Lovers of thingamabobs and dinglehoppers got their wish this week as “The Little Mermaid” took to the stage at the Fox Theatre. After the Theater of the Stars promised the show last year and then promptly went bankrupt, disappointed fans and jilted subscribers got a second chance to go under the sea when Broadway in Atlanta added a quick one-week run of the play to this year’s line-up. And the fans turned up in droves: little girls in Disney princess costumes, teenagers in leggings that featured Ariel on one leg and Prince Eric on the other, parents downing drinks in the longer-than-ever bathroom lines. The usual pre-show buzz was electrified as children smacked each other with their plushy stuffed Ursula dolls.
The stage rendition of “The Little Mermaid” is everything you could expect and hope for from a Disney movie turned play: cinematic, over-the-top and very very fun. A little too long (even for the adult audience)? Sure. A little noisy with the kid population? Yes, that too. But everyone from the oldest grandma to the thumb-suckingest child was entranced with the Cirque du Soleil-lite set and costumes. Backstage must’ve looked like an actual shipwreck with the sheer amount of set pieces: huge sparkly waves, a small romantic boat and a large rolling ship, wavy seaweed and bubbly hangings, the whorly and toothy cave of Ursula’s lair. Colorful lighting, actors lifted via rope and patterned scrims pulled down throughout the show allowed atmospheric scenes of swimming, Eric’s rescue during the storm and Ariel’s transition to human form — what could’ve turned out looking silly ended up being the most ethereal moments of the show.
This exquisite attention to detail (and sparkle, color and wave-ability) was also paid to costuming. King Triton and his seven mermaid daughters wore flowing teal tail-skirts that mimicked underwater currents, while Ursula’s purpled makeup and many-legged dress were fiercely loyal to the movie and scary-good. (A&E Editor Manseen Logan’s 3-year-old niece promptly saw her and moaned, “I wanna go hoooome.”) Sebastian strutted in wearing an elaborate red suit with claws instead of tails, but my favorite outfits of the night were the eerie green lit-up looks of Ursula’s sniveling eel helpers, Flotsam and Jetsam, who slid around stage on heelies and gave each other electrified high-fives.
Faithful to the beloved 1989 film, the story follows youngest mermaid daughter Ariel as her land-loving ways cause her to seek a life out-of-water with human prince Eric. The favorite songs are all there (“Part of Your World,” “Under the Sea,” “Kiss the Girl”), plus some less-catching stage ones. Of the new additions, “She’s In Love” is a fun Broadway-esque number that pairs the clueless Flounder with Ariel’s simpering mermaid sisters. Ariel actress Jessica Grové hits all the high notes, especially doing justice to “Part of Your World” as she “swims” through the air, hanging by ropes. Liz McCartney, who plays Ursula, is particularly fun bringing the scary but also the silly to Ursula, elbowing her underlings for laughs after her punny jokes (and the show is absolutely brimming with ocean puns). Even Chef Louis (Brian Ray Norris) gets a big number with the movie’s “Les Poissons,” slicing and dicing his way through a seafood preparation. But the highlight was Sebastian, played by Alan Mingo, Jr., who brought humor and charm to “Under the Sea,” the most visually stunning song of the show as huge jellyfish pulse across stage and feathery polyps sway with a kaleidoscope of other sea creatures. It was as if something had gone wrong at the Georgia Aquarium and the tropical fish had been carted to the Fox for a night of safekeeping.
For a family-friendly play with a built-in audience, “The Little Mermaid” brings the Disneyfied, visual spectacle people want to see. And for many first-timers at the theater, between naps on parental laps and handfuls of popcorn there were moments of riveted magic, seeing something so big and splashy translated so seamlessly to the stage.
“The Little Mermaid” runs through July 13. Learn more at foxtheatre.org.