Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sail Away: Disney's Little Mermaid Ends Broadway Run Aug. 30
Playbill News: "Disney's lavish Broadway musical, The Little Mermaid, plays its final performance at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Aug. 30 at 3 PM. When it closes, the musical will have played a total of 50 previews and 685 performances."
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12 comments:
It is a shame that the show has to close in NY city but it is some what of a good thing because now it will go on tour and a large group of people will be able to see it. So it is a good thing and a bad thing
I saw this show on broadway, and was a bit surprised. I went into it aware that it was a disney show, so the fact that it would be big and flashy was a given. at first I didn't mind a lot of the design of the show: it was fun and magical and everything a 6 year old girl would want. I gave it the excuse that as a disney show thats all it needs. But thinking back to the Lion King, so much more can be done! The plastic props and sparkles could have been made alive had the designer stepped outside the comfort zone of what is expected of the Little Mermaid. Perhaps I'm being overcritical, but I feel like with the budget and opportunities that they had, why stay within the lines?
I hope this show has taught disney a lesson: it does not matter about the money or the names - the show has to tell a story successfully. George Tyspin worried so much about his giant 'sculptural elements' of scenic units to I would guess give the audience the idea of the scale that fish and other sea creatures are used to - but in my opinion, little was done in the way of storytelling. That is why this show failed - only running about a year, when Beauty and the Beast - the show in that theater previously - ran over ten years.
Step it up, Disney!
I haven't seen this musical yet, people I know who have seen it aren't very impressed with it. I'm always a little wary of Disney movies being made into musicals, but I've seen Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, both of which were good. I think sometimes musicals will count on the name of the show to carry it (people already know the name The Little Mermaid, so maybe they'll be more willing to go see it), but if the production value isn't at the level it should be, that can be very disappointing to audiences. I kind of want to see the musical for myself just to form my own opinion of it.
I find Disney's statement about financial responsibility to its shareholders very interesting. The profit and financial position of a show is something I never really think about often about often. For a Broadway show though this is a very short run and no matter what disney says to the contrary, the fact is people aren't showing up to see it anymore. I am not surprised as I thought it closed years ago until I read this article.
In regards to broadway turning movies into musicals, it may be a profit maker for a short time but unless the artistic side of things is strongly theatrial and well adapted (ie The Lion King) then the "movie" doesn't stand a chance on broadway. Baseless spectacle is not the basis of success in the theatrical world.
Good riddance to Disney's latest theatrical failure.
With the economy how it is people are much less likely to want to spend over a hundred dollars or more on a theater ticket. If people can find cheap entertainment on the television at home then why go out? I think this would be a really good time to start making shows more available to the general public. You can still see a show at the Globe in London for 5 pounds and that I think is a lesson we can learn from.
I found their comment on closing the show to avoid financial failure very interesting because it shows they know the show would not be able to last. But I have a feeling they knew this from the beginning on the sole fact that its a difficult show to stage and the target audience is very limited. Sure, people who grew up watching the movie or remember it coming out when they were little will go to see the show, but even the movie doesn't have that target audience. Instead, both the movie and the show are aimed at people of a younger generation and there is not much substance that older people can grab on to. Whereas other Disney shows like Beauty and the Beast or Lion King have elements that appeal to the older demographic as well as the younger, and that is why they last. I was surprised they chose to do this show when I first heard because it can be so difficult to stage and because it is not something that will appeal to the masses as something more than fluff.
I love Disney.
There, I said it.
I love their productions, their colors, the HUGENESS of a corporation dedicated to sucking money out of their consumers by latching onto the last threads of creativity from an era when animation was a new medium. It's brilliantly evil.
They, are, however, amazingly good at what they do. Generally, that falls into the category of throwing a ton of money at something in order to create eye candy. In such a large corporation, story, music, etc, often play second fiddle to the marketability of the piece. As FANTASTICALLY excited as I am to see The Princess and the Frog, I'm well aware the entire thing stems not only from shame but from desire to tap a previously-unexploited market share of little girls.
What I take from the Broadway production of Little Mermaid is this: The lack of unity and storytelling cannot be compensated for by big, shiny things. However, just because a story isn't good doesn't mean the production isn't GORGEOUS. Don't discount something because of a categorical failing; take value and inspiration where ever you can.
I heard mixed reviews about the show; essentially, hardcore theater people hated it for its lack of successful story-telling, and people who like big shiny things loved it for its...well, big shiny things.
I absolutely love the original Little Mermaid score, so I think I would see this show just to hear the music performed live. However, hopefully Disney has realized that you cannot count on the fact that lots of people like big shiny things and slack on the storytelling.
I found this statement very interesting: "designers and cast conjured a world unlike any Broadway has seen before." If this were true than why is it closing so soon? Obviously audiences felt that Beauty and the Beast and the Lion King each brought a something more special than the Little Mermaid had to offer. and more importantly they both already brought "Disney" to broadway. The big Disney glitz and broadway glam only lure audiences for so long and then the show needs to hook them with something more "meaty" So I would assume that the Little Mermaid really didn't "conjure a world unlike any Broadway has seen before"
I agree with Josh, this show was so focused on spectacle that it forgot storytelling. This is a tricky lesson because in the film industry the movies at the top of the box office often pull out all the stops on spectacle but lack substance. One excellent example of this is the movie Transformers and its sequel. Relying on childhood nostalgia and bells and whistles are not enough to keep a show running for long.
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