An open letter to the Disney Organization (or my- Page 3

[Elphie3]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 10:08am

I agree. It's also confusing that Ursula (i.e on her physical costume) has all her tenticles, but so does her bubble?

[roadmixer]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 4:03pm

Elphie3 - It's impressive that you have taken this much time to consider this show. You must really be a fan as you say. As to your suggestions, please remember that this is musical theatre and not a documentary. In the film, Ursula becomes a giant monster and gets rammed by the ship - something that Squids generally don't do in 'real life'. You can't neatly tie up so many issues in a 2 hour production. Suspension of disbelief is required for enjoyment.

CurtainPullDowner - Please stop being such a glib, know-it-all, Disney-bashing insider. Is it really necessary to make disparaging remarks about people who work for Disney? Come on. Have some respect.

As for everyone's incredulity at the state of The Little Mermaid please keep in mind that those who post on this site are a teeny, tiny microcosm of those who see shows on Broadway. I would guess that posters here constitute well under 1% of all of the people who have and will see Mermaid and other Broadway shows.

People are loving The Little Mermaid and its success will not be determined in this thread or any other on this or any of the chat sites. Sorry... but true...
Updated On: 12/14/07 at 04:03 PM

[Elphie3]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 4:54pm

Thanks for the complement roadmixer! I agree with what you're saying about this being a fantasy, and suspension of disbelief. For me though it's about setting the rules of the world and sticking to them. I'm all for a giant squid reaking havoc! But (for example) if all human stuff is "bad" why do the Mersisters have sunglasses.

I'm all for suspension of disbelief. It's just that in this case the things that I had to suspend my disbelief for felt more like oversites than fantastical things that were very carefully planned. :)

[Elphie3]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 4:53pm

Bump

[Out In The Sticks]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 8:50am

I don't have time at the moment to write a review or an entry talking about what I loved about Little Mermaid but I will get round to it. But i loved The Little Mermaid!!!

[Radioactiveduck]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 6:48pm

Dang girl...Give em hell!

[gypsy4]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 6:57pm

They should have hired the same team who Brought Beauty and the
Beast to the stage.

[Radioactiveduck]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 9:22pm

The thing that made Beauty and the Beast work SO well on stage is that they had the original creative team from the film working on the show, so there wouldn't be any rough transitions between material. Since it was all done by the same people, everything fit together.

They didn't do the same thing with Little Mermaid, so it's not expanding as well.

Plus, (imo) B&B had a better story line for this kind of thing.

[Elphie3]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:41pm

I agree.

[DaintyJack]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 12:08am

Just a note- the seating and sight lines in the Lunt are incredible. You can sit anywhere and have, for the most part, a full view.

I liked all the things like how Flounder and Sebastian know about the deal with the sea witch when neither of them are there, but seriously, just go to enjoy the show. Don't ruin it for yourself by looking for or recalling all the bad things about it. Yeah, the show isn't that great. We get it!

Beauty should have stayed right on open.

[jmh7940]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 2:17am

Thank you, roadmixer. You have all my respect for making that rather important point.

[Trailer Trash Jones]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 6:41am

Elphie - I agree with it all -- except the part about Ariel's mother dying at the hands of a human. When I saw it a few days ago, it was implied that she was fatally injured by a human's fish hook, although maybe that was added recently because of your initial post!! If so, brilliant!

How about this one? At the end of act I when Ariel get's her feet, she does a little jig in the last few seconds before the blackout. At the top of act II, she can barely stand up on her new feet.

If their target audience is actually children, it's too long. Most kids don't have the attention span necessary to take a 15 minute intermission and then re-focus (I was so annoyed by the poor production values, I barely had it). Several families around me bailed after the first act and the kids that remained were restless. Mercifully, my niece fell asleep in the middle of act two. Prior to that, she kept asking where Ariel was, even when Sierra was on stage. Apparently, she didn't think stage Ariel looked much like DVD Ariel. Not that I an advocating a live reproduction of the movie! My point is that Disney is trying please everyone and therefore pleases no one. I think they should either call it was it is (i.e.: a way to make the big bucks of the parents of kids who love the DVD), or prove that there is a real attempt at artistry -- and then make that attempt.

Visually, it was all so horizontal and flat. The ocean floor looked like a high school gymnasium decorated for a prom with an "ocean theme." The fish mostly glided around on the same plane (the floor). Someone needs to take Francesca Zambello scuba diving in the Caribbean. And while there, maybe she can catch a glimpse of a real, live seagull so she'll know what one is supposed to look like!

I liked Sierra, Sherry, Tituss, Norm's chest (I'm pretty sure it was staring at me), John Treacy Egan and most everyone else quite a lot, but their talents aren't supported by great direction, so they have little room to grow.

I had a recurring thought during the show: This show doesn't stand on its own. It clearly exists simply to capitalize on the fan base of the movie (and the fans of the movie will still prefer the movie). Had there been no movie, this wouldn't have been produced, but if it had, we'd all be comparing this production to some of the well-known stinkers of the past couple of years.

Anyway, those are my two cents. I hope this makes sense. It's 6 AM!

[Elphie3]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 9:58pm

Perfect sense! I thought you phrased it beautifully! No - they didn't have that line about the fish hook=ariel's mother. I hope I had something to do with helping the show, even in a small way - but I doubt it.

Very interesting about you niece's comments. Probably the most revealing thing posted so far.

I agree about the production not standing on its own. The sad thing is the STORY does. It takes a lot of talent to make that story uninteresting.

Thanks so much for your post!

[Trailer Trash Jones]

Posted: 12/24/07 at 12:38pm

Anytime!

The performers themselves seem to be "swimming upstream," if you will, trying to be creative and artistic when they are not being supported by an artistic vision. I really respect them and feel for their predicament!

By all accounts, the major problems haven't been fixed since the out of town tryout. Is it too late to can the director and bring someone else in? I wonder...

[Elphie3]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 6:28pm

It's probably too late at this point - but I still wish they would! I'm sorry - Gabriel Barre would be amazing! I just feel like the whole thing's going to sink.

[misschung]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 7:02pm

I agree. It's also confusing that Ursula (i.e on her physical costume) has all her tenticles, but so does her bubble?

How about this one? At the end of act I when Ariel get's her feet, she does a little jig in the last few seconds before the blackout. At the top of act II, she can barely stand up on her new feet.

I'm so glad other people noticed this.

I didn't think it was too long at all - in fact, I was worried about that. But I thought the length was actually perfect. The night I saw it, there were a LOT of young kids (I'd say younger than 6) in the audience, and none seemed to have trouble paying attention for that long, at least not in my section.

[Elphie3]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 11:13pm

Yeah, I didn't have a problem with the length of the show, I actually think it was a bit on the short side (I was out well before 10.) It's just that some parts were so boring that it felt like five hours, and some parts skipped so much info, it felt like ten seconds, so I didn't have any accurate feeling of how much time had gone by when it was done.

[Trailer Trash Jones]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 7:37am

Sorry guys, I guess what I meant by the "too long" comment was that IF they are gearing it to little kids, which is unclear, then there shouldn't be an intermission. From a viewers standpoint, they hardly needed it. As an adult, I agree the show was pretty short, but I couldn't have taken much more anyway.

One of the overriding problems for me was the seeming lack of concept, which if in place, might help to clear up many of these oddities. Are they trying to please kids & other fans of the movie or make it a stand alone theatrical experience?

Oy! How can this show possibly get decent reviews??
Updated On: 1/6/08 at 07:37 AM

[Elphie3]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 9:28pm

I can't wait to see what reviews they get!

I think the problem was that they were trying to gear the show to ALL demographics, and they ended up with bland chicken stock instead of gormet chocolate cake (sorry for the random analogy)

[localonedude]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 10:16pm

roadmixer has spoken
Updated On: 1/5/08 at 10:16 PM

[Elphie3]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 2:41pm

Sorry - I didn't get your comment. :)

[Elphie3]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 2:41pm

Sorry - I didn't get your comment. :)

[dinglehopper89]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 4:16pm

'Visually, it was all so horizontal and flat. The ocean floor looked like a high school gymnasium decorated for a prom with an "ocean theme." The fish mostly glided around on the same plane (the floor).'

that was my complaint too! I really enjoyed the show mostly because of the cast and the fact that I'm easily impressed.
The set was really flat though. They should've put in AT LEAST a couple of ramps for more depth. And the fact that they had to jump over the plastic waves was a tad annoying too. I can't think of anything, but there has to be a way to conceal that better.
Also, when they're in Eric's castle, all there was was a table and like flat things in the background. Put in some stairs and make it actually look like a room for pete sake! And the flat things should've been actual columns rather than just shiny...whatever material it was. And when Eric was floating upward to the surface and when he was singing her voice, there wasn't anything going on other than exactly that. A couple of fish/birds floating around would've been nice. The beach n sea aren't THAT deserted.

All in all, my main complaint was the set, Scuttle's song 'Human Stuff' (only new song that disappointed me), flounders costume, and the number of stand ins.

But I enjoyed the show and wanted more tickets for Xmas-dint get em...but there's always my b-day.

[misschung]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 4:24pm

Were the waves made of glass? It looked more like plastic than glass, if they were. And I wish her grotto was filled with real items instead of stuff that looked like it was part of a Barbie make believe princess toy set.

[BrianS]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 4:26pm

"At the end of act I when Ariel get's her feet, she does a little jig in the last few seconds before the blackout."

The night I saw it, she didn't "do a jig" at the end of Act I. She stood with difficulty, then fell forward and caught herself. After reading what you wrote, I asked a friends who was going to see it what happened that night and she saw what I saw.