Review: Make 'Mermaid' Part Of Your Child's World
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
A power outage in the second act forced the show to go to the 11 p.m. hour, but the actors and behind-the-scenes crew wrapped the musical up as professionally as they started it as if there were no issue at all.
The 10-year-old I took to the show gave it an “A,” and I’m confident other children around her age will enjoy it all the same.
Based on the 1989 Disney animated film – about a mermaid named Ariel (Audrey Kennedy), the daughter of King Triton (Danny Burgos), who falls in love with a human, Prince Eric (Angel Lozada), and who has to make a deal with the sea witch, Ursula (Kristen Yasenchak), to get closer to him – the musical features a ton of extras. There’s many more songs, a backstory for the villainous Ursula that wasn’t in the movie and enlarged parts for everyone from Ariel’s six “mersisters” to Ursula’s eels. While the film only had musical numbers for Ariel and Ursula, about everyone in the stage show gets their own song, some of which are better than others.
Before even going to the show, I had questions and heard questions from others about just how Artistic Director Scott Michaels and his crew were going to pull “The Little Mermaid” off as much of it does take place under water. I won’t give away all the secrets, but I will say that what worked for flying scenes in “Peter Pan” and “Mary Poppins” in the last three years works just as well for swimming scenes in this show.
But what about the eels, crabs, fishes, seagulls and other sea life? Between any requirements by Disney and costume designer Stephen R. Hollenbeck’s original ideas, they were about my favorite part of the whole show. When the jellyfish come out, you’ll be inspired. When the starfish do acrobatics, and the stingray and turtle swim out, you’ll want more. When the caterpillars spin in their cocoons, the dragonflies and butterflies dance and the frogs shake a leg, it’ll feel fun and look amazing.
Ursula’s eels, Flotsam (Nick Pelaccio) and Jetsam (Alex Dorf), played so well on stage they were more sinister than Ursula herself. I would wear an eel costume for Halloween if given a chance, especially since they light up in the dark. I also credit Pelaccio and Dorf for making the eels more interesting with their slithery movements.
The only fish in “The Little Mermaid” with a name is Flounder (Parker Irwin), Ariel’s best buddy who has a major crush on her. Audiences may remember Irwin from “A Christmas Story” back in December, but Irwin has greatly improved since then not only in his acting, but also with his singing voice. Flounder gets a part to sing with the mersisters in the number “She’s In Love.” Irwin’s voice was much stronger and was impressive for such a young man, especially compared to his voice just a few months ago. If he’s taking voice lessons, it’s working.
Also, if Disney were to do a musical version of “Finding Nemo” right now, Irwin would land the title role based on his performance last night.
The other two main sea life characters are Scuttle (Keaton Eckhoff), a seagull, and Sebastian (George Vickers V), a crab who also happens to be King Triton’s royal musical director. They’re both also friends of Ariel’s because all Disney princesses have animals for best friends.
Scuttle is a clumsy, half-witted bird and Eckhoff was best on stage when he could play that up in the show. When audiences first meet Eckhoff as Scuttle, Scuttle comes in for a not-too-perfect landing near Ariel, and that right away defines how the bird is – not quite all there, not perfect. Eckhoff doesn’t forget that so that when he’s on stage as Scuttle, even in a dancing group of seagulls, you know which one he is.
As for Sebastian, he’s the most uptight Jamaican crab that’s ever been personified. Vickers, all in red from head to toe, kept the crab’s accent perfectly all throughout the show. He also got to have some fun with the role in Act II for Chef Louis’s (Asher Dubin) number, “Les Poissons,” but his best moments in the whole show are the two musical numbers people remember from the Disney film – “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl.”
Speaking of the Chef with an envious handlebar moustache, Dubin made all the children around me laugh the hardest I heard. He overplayed the role and it was perfect, even much better than the scene in the film.
Getting to the main mermaid and human characters, Kennedy nails Ariel. She’s got a lovely voice, a natural beauty and can act and dance like she was born to be on stage. In the long, red wig – designed by Wagon Wheel’s very own Jennifer Dow – Kennedy just brings Ariel to life on the stage. There’s nothing about her performance that I would change – she’s angelic and the right fit for the role.
Ariel, of course, falls in love with Prince Eric, and Lozada is more than believable in the role. A handsome fellow, Lozada also brings a good voice and fine acting onto the stage. He gets two solo numbers, “Her Voice” and “One Step Closer,” but I remember liking his voice in the latter one more.
While I’m not giving Ursula’s backstory away, it does provide insight into a character that’s still underused in the musical. Yasenchak plays the role as divine as Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada” or Glenn Close in “101 Dalmatians,” but her departure in the musical’s end didn’t satisfy me. The character’s departure in the film version didn’t satisfy me either though so maybe she could have survived for a sequel? Yasenchak gave an enormous amount of life to this character on stage but I just wanted more done with the character – more bite, more menace, perhaps a better ending to her. But Yasenchak is sublime in the role and deserves a bouquet of roses for her performance.
There’s also a series of stories to be told about Ariel’s six sisters as performed by Allison Schiller, Monica Brown, Ellen Jenders, Laura Plyler, Clara Cox and Dow. When they sang together, it was like a chorus of cherubs.
And as for group numbers, all the guys who played crew members on Eric’s ship sounded amazing together in the number “Fathoms Below.” It was like Straight No Chaser had come to town, they were so good performing as one.
Props also must be given for the set design by Ray Zupp. The floor is made to look like a seat bottom including cracks and vents. There’s coral, seaweed and shells, but also man’s litter that has fallen deep into the sea. Pastel colors make it all look like the seabed, or a really nice aquarium.
“The Little Mermaid” is just the first show of the 60th anniversary season at the Wagon Wheel this summer, but it’s a good start. If you don’t have tickets yet for your child, you probably should get them soon before they’re sold out.
My rating of the show (out of 4): 3.5.
Tickets for Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” are on sale at Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts or can be purchased online at wagonwheelcenter.org
The cost of admission is $34 for adults, $26 for seniors, $20 for students and $16 for children up to age 12. Call the box office at 574-267-8041 with any questions.
The show runs through June 13.
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A power outage in the second act forced the show to go to the 11 p.m. hour, but the actors and behind-the-scenes crew wrapped the musical up as professionally as they started it as if there were no issue at all.
The 10-year-old I took to the show gave it an “A,” and I’m confident other children around her age will enjoy it all the same.
Based on the 1989 Disney animated film – about a mermaid named Ariel (Audrey Kennedy), the daughter of King Triton (Danny Burgos), who falls in love with a human, Prince Eric (Angel Lozada), and who has to make a deal with the sea witch, Ursula (Kristen Yasenchak), to get closer to him – the musical features a ton of extras. There’s many more songs, a backstory for the villainous Ursula that wasn’t in the movie and enlarged parts for everyone from Ariel’s six “mersisters” to Ursula’s eels. While the film only had musical numbers for Ariel and Ursula, about everyone in the stage show gets their own song, some of which are better than others.
Before even going to the show, I had questions and heard questions from others about just how Artistic Director Scott Michaels and his crew were going to pull “The Little Mermaid” off as much of it does take place under water. I won’t give away all the secrets, but I will say that what worked for flying scenes in “Peter Pan” and “Mary Poppins” in the last three years works just as well for swimming scenes in this show.
But what about the eels, crabs, fishes, seagulls and other sea life? Between any requirements by Disney and costume designer Stephen R. Hollenbeck’s original ideas, they were about my favorite part of the whole show. When the jellyfish come out, you’ll be inspired. When the starfish do acrobatics, and the stingray and turtle swim out, you’ll want more. When the caterpillars spin in their cocoons, the dragonflies and butterflies dance and the frogs shake a leg, it’ll feel fun and look amazing.
Ursula’s eels, Flotsam (Nick Pelaccio) and Jetsam (Alex Dorf), played so well on stage they were more sinister than Ursula herself. I would wear an eel costume for Halloween if given a chance, especially since they light up in the dark. I also credit Pelaccio and Dorf for making the eels more interesting with their slithery movements.
The only fish in “The Little Mermaid” with a name is Flounder (Parker Irwin), Ariel’s best buddy who has a major crush on her. Audiences may remember Irwin from “A Christmas Story” back in December, but Irwin has greatly improved since then not only in his acting, but also with his singing voice. Flounder gets a part to sing with the mersisters in the number “She’s In Love.” Irwin’s voice was much stronger and was impressive for such a young man, especially compared to his voice just a few months ago. If he’s taking voice lessons, it’s working.
Also, if Disney were to do a musical version of “Finding Nemo” right now, Irwin would land the title role based on his performance last night.
The other two main sea life characters are Scuttle (Keaton Eckhoff), a seagull, and Sebastian (George Vickers V), a crab who also happens to be King Triton’s royal musical director. They’re both also friends of Ariel’s because all Disney princesses have animals for best friends.
Scuttle is a clumsy, half-witted bird and Eckhoff was best on stage when he could play that up in the show. When audiences first meet Eckhoff as Scuttle, Scuttle comes in for a not-too-perfect landing near Ariel, and that right away defines how the bird is – not quite all there, not perfect. Eckhoff doesn’t forget that so that when he’s on stage as Scuttle, even in a dancing group of seagulls, you know which one he is.
As for Sebastian, he’s the most uptight Jamaican crab that’s ever been personified. Vickers, all in red from head to toe, kept the crab’s accent perfectly all throughout the show. He also got to have some fun with the role in Act II for Chef Louis’s (Asher Dubin) number, “Les Poissons,” but his best moments in the whole show are the two musical numbers people remember from the Disney film – “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl.”
Speaking of the Chef with an envious handlebar moustache, Dubin made all the children around me laugh the hardest I heard. He overplayed the role and it was perfect, even much better than the scene in the film.
Getting to the main mermaid and human characters, Kennedy nails Ariel. She’s got a lovely voice, a natural beauty and can act and dance like she was born to be on stage. In the long, red wig – designed by Wagon Wheel’s very own Jennifer Dow – Kennedy just brings Ariel to life on the stage. There’s nothing about her performance that I would change – she’s angelic and the right fit for the role.
Ariel, of course, falls in love with Prince Eric, and Lozada is more than believable in the role. A handsome fellow, Lozada also brings a good voice and fine acting onto the stage. He gets two solo numbers, “Her Voice” and “One Step Closer,” but I remember liking his voice in the latter one more.
While I’m not giving Ursula’s backstory away, it does provide insight into a character that’s still underused in the musical. Yasenchak plays the role as divine as Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada” or Glenn Close in “101 Dalmatians,” but her departure in the musical’s end didn’t satisfy me. The character’s departure in the film version didn’t satisfy me either though so maybe she could have survived for a sequel? Yasenchak gave an enormous amount of life to this character on stage but I just wanted more done with the character – more bite, more menace, perhaps a better ending to her. But Yasenchak is sublime in the role and deserves a bouquet of roses for her performance.
There’s also a series of stories to be told about Ariel’s six sisters as performed by Allison Schiller, Monica Brown, Ellen Jenders, Laura Plyler, Clara Cox and Dow. When they sang together, it was like a chorus of cherubs.
And as for group numbers, all the guys who played crew members on Eric’s ship sounded amazing together in the number “Fathoms Below.” It was like Straight No Chaser had come to town, they were so good performing as one.
Props also must be given for the set design by Ray Zupp. The floor is made to look like a seat bottom including cracks and vents. There’s coral, seaweed and shells, but also man’s litter that has fallen deep into the sea. Pastel colors make it all look like the seabed, or a really nice aquarium.
“The Little Mermaid” is just the first show of the 60th anniversary season at the Wagon Wheel this summer, but it’s a good start. If you don’t have tickets yet for your child, you probably should get them soon before they’re sold out.
My rating of the show (out of 4): 3.5.
Tickets for Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” are on sale at Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts or can be purchased online at wagonwheelcenter.org
The cost of admission is $34 for adults, $26 for seniors, $20 for students and $16 for children up to age 12. Call the box office at 574-267-8041 with any questions.
The show runs through June 13.
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