As opposed to Tarzan, the answer is yes...this will be a big hit. There's a soft spot that exists in people for The Little Memaid, that I still feel Tarzan didn't have and was therefore an odd choice for a Broadway show.

I think Mermaid is as ingrained in people's minds as a Disney classic as the original classics themselves. Tarzan just wasn't in that class, and obviously...it's gone.

I went to Tarzan more out of curiosity. I'm excited to see Mermaid, just the way I was excited to see Mary Poppins and Lion King And Beauty and the Beast. Can't wait.

The article reflects most of what I've seen on other message boards - the general reaction is positive, but "Under The Sea" has been drawing complaints for being not quite right.  Since that's easily the most popular song from the original movie, I'm sure that the creative team will find some way to tweak it.

Here's hoping the musical works well and settles into a long run.  Due to being broke and not being anywhere near New York, I've missed the other Disney musicals so far.  Maybe I'll be able to catch this one...or if not, maybe they'll will finally bring the Hunchback musical to America.  I can dream, right?  :¬)

Jim,

As a theatre lover, and as it's my daily job too, let me say thanks for all these Disney Theatrical articles. I know they don't garner as many comments and stuff as other subjects do... but there are those of us who love this info. Keep it coming.

I have been happy with the few reports that have leaked out re: this show. I too have heard a small grumble re: Under The Sea, but feel very confident that it will be fixed before it opens for real on Broadway. And I count myself one of the men eager to see dancing mermaids!!!!

Thanks too for keeping some info back and protecting a show still in previews.

Thanks for the good info and good work!

My husband and I went to see The Little Mermaid - the musical here in Denver on Sat July 28th, the third night of the run.  We went with another couple, and a friend with her 10-year old daughter. As a preface, my husband and I are HUGE Little Mermaid fans, members of N.F.F.C. who venture to the parks at least once or twice a year to meet up with other Arieloholics, lead by Anita Schaengold.  

My husband, who is definitely not a wild type, has a 6-inch high tattoo of Ariel on his upper arm.  We love the movie, the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show at Disney/MGM Studios and most things Disney.  Ariel is my husband’s favorite Disney character and Grumpy is my favorite.  We are also seasoned theater-goers who've seen our share of Broadway productions and plays.  My husband and I were shaking with excitement like little kids when the curtain lifted on Saturday.

*** SPOILER ALERTS ***

I loved the singing in The Little Mermaid - the musical.  Almost every actor has a wonderful and powerful voice.  The singing and songs were at final-presentation strength. The actress who plays Ariel is SPOT-ON fabulous in her characterization.  She captured Ariel better than I could have imagined.  We were up in the Loge section (second balcony), but could still clearly see her subtle and precise fine facial and hand movement details (exactly from the movie) that made me feel like she really understood the Ariel character (and knew that her audience would have people extremely familiar with the movie view of her character).  She also was just about the only one who understood to occasionally "sway" or "undulate" her tail to make her seem more mermaid-like.  The Kiss the Girl number was primo for the special effects and the big Positoovity number for Scuttle and his friends was fun, fun, fun.  Ursula had a few variations on her costume that were neat.  The blend of familiar and new songs was great.

That said, from there, I agree with many of John Mumford's other assessments - there are unresolved challenges with costuming, set designs, lighting, acting and consistently fulfilling the illusion of being underwater (having the characters using the wheelies to be fish-like and glide onstage was cool, but not everyone was equally comfortable or prepared to work that detail, so some walked when they should have been rolling).  We fully accepted that this is a tryout and that things will be added, removed and modified.  That’s why we’re going back to see it two more times before it leaves.

One thing to note is that you have to shift gears from imagining a funky, avant-garde set production like The Lion King and imagine a Broadway musical along more traditional lines.  The night we went we didn’t get a pre-show disclaimer that there could be technical difficulties, and there was no one around at the end that we could provide our feedback to (or try to find out what happened on the things that went wrong).  Like any other story moved from one format to another, characters were added and dropped and the plot modified to be more theatrical.  Our ten-year friend was very disappointed that the dog Max was eliminated from the show.

And we saw some easily-fixable technical difficulties. Sets being removed after the curtain lifted, the Flounder costume seemed minimal if not thrown-together, absence of set pieces in some scenes leading to confusion about story progress.  At the show we went to, something went wrong at the very end with the final conflict between Ursula and King Triton and the show finished up with what seemed like a big plot gap.  King Triton’s trident (which seemed feeble and flimsy as it was) got broken and the show ended with Triton holding what looked like a two-pronged glittery BBQ fork.  The Under the Sea number needs some work to bring it up to the theatricality/creativity of the puppetry of the Voyage of the Little Mermaid attraction, as right now it reminds me more of something I would see at bad Las Vegas showgirl show (yes, I kept picturing the dancers topless and it would have been the same number) and it didn’t play up enough on Howard Ashman’s very clever lyrics (except for one gag).  King Triton needs to learn how to use his wheelies to 'swim' across the stage and not walk off all the time.  The actor playing King Triton was arrogant when he should have been fatherly, and in general just not “big” enough.  Those of us who went couldn’t agree on what should be done to make Triton a physically bigger character (like costuming or hair or stilts).  Ursula should camp it up a bit more – she just ever-so-slightly missed the clever (again, straight from Howard Ashman) inflections, enunciations and sarcasm of Pat Carroll’s Ursula from the movie.

But all said, we loved it.  As soon as I got home, I bought tickets for another show, in August.  Yes, we are addicted to all things Little Mermaid, but this show is so inviting and welcoming and happy-ending that I couldn’t wait until Sept 8th to see it again.  And we certainly don't have to pay Broadway prices to see it here!

bparker817-

Thanks so much for your comments- I'm a huge Ariel fan also, and cannot wait to see this production. I'm flying to NYC in Jan to see it from the UK (I have tickets for the 5th)...

Please do let us know how your subsequent viewing of the show fares- I'm sure there'll be mass improvement, from what I've already heard is a very promising musical :)

You're so lucky to be able to see the Denver show again- and so right about the Broadway prices... I don't blame you- see it as often as you can!

I can't help but think they made a mistake not getting Sir Tim Rice to write the lyrics for the new songs as he did with "Aladdin" (forthe film) and "Beauty and the Beast" (for Broadway).  Maybe he wasn't available or maybe Menken just wants to work with his new partner, but I think it was a missed opportunity.  None of Menken's collaborators have been able to match the work he did with Ashman except for Rice.

I'm a friend of Eddie Korbich, so glad he's good notices as Scuttle. He and his lover Andy have a daughter who's not yet six... guess how many times she's seen this show already??????