I am going to assume that most of you either are familiar with the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, or have seen the 1989 animated Disney movie, so I won't go over details of the story itself, but rather the production now playing at the Benedum.
How do you simulate an underwater world on stage?
That was the big question and this production pulled it off to the extent that these scenes were every bit as believable as the scenes that took place on dry land. many of the actors, most notably Ariel, Triton, and Scuttle the Seagull used wires (think Peter Pan) to fly, or in this case, swim while under the sea. And other actors continually moved their shoulders and bodies, even when standing still, to make themselves look like sea creatures swimming in the water. Amazing.
As was the case with the movie, the big show-stopping number was "Under the Sea" led by Sebastian the Crab. Fabulous.
Movies are great, but there is nothing quite like a well done stage production, and this one was eye-popping. Leave it to Disney to always pull it off. And the voices of the actors, all of them, were simply amazing.
A great production and well worth seeing.
And with that, I will steal a scene from the Disney movie to make you remember that show-stopper I mentioned earlier.
No comments:
Post a Comment