Theatre Review - The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid
When: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 8pm
Where: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York City
Type: Musical, Professional, Broadway

The less said about this, the better.

I saw it simply because it was Disney and simply because it was closing in late August. The movie started Disney's animation renaissance in the late 80s/early 90s, but this stage show was just the pits (especially when compared to Disney's previous Broadway efforts -- The Lion King, Mary Poppins, and Beauty and the Beast).

Just about everything about this one was subpar. Several leads -- Chelsea Morgan Stock's Ariel, Drew Seeley's Eric, and Norm Lewis' King Triton, in particular -- were weak...both vocally and acting-wise. When your two leads are disappointing, it makes your whole production fall apart. Tony Award winner Faith Prince's Ursula was acceptable (and certainly a small positive in the production), but the director/writers of the show managed to downplay the pizazz and chutzpah of the character from the movie. Ursula could very likely be my favorite Disney villain with my favorite Disney villain theme song ("Poor Unfortunate Souls" which sounds like its made for a Broadway show), but they manage to make the song (which serves as the First Act closer) to fall flat. The understudy playing Sebastian was a pleasant surprise. The bright spot of the show was little Trevor Braun's Flounder. This kid showed more energy than anyone else onstage.

Braun is helped by the fact that he has a catchy new song he gets to sing. And, for the most part, the new songs added to the production are pretty good and mesh fairly well with the original songs carried over from the movie. However, the production of all of the songs was awful. There was no ebb and flow to the staging of the show -- it's as if the director said, "Stand center stage for 30 seconds, move to the left for 20 seconds, then move back to center stage again for the rest of the song." The staging seemed very "high school musical" (having been in two, I feel like I can say that). Nothing seemed real or genuine. (I realize I'm talking about seeing a play with mermaids and complaining about a lack of realism, but I hope you get my point.)

The sets looked like plastic toys and the costumes weren't any better. I will say that I didn't hate how they utilized some unique looking waves in order to simulate being above and below the sea. And the mermaids/fish/crabs/etc. gliding along the stage on Heelies (you know, those shoes with wheels in the heels) didn't bother me at all. In fact, it was a unique method of depicting the flowing under the sea.

Still, I didn't enjoy this one at all...which is a shame since the movie still stands the test of time (I watched it a little over a year ago and enjoyed it quite a bit). Oh, well. You can't win 'em all.