| . | 01/25/2008
THE LITTLE MERMAID
By: Eugene Paul
Sierra Boggess as Ariel, Sherie Rene Scott as Ursula, Derrick Baskin as Jetsam and Tyler Maynard as Flotsam
There is a necessary madness, a kind of group self hypnosis which propels every theatrical production. Without it, there would be no theater as we know it commercially. You have to believe your show is the greatest, right through the iffy tryouts and previews to the opening night. And sometimes, beyond. Many is the show that has survived its opening night. Well, some, anyway. And here we are…
Should we really try to get all that underwater life, real and imaginary, on the stage? Oh, it’s charming, the movie is still beloved by two generations of kids, but how do we get it on its feet, for starters? That is, we don’t really want feet but we’ve got to have feet; we’re stuck with them. Mermaids and mermen and other mer-critters don’t have feet, they just are not the fairy tale reality, so what do we do? Do we go ahead? Yes. We’ve got millions of fans who love this show and they’ll keep on loving it. With feet? We’ll get around feet. How, fly the whole cast? Just totally inviting disaster. We’ll design clever costumes, we’ll get Tatiana Noginova. Fine, but there’s no getting around the feet. Don’t worry about it, we’ll get a hot choreographer, Stephen Mear – But that’s what choreographers do, work with feet. He’ll take care of it. We’ve got songs, the original Alan Menken songs, Howard Ashman lyrics—He’s gone. We’ll get Glenn Slater, just as good. Doug Wright to do a full book. Fantastic sets by George Tsypin, singers, actors, dancers – And we’re back to feet. Not a problem, we’re on a roll.
"Under the Sea" with Tituss Burgess as Sebastian
Another Disney hit. We’ll get all the publicity rolling, the merchandising rolling, we’ve got a hit movie and we’ve got millions of kids and a kid’s behind in a Broadway seat costs as much as an adult behind in a Broadway seat. We are doing this? We are doing this and we will have another smash.
And that, dear children, is how The Little Mermaid came to Broadway, to re-brighten your lives. A lovely little movie without feet is now a big, old fashioned musical with legs. So the show stops for each number, so what. The numbers are what you want to see. The story you know. Sierra Boggess, who plays Ariel, the little mermaid, is the absolute, gorgeous spit of the cartoon miracle you and your kids adored. And she moves like an angel on her hidden feet on “heelies”, the solution choreographer Stephen Mear has adopted to solve the feet problem for the show. She glides in and out of the plastic waves beautifully and sings with that big, neutered Broadway sound all the mainstream musicals seem to want even though she’s never been on Broadway before.
Sean Palmer as Prince Eric and Sierra Boggess as Ariel
As the story has it, she sacrifices her enchanting voice to the Sea Witch in order to have feet up on dry land so she can pursue her prince charming. Ah, but the Prince, under the spell of her enchanting voice he ‘s heard at sea, will marry only the princess who has that voice. Her prince charming, played by Sean Palmer, is just as cartoon gorgeous as she, also has that neutered Broadway sound, although he does try to make sense of the lyrics. He wears splendid costumes and smiles magnificently and has no problems with feet, in fact, he’s terrific on his feet. Our villainess, the Sea Witch, may have the feet problem and tentacle problems but she belts like crazy and the kids love her, evil makeup and all. Sherie Rene Scott is having fun. It comes across. So, too, does Norm Lewis as King Triton. Everybody else is working so hard their joy is not palpable. They’ve all had to learn to roll around on “heelies” and look as if they haven’t a care in the world, as if they were just happy underwater creatures, magically swimming and gamboling. Joy is hard to come by thataway. But there’s joy in Disneyland tonight and every night. Kids were buying on the way in and on the way out. What next?
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Lunt-Fontanne Theater, West 46th Street. Tues-Sat 8 pm. Mats Wed,Sat, 2 pm, Sun 3 pm. $51.50-$121.50. Top ticket Tues, Wed, Thu eves & Wed matinee, $111.50. Ticketmaster at 212-307 4747 and at box office.
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