The ceremony of innocence is drowned
"Directed by Francesca Zambello, this Little Mermaid burdens its performers with ungainly guess-what-I-am costumes (by Tatiana Noginova) and a distracting set (by George Tsypin) awash in pastels gone sour and unidentifiable giant tchotchkes that suggest a Luau Lounge whipped up by an acid-head heiress in the 1960s. The whole enterprise is soaked in that sparkly garishness that only a very young child — or possibly a tackiness-worshiping drag queen — might find pretty."....Ms. Zambello, best known as an adventurous director of operas, rarely lets jokes, songs or set pieces register clearly. And the impression is often of costumed employees from the Magic Kingdom of Disney World, wandering around and occasionally singing to entertain visiting children." -- Ben Brantley, New York Times
In related news, the family of Roger Bart send their condolences.
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8:32 AM
22 Comments:
I'm so freakin happy I was so hoping that this over blown piece of crap would tank. I love sherie renee scott and she is far more talented than this show she was spectacular in the last 5 years and this seems to be a major low point in her career.
It's a shame NAPOLEON never made to Broadway.
Wow, it sounds even worse than her turgid Carmen at Covent Garden. Still, at least she agreed to work with a male designer this time round.
So will the Little Mermaid serve its purpose of making Ms Z awash with cash for her pension?
I stopped it. I couldn't stand it.
Nowadays, is cabaret singing going to be part of every soprano's repertory? Fleming has made her mark. Who's next? Georghiu? I don't think so. She's nursing her wounded Orfeo. Maybe Netrebko is going to be the up-and-coming torch singer. That's what the Met really needs: sopranos moving from Broadway to the big house, and from the big house to cabarets and night clubs. The circle's complete, and now we can rest in peace!
how's about letting Tatiana have a go at Rhinegold, that mermaid (or whatever it is) wig would look great on a rhinemaiden.
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The true crime is that Disney is allowed to produce schlock like this and pass it off as Broadway. Serves them right for choosing a hit-and-miss director like Zambello to "smarten" up that pablum they poison children with. The pretension of those queens in charge of Broadway productions is laughable. Ya know, the sad part is that aside from the literal translation from cartoon to stage production of Beauty and the Beast, Aida and the Taymor Lion King nothing else they have offered on Broadway was a mega-hit. Well they were hits in the sense that they made their money back (which is what it is all about anyway - MAKING MONEY.but are Tarzan and Mary Poppins selling out? No. Tarzan closed with as little fanfare as possible. They own the theaters where the shows are being produced so they are going to make money no matter what AND they are Disney after all. Instead of pretending to do Broadway shows that should just faithfully recreate their cartoons (a la Beauty and the Beast) and smack the shows down in their theaters for 1 year runs and rotate them out like they used to do with re-releasing their cartoons. I mean please anybody that goes to see a Disney show should not be going to expect "real" theater - or they are not old enough or savvy enough to realize that these monster Disney shows are not real theater. But that is the Disney-fication of Broadway. They will never admit defeat though. Iam sooooo glad that the reviews were that bad. Sad for the many talented performers connected with the show, but Disney must be driven off Broadway. GOD I HATE DISNEY!!!
The pic looks like RF in a new production of Tobias Picker's "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane". She could use it as the cover for the second volume of her memoirs.
It´s Tosca! Tosca and her dresser preparing for the concert at Palazzo Farnese!
Oh. This isn´t The Famous Regie Quiz?
That wig looks like a literal interpretation of "things fall apart; the center cannot hold."
The Yeats reference just registered and I laughed.
It's not a crime, although it's bad theater; it's money. Disney isn't about creating art, any more than Andrew Lloyd Webber was. Disney is all about merchandising. Lion King and Beauty and the Beast were huge money makers. Mary Poppins has allegedly already made back its costs. They more than made up for Aida and Tarzan. And as long as there are teenage girls in the world, Little Mermaid will have an audience. What I find more disturbing is the negative message their movies and shows portray. Snow White is about the abduction and attempted murder of a child. Bambi and Pinocchio are pretty scary. Dumbo isn't very happy. But the modern movies are worse. Alladin is about a thief and liar. mermaid is about a woman who has cultural self-loathing and can't be happy until she changes her body to get the man of her dreams. Lion King is about fratricide. Beauty and the Beast is about a dysfunctional relationship. And so on. Pixar made great movies until they hooked up with Disney. Toy Story I and II are both about loyalty and teamwork. The Incredibles is about learning to accept who you are (Ariel, are you listening?) Ratatouille? It's about a rat (eventually many rats), touching and cooking food. I live in NYC, and after seeing videos about a KFC where rats were overrunning the restaurant at night, I found the movie truly disturbing. Fortunately, I saw it on a free pass. It was like seeing an accident on the road; I wanted to look away, but I couldn't.
BETTE MIDLER IS THE COUNTESS DELAVE IN THE REMAKE OF "THE WOMEN"!!!!!YAY!!!! Ah, l'amour, toujour l'amour.
Ben Brantley refers to Sierra Boggess (Ariel) as a "penny-whistle soprano" in his NYT review. What he doesn't say is that a key point of the story is that Ariel has the most beautiful singing voice of all the merpeople and the prince is searching all over to find THAT SPECIAL VOICE. Ms. Boggess is attractive, winsome, youthful and very slim (you can count the ribs radiating from her sternum) but without beautiful singing, there is something missing. At least in the movie, Jodi Benson (Ariel) had an appropriately attractive voice.
I sympathize with all the posts here. I understand when someone gets angry to see Disney monopolize Broadway with artistially dismal efforts. But I also feel sorry for those actors and backstage crew who might be out of a job soon. We all have had jobs that we hated but we perhaps did not have the choice to leave it at the time. I feel bad for those people. But I agree that Disney undermining the creative spirit in so many ways.
I saw Disney's The Little Mermaid (I think that is its official title) three weeks ago (in previews). Now I feel bad that I didn't find it as horrible as the reviews say it was. I thought Sheri Renee Scott (Ursula) stole she show: she has a fantastic voice and she essentially played drag queen. I saw it with my 2 nieces and nephew, so it seems my critical judgment was taking a break. The "Kiss the Girl" sequence was quite beautiful.
Napoleon was a terrible show, but Zambello made the best of it. I suspect the punters will ignore the NYT and she'll make a mint anyway. It's her dream come true. As long as she makes enough money to keep her out of opera houses, a lot of us will be happy!
Oh the show WILL make it's money back. Parents who cannot say no to their children are what Disney counts on.
I have seen everything on Broadway over the past decade or so and the Disney shows are really no worse than a lot of the crap out there. If you have seen Wicked and Mamma Mia then you know what I am talking about. The difference is that have billions in resources to force their vision of "theater" on us.
Tarzan was a Disney movie with a weak soundtrack to begin with. They had Phil Collins write some filler/segue music, slapped green plastic grass on the walls and put EVERYBODY on wires. So there was no hope for that show. BUT when you look at The Little Mermaid, as a children's movie it is quite good. How they could muck it up is beyond me? I have been a fan of a few (and I mean a very few) things that Ms. Zambello has done. Seems that she took a "no brainer" and fucked it up. I am sure that a highschool production would have had more success at this. I hope that Sheri Renee Scott gets another show soon (I am sure her contract is for just a year). I am not familiar with any of the other performers - their major problem was that they gave boring performances, but that is typical of that generation of young Broadway performers who grew up with things like Phantom and Les Miz as their ultimate Broadway goal.
Why can't the Times hire an opera critic who writes as well as Ben Brantley? Most of my theatre working friends can't stand him because of his unabashed preferences and biases, but at least the man can write a great, readable and (sometimes) utterly catty review. And at least he's not afraid to assert an opinion, rather than this "she couldn't sing the role to save her life but she's brilliant so I love her" that we seem to always get from the likes of Tony T. Viva Brantley!
And he's right about The Little Mermaid: it's a poorly directed eyesore that's been conceptualized within an inch of its life by Ms. Zambello.
I found a "good" review on the Musical America website. BUT then the final line of the article is "Other reviews were less generous" and refers you to the various websites of all of the major newspapers.
Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal gave Arial and her friends a pretty good review. From a few video clips I've seen, I have my reservations about the look of it. But until I see the show, I'll reserve my judgement. Unlike others.
I have seen the show and it is AS BAD if not worse than what the critics are saying. If you are 8 years old (or under) you will love it.
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