Little Mermaid Broadway review -from a fan

I thought the show was incredible.

I was VERY wary of the heelies concept going in, but it actually works really well. It certainly was a clever way to stage the swimming without using a lot of wires and things.

The cast is almost uniformly excellent. Sierra Boggess makes a solid Broadway debut. She truly inhabits the character of Ariel, and already seems to have her mannerisms and whatnot down. She has a great voice, and "Part of Your World" was one of the evening's highlights.

There is also the fantastic Titus Burgess, whose voice is just out of this world. I never saw Jersey Boys, so I had no idea what kind of voice he had. What he does with Under the Sea is amazing. I didn't really like his costume though- he kind of looked like Elmo.

Eddie Korbich was a lot of fun as Scuttle, as were the two guys who played the eels. Norm Lewis is underused, but he does get one brief moment where he really gets to use his voice.

The only person in the cast I did not care for was Sean Palmer. He gets a pretty thankless role to begin with, but he did absolutely nothing with it. Looking at his credits, he seems to be more of a dancer (appearing in Fosse, Dream, and Saturday Night Fever). However, Eric does very little dancing, so I am not sure why they went with him. His acting was blah, and his voice wasn't great.

Anyway, as good as Sierra and Titus were (and they were exceptional), the star on the stage this evening was the sensational Sherie Renee Scott, who in a perfect world would win the Best Featured Actress in a Musical Tony this year. She only appears in 6 scenes, but wow....she makes the most of it. She plays Ursula like this faded glamour queen. I felt like she was channeling a bit of Norma Desmond. Whatever it was, it worked. She gets two GREAT numbers that she sells to the rafters (the act 1 closer- Poor Unfortunate Souls and a new song called I Want the Good Times Back).

The costumes are fantastic, especially Ursulas. They did a great job of making her tentacles work. The set was lovely, and very imaginatively done. The way they shifted from the undersea world to land was clever. My only complaint about the set was Ariel's treasure trove. It wasn't so much a cavern as a rock. All she appeared to have collected was some old shoes. I also hope they do something about Ursula's final disappearance. It's not nearly as grand as it could be.

The staging was well-done. The highlights were Under the Sea and Kiss the Girl, the latter of which is very reminscent of Can You Feel the Love Tonight. The show moves along VERY briskly- by 10:25 this evening, I was out on the street.

Audience was really into it, and applauded loudly throughout- every major scene change got a lot of applause. They were very well-behaved- I didn't hear a peep out of any of the children. I want to give kudos to the ushers at the Lunt-Fontanne. The house did not open until 7:47 this evening, because the usher told me they were having problems with the set. However, in spite of that, they still had the house seated VERY quickly, and the show began at 8:07.

The audience was very appreciative throughout, and this source material is clearly very beloved (moreso, I suspect, than any Disney movie besides the Lion King). If tonight's packed house was any indication, they've got a winner on their hands that will run for a long, long time.


The Little Mermaid
Tickets are now on sale for this brand-new Disney musical. Great seats are available beginning January 2008!





In a magical kingdom beneath the sea, a beautiful young mermaid named Ariel longs to leave her ocean home to live in the world above. But first, she'll have to defy her father - the king of the sea, escape the clutches of an evil sea witch and convince a prince that she's the girl with the perfect voice.