Why all the hate for TARZAN & LITTLE MERMAID?

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 4:51pm

I'm so surprised that these 2 shows are getting hate. Like my cousin saw TLM and didn't like it. The shows looked great. Can you guys explain why no one likes them? I have a feeling that people will be like this for Aladdin.

[AKarp2013]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 4:54pm

"The Little Mermaid" on Broadway looked great? Hmmm.......

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 4:55pm

Because they are more like executive decisions to make a money-making musical with as little effort, creativity, and inspiration as possible.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 4:56pm

Because they were awful and probably made Walt Disney's frozen head spin around in his ice bucket.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 4:56pm

They both looked like SH*T... some of the ugliest designs I have ever seen on a Broadway stage. They also butchered the story of The Little Mermaid. They basically took everything about the film that was exciting and watered and dumbed it down.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 4:57pm

I think the rollerskates, plastic looking sets, and the changed ending (Ursula lives) were peoples biggest complaints about TLM.

I think TARZAN disappointed because it was Broadway splashy. I hear it would have been better as an Off-Broadway show.

I didn't see either. However, a local community theater is doing the Houston premiere of TARZAN this month and TUTS is doing TLM next summer. I'll be seeing both shows.

Updated On: 8/15/13 at 04:57 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 5:05pm

Isn't this discussion about two years too late?

[ARTc3]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 5:16pm

Saw Tarzan and it was dreadful. A cool stage curtain and one "gimmick" (set) throughout. After the cast swung out over the first rows of the orchestra on "vines" - which initially happened early in the evening - the show had spent its one "interesting" set and visual. It offered nothing more than the film. In fact, a lot less. Boring. Dull. Uninspired.

[bwaychae5192]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 5:24pm

Both shows seemed pretty rushed. If I recall correctly, there wasn't a lot of time between the initial announcements and first stage appearance for both of these shows. Compare that to NEWSIES, which was initially announced 3+ years prior to its first appearance on stage. Granted, it was initially intended to be developed for licensing purposes only, but the statement still stands.

Like many folks have already said, the main trouble with TLM was the lackluster technical aspects. The division between land and ocean characters is a huge challenge that designers still seem to have trouble with. Every new production that has popped up around the world features something "new" in regards to swimming or the ocean characters. ("swim" wigs, flying as swimming, etc.)

To me, at least, TARZAN wasn't the best choice for theatrical development. The music in the film is wonderful, but is mostly used as background music for scenes, rather than a storytelling device. Also, TARZAN's stage design seemed more like a Cirque du Soleil performance than a Broadway "blockbuster." I actually think it would've been a better idea for Disney to collaborate with the Cirque creative dept. for a stage version of this as a show in Animal Kingdom or a potential replacement for LA NOUBA in Downtown Disney.

It's a shame that they pass over some wonderful films (TANGLED and even ENCHANTED) that could be adapted for the stage more easily in favor of properties that require extensive (and unsuccessful) risk-taking. Perhaps they could use some Imagineering magic in the Theatricals office... :)

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 5:59pm

They just weren't good. (I thought LM was AWFUL.)

It's not JUST because it's disney. People want quality.

[Wishing Only Wounds]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 6:05pm

I adored 'Tarzan'. It's actually the show that made me want to pursue theatre. It's one of the cast recordings I re-visit rather often. As others have pointed out, it was rushed and very minimal in terms of design and special effects, which most people expected and wanted from a "Disney" show. For me, it was the acting that won me over; I felt the performances being given were fantastic and that was enough to keep me engaged and not miss some of the usual Disney "wow factors." I have always loved 'Tarzan' (which probably has a lot to do with my feelings on the show) but it was a huge gamble for Broadway being that it isn't one of Disney's biggest hits. It has however found A LOT of success in Europe with productions not that different in design from the Broadway production, which says something.

Updated On: 8/15/13 at 06:05 PM

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 6:27pm

They made awful choices with each one. The only thing they seemed to get right in either was the music but it was not enough to make up for the laundry list of "what were they thinking" moments.

I will say though, I have a guilty pleasure place in my heart for Tarzan. But while I love it, I totally accepting that the design choices were hideous and the plot changes were big mistakes to make. It has always bothered me the changes they made to the character of Clayton. They turned a really good villain into a sissy that can barely even handle a gun. But their biggest mistake in my book though was... I guess **SPOILER ALERT?**... they kill off Kerchak without him ever accepting Tarzan as his son. It's such a strong message in the movie about acceptance and it's replaced with a message of obligation in the musical.

Little Mermaid was like watching a big glittery train slowly crashing and burning. The set was more gaudy then a Vegas house show. The tails they wore on their back ends were best described by my mother, who leaned over mid show and asked me "Why is Ariel pooping out a dolphin?" And of course the change to the plot in the end is just a huge offense to their own movie. Disney, on what planet is a low stalks comical princess singing contest better then a high stalks race against time to stop a wedding where the groom has been brainwashed? Not using Vanessa is a ridiculous mistake. I would sit through Tarzan a hundred more times before having to sit through Little Mermaid once more.

[Wishing Only Wounds]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 7:06pm

Scarlet, while I agree about Clayton, I find that very interesting about Kerchak; I've always felt that plot change to be all the more powerful and justified with "Everything That I Am" as it shows Tarzan in a much more vulnerable and human state than we ever see him in the movie, just as we had seen Kerchak in a much more vulnerable and animalistic state during "No Other Way", even though it is (more than) implied that there is remorse during both numbers.

[grandpianoalex]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 7:21pm

I think some of us are still pissed that they closed BEAUTY to bring in LITTLE MERMAID....and it didn't even last.

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 9:54pm

"Because they were awful and probably made Walt Disney's frozen head spin around in his ice bucket."


Why would it make Walt Disney's head spin? He died before these animated musical(s) came to life on screen and then stage, so why would he care? Now, if it was something like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White (while he was still alive), then I can see that!

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 10:15pm

Wishing::
I speak mainly of the actual death scene in the musical compared to the movie. I do agree the songs add so much more to their characters. I love all the music in the show. But I felt all that good they created was void when the ending was literally Kerchak is shot, reaches out his hand to Tarzan, groans his name, and falls down dead. That great scene from the movie where he lays dying in Tarzan's arms and actually calls him "My son" and tells him that he must lead now was nowhere to be seen. It just rang really sour to me that he dies never actually calling Tarzan his son and then as Tarzan stands over his body he kind of looks at Jane regretfully and sings the line "There is no other way." It rang more like he was sorry that he had to stay behind now that Kerchak was dead when he would have RATHER go with Jane. And I know I was not the only one that felt this way in the theatre. I had gotten talking to the woman next to me. She was a mother with her young son. After the curtain call she looked at me in shock and said something to me about how she had brought her son to this show expecting for him so see a man accepting his son, but was appalled it was not included. I never saw someone have such an actual angry reaction to a Disney musical in person before.

[RW3]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 10:17pm

I still don't get how both shows flopped on Broadway, but have become successes in other countries. Tarzan in Germany and The Netherlands and The Little Mermaid in The Netherlands, Russia, and Tokyo. Personally, Tarzan gave the Broadway community nothing and The Little Mermaid gave us Sierra Boggess. So,that's the only positive thing I like about either.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 10:19pm

@ DEClarke, Ursula dose not survive in the musical. Ariel smashes her magic shell and she dies.

[billis2]

Posted: 8/15/13 at 10:44pm

THE LITTLE MERMAID was the worst musical I have ever seen on Broadway. Ever.

That's why there's all the hate. Because it stunk.

[James885]

Posted: 8/16/13 at 12:08am

The Little Mermaid was one of the ugliest shows I've ever seen. The book was a hot mess, and the wonderful original songs from the film were diminished by several of the newly added mediocre songs. The only new songs I liked were 'Her Voice' and 'I Want The Good Times Back'.

The first 10 minutes of Tarzan were amazing but I thought the rest was a snoozefest.


Both shows had stellar casts, though.

Updated On: 8/16/13 at 12:08 AM

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 8/16/13 at 12:18am

Isn't "hate" too strong a word for not liking a show?

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 8/16/13 at 9:47am

Isn't "hate" too strong a word for not liking a show?

Not on the corner of internet hyperbole and theatrical exaggeration! :)

I personally found little to nothing redeeming about Little Mermaid. On the the other hand, as someone who actually never saw the Tarzan movie, I found that show mostly entertaining and inventive, though far from perfect. Definitely some slow parts and that big spider thing annoyed the hell outta me.

[N2N Nate.]

Posted: 8/16/13 at 9:57am

Can't speak for TARZAN but TLM was a rushed process. The Plastic set looked horrible and the costumes were gaudy and just plain bad. People also didn't like the act 2 changes. The additional songs they gave to Scuttle were horrendous and the roller skates didn't particular go down well with Broadway audiences. I believe I also heard a rumor that the BATB cast made Tshirts saying something along the lines of " Fish on roller blades?". Not sure if that is true or not, anyone know?

[tazber]

Posted: 8/16/13 at 9:57am

I have to agree that Mermaid was one of the worst and tackiest shows I have ever seen.

I love the movie and I love the music.

But the show captured none of the magic that Disney usually provides. It was clunky, sloppy, ugly, and poorly conceived from every angle.

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/16/13 at 10:21am

For the purposes of guilt, different parents throw different things back in their kids faces. Often, mothers will use the number of hours of labor they endured. I remind my daughter that I took her to see Tarzan.