Exit the Mermaid

During our first week in NYC, I ended up seeing 3 shows. I will save the third one from this week for a later post so that leaves Exit The King and The Little Mermaid.

Exit The King was somewhat of a random choice for me. I had been intending to see West Side Story that night, but it was sold out. Exit The King was a play I considered because I did not know the play, and it had been getting good word of mouth. The play itself is an absurdist comedy which is a genre of play that I had no real experience seeing, but felt like I would enjoy. The show starred Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon neither of whom I have seen perform live before. (Although I will forever see Susan Sarandon as Janet from The Rocky Horror Picture Show!)


I enjoyed the show, but ultimately I could have lived my life had I not seen it. Geoffrey Rush gave a performance that steals the show much to the detriment of Susan Sarandon. Unfortunately she does not give a very strong performance. Oh well regardless, "Dammit Janet, I love you!"

I have been mostly faithful to the world of Disney Theatrical's productions. I have seen Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aida, and even Tarzan (it gave me a headache!). I have not nor will I ever see High School Musical. Well The Little Mermaid opened about a year ago to less than enthusiastic reviews. I faithfully purchased the CD when it was released, and enjoyed the older material from movie but not so much the new songs.

Then in a move that the cosmos is still reeling from, Eric became a keyboard sub for the show. (Eric tends to prefer a more sophisticated style of theatre.) So I now had more of a reason to see the show than just my blind devotion to Disney. Eric arranged to sub in the show on Wednesday afternoon so that I could hear him play the show.

As for the show? Well it is fine, but The Little Mermaid could use some work to make it a more enjoyable evening. The story is a little bit weird now with how they kill off Ursala. The set is really plastic looking. It looks really amazing in the production photos, but then it just looks really plastic on the stage. The swimming is accomplished with Heely shoes which works relatively well. The music sounded great though, and it was fun to be there when Eric played. Keys 1 plays the vocal samples for Ariel, so every time that Ariel's singing voice is out of her body it is actually the 1st keyboard player.

Eric was also trying to get me a chance to sit in the pit for Mermaid. Sadly it turned out to be a really complicated process of making sure the right players were playing at the show and gave their permission. So it did not work out. Oh well Mermaid will still be playing the next time I am in New York.