Disney Wish - Little Mermaid Show

[KevinFL]

The Broadway shows on Disney Cruises have always been a huge part of the experience for us and we have previously been very impressed with their quality and have really looked forward to those nights on the ship. However, the Little Mermaid show on the Wish was a very poor production with not great acting. Really lost a big part of the cruise from this fail.

 

[Karin1984]

I already had asked about it in another thread, nice to have a dedicate thread, but can you elaborate why it was a poor production?

I am really scratching my head about the performers. How were these actors in the other show? Where they good in that one?
These are the people who would also be performing in Aladdin if it was finally done.

 

[AquaDame]

The show begins with the actors reaching into a huge chest and pulling out props and items to assign their roles as the world builds and the music crescendos. The style never really feels more than half baked off that start, and the 'players' seem one tone - especially Triton. All he does is whine about Ariel (I mean you can argue that is all he does in the original as well, so maybe its just bad acting. He sounds like someone putting on a big deep voice instead of just having a big deep voice.). I don't want to give too much away to the changes but Eric is excruciatingly dumbed down as well with his contributions handed over to Ariel herself. The performances are fine, but limited by the bare bones characters they're left with, IMO.

 

[Karin1984]

The show begins with the actors reaching into a huge chest and pulling out props and items to assign their roles as the world builds and the music crescendos. The style never really feels more than half baked off that start, and the 'players' seem one tone - especially Triton. All he does is whine about Ariel (I mean you can argue that is all he does in the original as well, so maybe its just bad acting. He sounds like someone putting on a big deep voice instead of just having a big deep voice.). I don't want to give too much away to the changes but Eric is excruciatingly dumbed down as well with his contributions handed over to Ariel herself. The performances are fine, but limited by the bare bones characters they're left with, IMO.

Ugh, I would hate it if they did Triton dirty. He is (one of) the best Disney parents out there. I love the scene in the movie that the moment he destroys Ariel's things, you see the regret on his face
And yeah, this sounds like bad casting.

Eric was already dumbed down a bit in the show on Broadway. I don't remember exactly, but it was Ariel rescues Eric at the beginning, then he rescues her from Ursula, and then she has to rescue him again.

The play within a play... that's been done to death and not very imaginative. You would expect Disney to do better.
On the other hand, why...? Alan Menken is so incredibly good at writing musical scores fit for the theater. The score gives you so many hints of what needs to happen on stage. Even when it's literally a song for a show, they were able to mess it up in the Broadway show. With Daughters of Triton, I was so disappointed, they had slowed the music down, and the theatrical elements from the animation were all transformed in some kind of boring choreography.

 

[JAM9842]

We just got off the Wish today and we did not really enjoy the Little Mermaid either.

 

[cmp3400]

In addition to agreeing with the above

We were sitting in the balcony section and the mix between the voices and the music was WAY off, a lot of the times I couldn't make out any of the lyrics (which was extra odd since I KNOW most of them)

 

[SnappySerape]

I also agree with the other posters. It definitely left something to be desired and I cringed at Triton. The "big guy" voice and the wig was too much. The sets and the acting just weren't that immersive in my opinion. Disney did a MUCH better job with the sets, costumes, screens and such with the live action portions of "The Little Mermaid Live" on D+. It'd be great if they could mix some of that in with what they have on the Wish. The live action even had some "side dancing" going on with Part of Your World I enjoyed.

I did like the puppets more on the Wish but I did miss the worm people in Ursula's lair like on the Live show. And how could they leave out Les Poisson and John Stamos? He'd be woth the entry fee alone lol. I kinda felt like Kiss the Girl was a bit underwhelming in atmosphere. Seriously, watch the D+ Live show. The duet is particularly good imo.

Edited to Add: When I say mix, I don’t necessarily mean to add scenes from the cartoon like the live action on D+, just props/sets/etc

 

[Sakura1017]

It's not the same like the classic little mermaid movie. It's a remake like what aqua dame mentioned in the beginning. It's not cohesive when they do it that way. It was nice they had interaction going through the crowds and they still perform all the music you love. But the plot does kinda change at the end of how Ursula is defeated.