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
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Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#18Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/2/11 at 1:22amHa I HATE Positoovity on the album (haven't seen live) even though I live tap in shows, but I suppose if I can handle fart jokes in Lion King (barely) I coulda handled it on stage.
#19Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/2/11 at 1:24am
I think the book and the designs were a problem. Cutting the Vanessa plotline and adding a sing-off?? Come on! I know it may be hard to harpoon a 50ft. Ursula with a ship, but if the Beast can transform before our eyes and Mufasa can be killed by a stampede of hundreds of wildebeests, they could've worked their Disney magic once again and made this work.
Like Eric said, Francesca Zambello has done some wonderful opera work, unfortunately that experience and her visions didn't carry over to Musical Theatre very well.
#20Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/2/11 at 1:38amI actually really liked Tarzan. No one else seems to agree with me.
#21Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/2/11 at 1:48amBad set design, horrible costumes....what could have been amazing was only mediocre. I liked the new songs. Sierra was great as Ariel, but Sheri was completely miscast as Ursula. Glad I got to see it before it closed, but it was definitely not the show it could have been given the source material.
eatlasagna
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#22Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/2/11 at 2:18am
I honestly still don't get why people hate the singing contest and losing Vanessa. I was watching footage of the show and I think it works well. I like the idea of One Step Closer and then having Ariel "sing" by dancing during the singing contest... I guess for me it humanizes Eric more by not making him a guy who just falls in love with someone's voice and looks... he started to fall in love with her personality... but I do think the ending was weird because watching the scenes after that made absolutely no sense... like they didn't know how to handle the conclusion
and count me as someone who likes Positoovity... it does remind me of those tape numbers in shows from way back then...
#23Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/2/11 at 2:43am
I actually really liked Tarzan. No one else seems to agree with me.
I LOVED Tarzan! Aside from the obvious draw of Josh Strickland in a loincloth, I'm a huge Bob Crowley fan and I love his designs in general and particularly the majority of his work on Tarzan. I think the mistake made in that case was allowing him to direct the show as well. The man is a brilliant designer, but the show needed a director to fine tune some things and to bring Crowley back down to earth and perhaps infuse the design with just a touch more realism. I loved it, but I think it was all a little too theatrical and abstract for the target audience.
eatlasagna
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#24Where Did TLM go wrong?
Posted: 6/2/11 at 2:49amI enjoyed Tarzan... I didn't love it... but there was a lot of work that still needed to be done... I felt the music just wasn't that strong... but I felt the book needed major work... there just wasn't a good story in there... the Act 1 finale wasn't exciting... when I saw the show I think many of the people weren't sure if the act was over... it kinda just ended... and there was no real villain and no sense of urgency in the plot... it was blah...
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