My Answers to Little Mermaid's Problems

[jagfkb]

Here were some interesting ideas which I heavily think should be added in:

Let Ariel stay out of the opening, and, if possible, have the audience come into the theatre without a curtain covering the stage. Instead, have the waves about halfway between the top and bottom of the stage, with the sun halfway between as well, signifying how the sun sets. During the overture, the waves and borders could easily be filled with different colors, and perhaps during the Under the Sea moment, have the fish, whose costumes should be slightly changed to make the fish take up the entire body, rather then only their head. The overture would then stop, and the ship would descend from the flies as normal.

However, one of my favorite parts of the film should definately be added here, where the fish is thrown off the ship and into the sea, where it becomes an actual character. This could easily be done by having an actor in his fish costume come up through the same trap door which Ariel comes from at the end of act one, and would hide behind the wave. When the wave flies up, the fake fish in the sailor's hand would be thrown down, the ship would fly up, and after the wave has risen up about halfway, the fish actor would come out from behind the rising wave on wires, be relieved, and after he flies down onto the stage, he skates off. Then, as the ensemble skates on, a new set piece would come on. It would be a mix of the two bong sets, however there would be only one "bong", which would consist of eight arms, with four able to go up, and four able to go down, kindda like how the two bongs would have arms which went either up or down. Anyway, the arms wouldn't go up until Under the Sea, and the entire set piece, which would also adorn an Atlantis like set of towers on the top, would only appear during the underwater scenes, and would roll in from the back of the stage.

Another thing, before Triton and the mersisters go out onto the stage, Ariel would swim onto the stage, however, she would not only not adorn the tail on her back, but she would be carried by two other actors, who would carry her as if she was swimming. Her tail would be similar to Triton's tail, having the fins drag on the ground, when she heelies around. She would land center stage, and heelie offstage. The mersisters would have the same tails as Ariel. Now, Im fine with almost all of the other costumes in the show except for the folowing:

Flounder: Give him a similar head piece as the other fish emsemble members, only it would be shorter and more guppy like. The shirt would be changed, though I do slightly like the fins on the arms.

Scuttle: Thinking about it, Scuttle does not have much of a mahor part in the musical, however, for the time which he is onstage, make him and the other seagulls look more mad inventor like, with the long, white and feathered coats, though the beak hats are rather interesting, and would fit in well with the rest of the new costume, of it seemes to resemble Maurice's headgear from BaTB. The rock should also be crowded with other human things, and the song should be changed slightly, in my own opinion.

Now, the grotto set is pretty cool, in my opinion, however, loose the shoes, and have piles of other human things being put on moving platforms, and slide that stuff onto the stage during the destruction of the grotto, having it explode over the stage. Also, if books were added to the grotto set, they could explode open when the grotto is destroyed, adding to the effect that it was infact destroyed.

The Ursula set could be heavily improved by having seaweed vines hang down from the flies. Also, the tentacles are cool, but save the bubble tentacles for the end, it adds to the suspense.

Speaking of the end, i think I found an ending which could be what everyone wants. Right during the final moments of If Only, have Vannessa (Sherrie in a black wig and a purple and green dress) come from the back singing in Ariel's voice. Have everyone in suprise and blackout. After the small set change, rather then transferring to underwater, have Ariel come onto the stage ready to impress the Prince, perhaps with Sebastian primping her. Then, have grimsby come out past Ariel and say something about Eric. eric and Vannessa now walk past and with Eric, clearly hipnotized, have Vannessa utter a line which Ursula would usually say. Perhaps have Areil sing a small reprise of Part of your World, and have the ship descend, with Vannessa, Eric, several servants, and a priest. Scuttle now flies/walks on and tells Ariel that Vannessa is Ursula. Suddenly, everything makes sense to ariel, and she now swims towards the boat. The boat now descend even further, and as Eric learns that Ariel loves him through dance, the sunsets, and Vannessa explodes, and takes Ariel down underwater.

Now, the ending would play out almost exactly the same, however, the large ship would not come down and try to stop Ursula. No, instead have Ursula's tentacles grow from behind the bubble, and have her rise into the air on wires, with a cloth filling the area between Ursula and the ground. The waves would descend, and Eric, in the small, Kiss the Gril boat, would partially defeat Ursula by having the trident thrust into her. Ursula now descends back ont the stage, where sierra, rather then the double, is sprawled on the stage, with Ursula's shell in arm's reach. After she grabs it, Ursula appear, crawling on the ground, next to her, begging for the shell back. Ariel now breaks the shell, Ursula descends into the stage, and the rest of the finale plays out just as planned

whatcha think?

[Yankeefan007]

Too long. Sorry. I'll give it a shot again tomorrow.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Some ideas are good.

[wicked91]

"have her rise into the air on wires, with a cloth filling the area between Ursula and the ground."

Sounds like Defying Gravity.

[BrianIdol]

some of your ideas are ok, but there NEVER gonna change that much...it's too close to opening, designing and building new scenery takes a month or two at least.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

"have her rise into the air on wires, with a cloth filling the area between Ursula and the ground."

If I directed the sohw, I would do that, but with huge inflate tentacles all over and lighting up.

[lakezurich]

I have been reading some of the TLM comments and one part that seems to have an easy fix to me is the scenery problem. They should just put in the tower that looks like a penis. Problem solved.

[PotO2]

Genius! Move over Zambello, you've got competion!

[Elphie3]

Ha! Brilliant!

[DaintyJack]

Wow- thank god they have you to correct all their mistakes, if you can call them that.

[CurtainPullDowner]

penis?
No one at DISNEY has one.

[Rose_MacShane]

Your idea for the overture is very similar to what they did early in the Denver run. After the overture, the curtain came up on an underwater scene, with a few chorines and Flounder skating around and them scattering when the ship began its descent. I didn't care for it, and I guess that was the general consensus, because when I went back the show opened with projections of fish, waves, etc.

[jagfkb]

oh, also, at the end of Ursula's small reprise of Good Times Back with Flotsam and Jetsam, I think they should show Sherrie holding the shell up and have some sort of lighting effect, showing that she has really done something.

Also, I personaly love the ending where Ariel walks to the surface at the end and leaps into ariel's arms. She could easily come up through one of the trap doors, after Triton tells Eric, "Let Ariel speak for her self", and sort of walk in place until the platform which she is riding on is close enough to the top so that she can step onto the stage and into Eric's arms. If you go onto the unamed site and search for TLM Finale, the first part of it is the perfect music for this part.

BTW, let the mermaids and fish occasionally be seen flying on wires. It looks cool if they do. Also, during Ariel's final change into a human, rather then having the mersisters circle around her, perhaps some sort of lavishly costmued fish ensemble should come out and help Ariel tranform back into a human, and without the large but tail, which added an interesting effect, the change should be easier.

Speaking of mersisters, my parents hated them when they saw the show. I slightly agree that they were WAY too bubbly.

also, rather then ursula rising up right infront of the stage, havethe bubble move back slightly, and have her dominate the back half of the stage. To get an image of this, picture the bubble with the tentacles fully spread out, and Ursula in front with a dress similar to defying gravity.

also, since Kiss the Girl would be rather bland without the two rising bongs, what iff they had two arms rise from backstage? One arm would rise upstage right, and the other would rise upstage left. They would both have an umbrella effect which would make them look like trees. Also, the birds shouldn't show their full wings until the climax of the song, for a little dramatic tension. Also, maybe some flamingos? Just my thought.

BTW, would anyone like me to e-mail this to Thomas Schumacher himself? I have his address.

[uncageg]

When I saw it in Denver, the "curtain" was a black scrim with lighting on it. Can't remember but I think there were shells or something. Not at all what I expected and really didn't fit the show.

[PotO2]

Sea shells didn't fit the Little Mermaid? Huh?

[Brave Sir Robin2]

"BTW, let the mermaids and fish occasionally be seen flying on wires. It looks cool if they do. Also, during Ariel's final change into a human, rather then having the mersisters circle around her, perhaps some sort of lavishly costmued fish ensemble should come out and help Ariel tranform back into a human, and without the large but tail, which added an interesting effect, the change should be easier."

My transformation:

Ariel sings as this shell thing rises from the back of the stage (I designed it to replace the sun-thing). There is a turning part in the front and the back is stationary. Ariel steps in to the back part as the front turns. Smoke and lighting ensues. Ursula is laughing and exits. The waves rise down as she steps out right before the waves get to her head. The tail is off, she no longer has a long skirt, but rather a "ripped" short skirt. She flips her hair back like in the movie as the curtain comes down on her silhouette.

[BrianIdol]

oh dreams....

[jagfkb]

Actually, I was referring to the transformation in the finale.

However, speaking of the act one transformation, I had been thinking a similar idea, though yours is better.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

For the end, I would have her on the rock. Then when she becomes human, two fabric "waves" come from the sides of the rock as she changes her outfit. Lights on Eric as he is sad, until he sees the waves go and she is human. These waves would also be used for the POYW reprise.

[B3TA07]

Threads like this are a lot more annoying when it's not a show you're pulling for.

[RentBoy86]

Well the ideas are alright, but I mean, Disney isn't going to change anything. What it is now, is what it will be a year from now.

I would have hoped that the curtain would be more thrilling, but it sounds boring - like the Lion King curtain.

[jagfkb]

I do slightly agree, however how the different shells and such glowed with different colors was pretty cool.