Under the Sea -- On Stage

I mentioned a while ago I was going to see this and last night, I did.  I went to the Muny (outdoor theater in Forest Park) with my mom, aunts, and cousins to see The Little Mermaid.

Oh man.  There were a lot of good things about it.  And then there were bad things.  I'll get to those first, because I found them HIlarious.

Adaptability:  Okay.  It's an animated movie about a mermaid set partially underwater.  How did we expect this to turn out?  It's not like Beauty and the Beast where the storyline, though fantastic, is feasible on a stage.  It had some of the problems that I expect may have been shared by The Lion King, these are people acting not animals talking.  I know it's impossible to really translate it to a stage production, but the translation lost some of the magic for me.  Odd note:  During the performance, I thought it could benefit from an underwater theater similar to that in Misty's gym in the Pokemon tv show.  Just saying. 

Roller skates:  Unfortunately, there were none.  I was kinda looking forward to that, so slight disappointment.  So the actors had to do an annoying amount of wiggling to simulate swimming.  Ehh.  On this subject, while 'underwater' Ariel undulated her arms SO MUCH to also simulate swimming.  I don't know why, but it really got on my nerves.

Costumes:  very colorful and sparkly leotards for many of the 'fish'.  I don't think I need to elaborate further.

Part of Your World:  I teared up during this song.  You all should know why.
However, in the short reprise, (I don't know where, I don't know how, but I know something is starting right now...)  Ariel's voice was not spectacular.  The notes hit wrong in her passagio (the point of your voice when you switch from chest to head voice), which was unfortunate and distracting for one of my favorite musical moments.  Otherwise though, her voice was great and sounded eerily similar to her voice in the movie.

Prince Eric:  I don't know what it is for me and guys with this name, but he was fine.  And he had a great voice.  And he had more songs than in the movie.  And he was really tall.  And I think I've figured out I'm going to marry SOMEONE named Eric....

Ursula:  Wonderful as ever with a new twist: she was played by a drag queen.  HA!  It was great.  The ending changed though, because they couldn't gorge her on the end of a ship when she swells to the size of the sea once she get the trident.  But hey, you can't have everything.  Ariel dropped her magical shell which apparently linked to Ursula's life, killing her. 

Overall:  Enjoyable, but the situations and simulations of being under water kinda made me laugh.  It's sort of ridiculous as a musical, but I do love the music.  I wanna go watch the movie now.