Theatre in Review: The Little Mermaid (Paper Mill Playhouse)

	Liz McCartney. Photo: Billy Bustamente

The Little Mermaid certainly wasn't Disney Theatrical's finest hour on Broadway -- at the time, it looked more like the firm's last gasp -- but it has found a sprightly afterlife at Paper Mill Playhouse. Based on the animated film that restored Disney to its long-held position as a primary supplier of family entertainment, it came late to Broadway, possibly because Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale posed so many staging challenges: For openers, more than half of it takes place underwater and the cast of characters ranges down the evolutionary scale from humans to crustaceans. Next to it, even The Lion King seems like a breeze.

In any case, Francesca Zambello's Broadway staging was criticized for being top-heavy with bizarre scenic elements and fussy, overthought costumes, the show's charms obscured by all that tonnage on stage. At Paper Mill, Glenn Casale's production opts for a more old-fashioned approach that suits the material, giving it room to breathe. The underwater kingdom of Triton is represented by Kenneth Foy using drops and scenic units depicting, among other things, Triton's throne; the secret stash of human junk kept by his rebellious daughter, Ariel; and the cave where the evil squid/sea witch Ursula dwells. All are evocative, witty, and easily struck, which means The Little Mermaid remains light on its feet all night long. (I especially like the bubble drops that cross the stage, acting as wipes between scenes.)

In addition, Casale's production is notably well-cast. Jessica Grové is a solid, if conventional, choice for Ariel, packing the big voice and spunky personality required for all Disney princess characters. But Nick Adams, last seen camping it up in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, makes a suprisingly good impression as Prince Eric, whom Ariel loves from afar. Cast for the first time in a conventional leading-man role, Adams gives it all the energy and vocal power anyone could want, but he also brings along some much-needed personality, giving Eric doses of restless intelligence that make him into something more than a cardboard hero. He also does very nicely by Eric's big numbers, "Her Voice" and "One Step Closer." Edward Watts puts his stentorian voice and stage presence to good use as King Triton. And, as Ursula, crowned by an enormous beehive hairdo and slithering across the stage surrounded by octopus arms, Liz McCartney is both a camp hoot and the stuff of children's nightmares; she most appropriately makes a meal of Ursula's first-act closer, "Poor Unfortunate Souls."

This combination of canny casting and pacey direction makes a show that once seemed lumbering into a lively family entertainment. Other plus factors include Alan Mingo, Jr. as Sebastian, the crab, who keeps an eye on Ariel; of course, it helps that Mingo gets the score's two best numbers -- the Caribbean-flavored "Under the Sea" and the urgent "Kiss the Girl" -- but the idea of running around all night in a red crab costume is enough to undermine any actor's dignity. Mingo gives Sebastian a natural air of authority that makes the character likable. Timothy Shew also scores as Chef Louis, the head of Eric's kitchen, who thinks of sea creatures as nothing but ingredients; his late-in-Act-II scenes are little more than vaudeville sketches inserted into the libretto, but he manages to get plenty of laughs as the hatchet-wielding gourmand. And the highly dispensable Act II opener, "Positoovity," sung by Scuttle, the wisecracking seagull (Matt Allen) and his avian cohort -- one of the more grating Broadway numbers in modern memory -- here is turned into a solidly entertaining tap routine. In any case, the Alan Menken / Howard Ashman / Glenn Slater songs remain highly listenable.

Casale's staging cleverly uses flying sequences (by Foy) to simulate underwater life -- a big improvement over the rampant use of heelies built into the costumes in the Broadway production. The costumes, by Amy Clark and Mark Koss, based on Tatiana Noginova's designs, are shorn of the originals' excess detail. And the rapid-fire color changes of Charlie Morrison's lighting help maintain visual interest even as they add excitement to the musical numbers.

The Little Mermaid is still far from perfect: There's something innately creepy in the material, in which Ariel, the mermaid, is so desperate to land Prince Eric that she is willing to abandon her home and undergo a change of species to land him. Hans Christian Andersen's original ends tragically -- with Ariel essentially committing suicide and being turned into sea foam. The effort to tame this material sometimes shows -- you have to wonder what the original creators saw in it -- and though Doug Wright's libretto attempts to make her seem like a self-assertive young lady, she still seems like an old-school princess in dire need of a consciousness-raising session. (One assumes that after Ariel moves in with Eric, seafood will be permanently off the menu.)

Another, more fundamental problem involves the sound design by Randy Hansen. (Gareth Owen's original sound design is also credited.) Not that this is necessarily Hansen's fault; Paper Mill Playhouse is dedicated to presenting musical theatre, but its auditorium is something of an acoustical nightmare, and the efforts of sound designers to compensate for this by pumping up the volume frequently lead to muddled, ear-splitting results. It would be a beautiful thing if the theatre's management put aside some funds for an acoustician who might work some magic in that problematic room or possibly suggest setting up some kind of delay speaker system. This is a problem that deserves some serious thought.

But at the performance I attended, nobody in the audience appeared worried by these issues. And it's true that Casale and company have brought a fair measure of buoyancy to a musical that once seemed destined for Davy Jones' locker. Not an adult's night out by any means, The Little Mermaid should please families in New Jersey and at Pittsburgh's Civic Light Opera and Kansas City's Starlight Theatre, where the tour goes next. --David Barbour