Three quick thoughts on last night's travesty, the live-action "Little Mermaid":
*Sebastian is--possibly--the secret star of "The Little Mermaid." There are only four major songs; Sebastian gets two of them. (Both of Sebastian's songs were Oscar-nominated; one actually won the Oscar.)
The person playing Sebastian basically needs to have the charisma of Steve Martin in "Little Shop of Horrors." This is the scene-stealing role. The role you remember. (Yes, there's also Ursula.) Ashman invented the idea of a Caribbean-accented Sebastian (surely an issue, today, that would generate complaints about cultural appropriation, and see also "Arabian Nights," and the Chinese grocery-store moment in "Little Shop"). Ashman *loved* Sebastian. It's important that the actor loves Sebastian, too.
*For these reasons, it's weird that Disney chose someone disengaged and actually visibly uncomfortable in this role, last night. And I don't love that Disney rewrote parts of "Under the Sea" for Ariel to sing. Why? (Surely because the star playing Ariel seemed slightly more interesting.) "Under the Sea" is not meant to be a dialogue. The comedy (some of the comedy) comes from the fact that Sebastian is fully self-absorbed; he is not interested in listening to, or even really seeing, Ariel. And we can imagine Ariel, in her storm of hormones, is not really tuned into Sebastian, or trying to drum up a counter-argument.
Lazy, Disney. And sloppy.
*Ariel is--more or less--a cleaned-up version of Audrey, from "Little Shop." Ariel is Audrey with her breasts sort of tucked away, and with a cleaner vocabulary. Fair enough. Ashman was considering his audience.
It's so crucial to note that Ariel's pain is life-or-death pain; like Audrey, Ariel is in serious, serious trouble. In the original Disney version, Jodi Benson captured some of the desperation (though, of course, she was nowhere near as fascinating as Ellen Greene). It's so fundamentally necessary for Ariel to convey a sense of high stakes; she might make you think, for example, of a gay boy longing to escape from his own provincial life. This--surely--was what Ashman was writing about, over and over again.
I would always, always have Ellen Greene play Ariel. (I'm not sure she ever has.)
And I have to say: whoever that person was, on camera last night? She seemed as invested as a child halfheartedly searching for a missing sneaker. The Eric issue seemed as troubling to her as a very tiny mosquito bite.
Yes, I *will* become a crotchety old man haunting Broadway theaters, complaining about the loss of the past, sooner rather than later. Don't get me started on John Legend's re-writing of "Baby, It's Cold Outside..."
*Sebastian is--possibly--the secret star of "The Little Mermaid." There are only four major songs; Sebastian gets two of them. (Both of Sebastian's songs were Oscar-nominated; one actually won the Oscar.)
The person playing Sebastian basically needs to have the charisma of Steve Martin in "Little Shop of Horrors." This is the scene-stealing role. The role you remember. (Yes, there's also Ursula.) Ashman invented the idea of a Caribbean-accented Sebastian (surely an issue, today, that would generate complaints about cultural appropriation, and see also "Arabian Nights," and the Chinese grocery-store moment in "Little Shop"). Ashman *loved* Sebastian. It's important that the actor loves Sebastian, too.
*For these reasons, it's weird that Disney chose someone disengaged and actually visibly uncomfortable in this role, last night. And I don't love that Disney rewrote parts of "Under the Sea" for Ariel to sing. Why? (Surely because the star playing Ariel seemed slightly more interesting.) "Under the Sea" is not meant to be a dialogue. The comedy (some of the comedy) comes from the fact that Sebastian is fully self-absorbed; he is not interested in listening to, or even really seeing, Ariel. And we can imagine Ariel, in her storm of hormones, is not really tuned into Sebastian, or trying to drum up a counter-argument.
Lazy, Disney. And sloppy.
*Ariel is--more or less--a cleaned-up version of Audrey, from "Little Shop." Ariel is Audrey with her breasts sort of tucked away, and with a cleaner vocabulary. Fair enough. Ashman was considering his audience.
It's so crucial to note that Ariel's pain is life-or-death pain; like Audrey, Ariel is in serious, serious trouble. In the original Disney version, Jodi Benson captured some of the desperation (though, of course, she was nowhere near as fascinating as Ellen Greene). It's so fundamentally necessary for Ariel to convey a sense of high stakes; she might make you think, for example, of a gay boy longing to escape from his own provincial life. This--surely--was what Ashman was writing about, over and over again.
I would always, always have Ellen Greene play Ariel. (I'm not sure she ever has.)
And I have to say: whoever that person was, on camera last night? She seemed as invested as a child halfheartedly searching for a missing sneaker. The Eric issue seemed as troubling to her as a very tiny mosquito bite.
Yes, I *will* become a crotchety old man haunting Broadway theaters, complaining about the loss of the past, sooner rather than later. Don't get me started on John Legend's re-writing of "Baby, It's Cold Outside..."
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