I do have a BA in theatre and I did a lot with costuming in theatre so I’m very particular. Acting for movies (or being a voice actor) and being a stage actor are more different than you would think. So sometimes putting famous actors on stage doesn’t really work. Honestly, I didn’t really have high hopes for this show. The beginning was incredible, Jody Benson introducing the show was wonderful, it’s great that they gave credit to the original Ariel and invited her to open for them. fathoms below” was fintastic, I don’t specialize in choreography but everything I saw looked great. The transitions were flawless and I loved that they had the real dog. Knowing that the beginning of a show is the most rehearsed part I was watching this expecting the show to start going downhill at some point. I loved the daughters of triton. This musical number was flawless and I love that there was a diverse group of mermaid princesses. Part of your world was the first part I had some issues with. There were a few spots where her voice wasn’t quite as spectacular as I would have liked. This is an extremely challenging song though so I forgive that. Flounder. He was cute but he looked like a stuffed animal a crafty mom would make for her toddler rather than a puppet created for a Disney show. “Under the Sea”... I was disappointed by this one. This would have been wonderful If Sebastian had a better performance. Maybe a different actor playing Sebastian would have fixed this. He didn’t have the song down, he didn’t have the movement down, it was bad. “Poor unfortunate Souls” this one was fabulous. Queen Latifah is incredible. She did seem a bit out of breath at the end though. Prince Eric was wonderful but sometimes his singing was rocky. Chef John Stamos really made me laugh. I love how they put some of the broadway songs and choreography into this show and this number is the most fun part of any live Little Mermaid Experience. Then, At the end of the number, he broke character. This massive mistake really ruined it for me. I know this is live and you get to see some behind the scenes stuff in between, but when you are on stage you maintain character, period. A second sub par Sebastian performance during “kiss the girl” gave me time to admire the amazing set and props. “If only” redeemed our faith in the singing abilities of Auli’i. It was super sweet and wonderfully done. The finale was too much movie, I feel like they should have worked the real people into the final scene more. Overall set up: I loved the transition between film and live performances, and the audience interaction and special effects were great! Costumes: The tails I love, they are wonderful and they looked like they were swimming around which was great. The mermaid tops I hate. I’m not sure what they are supposed to be but they look like hair. If the tops are supposed to represent the hair covering the chest that’s a strange choice when in the movie they are clearly wearing shells and Ariel's hair is red so her top wouldn’t be purple... Sebastian’s costume was awful. It was like they forgot to make him a costume so they ordered a red pleather suit that didn’t quite fit right from amazon. He needed glitter, eyestalks on a hat, and claws. Overall rating: Overall I really enjoyed this and think they did a great job. I give it a B-. The movie is great but the broadway version is a much better live show. This blended version was great but the live part wasn’t as amazing as it could have been with better casting, more rehearsals, and a few costume and puppet tweaks.
