Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
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Featured Actor Joined: 9/21/05
#1Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 3:16pm
I was one of those people who had their tickets to Little Mermaid cancelled due to the strike, and was surprised when Disney sent me an e-mail saying "We want you back" and offering various dates with a slightly discounted rate. As my tickets were for front row center mezz on a Saturday night, there was not much chance I was going to settle for less, and sure enough , there had been no good seats available, unless you consider Row Q all the way to the left or right a good seat. I told the reservationist that I would spend my money on something else, at which point, seats in Center row H mysteriously popped up, and I saw the show last night.
The seat I was in was obviously one of the $250+ premium seats, and all I can say is that I am very glad to have spent only (only - ha!) in the $80-ish range for this, due to the discount.
Let me preface this by saying that I am a big Disney fan and have been to Walt Disney World and Disneyland multiple times. Have often enjoyed Disney World in that very magical first week in June, if you know what I mean. Was just at Disneyland this past summer, and at California Adventure, there is currently a rather lavish stage production of Aladdin playing in a huge, Broadway-type theatre that somewhat resembles the Gershwin. That production was directed by Frencesca Zambello, the director of Mermaid. The Aladdin show was very good for a theme park show.
And....The Little Mermaid is also very good - FOR A THEME PARK SHOW. At Broadway prices, I would urge everyone who is not a twelve year old girl with a trust fund to think twice and three times before sinking a substantial investment of money into an evening under the sea at the Lunt-Fontanne.
The score is wonderful, but then it always was. The new songs fit in effortlessly, and some are quite lovely.
The actors are, for the most part, pretty great, although Eddie Korbich is grating, doing his best Mario Cantone impression as Scuttle. That role is fairly thankless anyway, and he doesn't have much to work with, least of all the horrendous and embarassing costume. Ditto for the poor kid playing Flounder. Sierra is an instant star. She is perfect for this role - looks and sounds like she was born to play it. Sherie Rene Scott is, no surprise, fantastic.
I don't think the sets are as terrible as has been widely reported, but the costumes look cheap and tacky, more suitable for a community theatre with a nice budget than a Broadway production. Ariel's wedding dress at the end looks like it came off the rack of a Conway. Many of the mermaid costumes look like they were purchased in a plastic wrapper from a Halloween superstore. The widely reported Flounder-tee-shirt is pretty unforgivable. It looks ridiculous.
Overall, the staging is pretty much a fiasco. It looks like a free-for-all, and this director should have been fired and replaced after Denver. The heelees, or however you spell it, just do not work at all. It is funny that Zambello has been quoted as having been so against flying and water effects, and yet, the two "wow" moments of the whole show involve flying. Roller skating around with cheap mermaid tails that look like they are about to fall off does not cut it. At all. A scene in which the chef is chasing Sebastian around - 5'10 or taller - requires a suspension of disbelief that is rather impossible. Did not this director ever consider using puppetry in this scene? It would seem to be a creative solution to a logistical problem that has not been addressed.
Finally, a word about the audience. I knew going in that this was a, shall we say, "kid friendly" show, and I knew that a good portion of the audience would be tweens and younger. I was not prepared for the Romper Room that greeted me at this theatre. Throngs and throngs of very young children - many girls dressed up in their Disney princess costumes and tierras, with their M&Ms and Little Mermaid sippy cups - many of them very well-behaved - many of them not. There were moments in the show that I felt I was at a circus. Two children right behind me mercilessly pounded the back of my chair for the full two hours and thirty minutes. Throughout the theatre, at various moments, children yelped out at full voice, screeched now and then, and basically made various loud noise that is pretty uncalled for. I realize that this is the nature of the beast and that it is a Disney show, so what should one expect? However, it is not Wintuk at Madison Square Garden. It is not even the Grinch, and it would just seem that parents might have a long talk with their kids before taking them to a Broadway show to explain good theatre behavior. I understand that it is not ever going to be as quiet in the Little Mermaid audience as it is in The Seafarer, but I don't expect any Broadway audience to behave like animals in a zoo.
Well, anyway, there you have it.
Overall, I was fairly disappointed, and on a scale of 1-10, I would give the show as a whole about a 5 or 6. There are enough nice moments in it, and that, coupled with the very pleasing score is enough to make me say that if you are sitting on a nice bank account, you might well want to check it out. If you are on a more limited budget, however, seriously...save your cash and rent the movie. You'll get just as much enjoyment there as you will from having your seat kicked by an impatient 6 year old with a sippy cup.
#2re: Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 3:32pm
How was the view from ROW H? I have row C for 12/29 and am not sure if that may be a little too close or not, especially with the waves that rise up from the stage at various points.
Updated On: 12/6/07 at 03:32 PM
#2re: Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 3:33pm
Wow, I saw it as well last night and couldn't have had a more different opinion. I thought it was wonderful, and much improved from the first preview, when I saw it. I think the cast is across the board fantastic, Tituss, Sherie, and Sierra have always been the standouts for me, but Norm Lewis is also brilliant and Tyler Maynard does a lot with very little material, and I found him to be completely hysterical. There were a lot of dialogue cuts, which I found to be an improvement on the whole, and made the show run a bit quicker. I don't remember specifically what but it seemed like there were some changes made to the scene preceding "I Want the Good Times Back", and I enjoyed it more this time around. Also, they cut one of Sherie's songs during the second act. I believe it was the second short "Poor Unfortunate Souls" Reprise before the singing contest? It's gone, and that made me sad, since Sherie singing is always a good thing, but it quickens the pace of the second act, and it was unnecessary, so...there's that.
Also, a funny moment, since the ending has been MUCH rewritten and much improved, but you wouldn't know it from last night! Where Sherie/Ursula used to sink into the stage on a platform...she just ran off into the wings last night when she was "defeated" by Ariel. Now...I was like ... wtf? Because it looked so tacky and I didn't understand why...but after the show I found out that the platform wasn't actually there, there was just a BIG GAPING HOLE in the stage, so some of the ensemble members were shouting at Sherie from the wings like "DO NOT GET ON THE PLATFORM, SHERIE!" and apparently, she mouthed back 'Why?' and the response was "YOU WILL DIE, SHERIE." LOL. I just thought it was a very funny anecdote, and reassuring to know that they don't intend on having Ursula literally scamper off into the wings when she is defeated.
All in all, I really really enjoyed the show, and J.J. Singleton as Flounder was adorable, LOVE his voice and he's so much fun during "She's in Love". It's a very clean show, VERY pretty to look at (IMO), and definitely something I would reccomend checking out.
Edit: And Row C will be marvelous for this show. I had row C for the first preview and it was an amazing view.
"Get mad, then get over it." - Colin Powell
Updated On: 12/6/07 at 03:33 PM
#4re: Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 3:53pm
I agree with Kelly2...the changes they have made so far (between 11/3 and 11/29 for me) are excellent. Funny that Sherie had to run off the stage last night instead of go through the trap door. It would have been like Idina in Wicked...and we can't have Ursula wearing a red track suit! 
Insider2
Featured Actor Joined: 9/21/05
#5re: Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 6:05pm
Glad the show has improved. I imagine view from Row C would be pretty spectacular. Row H was just fine, and would have been even better if there were not two 6'4 men right in front of me, but them's the breaks.
And yes Tyler Mayard is brilliant.
BT
#6re: Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 6:42pmI already got my Row C tix for April ! Glad to know the view will be great !!!
#7re: Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 7:25pm
"Have often enjoyed Disney World in that very magical first week in June, if you know what I mean. "
Holla
-Benjamin
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
#8re: Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 7:48pm
Kelly2 lol that story about the trap door/platform cracked me up. "YOU WILL DIE, SHERIE!"
Although, I bet it looked so awkward with her just running into the wings...glad to know it was only a one time thing.
I saw the show on 11/29 and loved it. Yes, it has its problems and needs some tweaking, but overall I had a lot of fun.
"Somethin's comin', I don't know what it is but it is gonna be great!"
#9re: Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 9:50pm
"Kelly2 lol that story about the trap door/platform cracked me up. "YOU WILL DIE, SHERIE!"
Although, I bet it looked so awkward with her just running into the wings...glad to know it was only a one time thing. "
It had me in stitches when I was hearing it! And then of course, the obvious image in my head of Sherie, with her Ursula wig and makeup on, in a red tracksuit singing the "Poor Unfortunate Souls (Reprise)"...
Definitely looked awkward, but at least it's not ACTUALLY part of the show.
"Get mad, then get over it." - Colin Powell
BroomstickBoy
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/21/04
#10re: Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 10:26pmI thought they cut Ursula's "Her Voice" reprise, since it's before the content. After she gets the trident she sings a reprise of "Poor Unfortunate Souls", or have they changed that, too?
I don't WANT to live in what they call "a certain way." In the first place I'd be no good at it and besides that I don't want to be identified with any one class of people. I want to live every whichway, among all kinds---and know them---and understand them---and love them---THAT's what I want! - Philip Barry (Holiday)
#11re: Little Mermaid -review -12/5/07 preview
Posted: 12/6/07 at 10:35pm
"I thought they cut Ursula's "Her Voice" reprise, since it's before the content. After she gets the trident she sings a reprise of "Poor Unfortunate Souls""
You're probably right, I wasn't positive which song it was that was reprised and then cut :)
"Get mad, then get over it." - Colin Powell
