As I opined in a column that ran Sunday, audience response to “The Little Mermaid” – and the reviews that followed – have been polarizing. Readers have been taking me to task for not hating – or loving – the show enough. Both camps have weighed in (voluminously), but the arguments have been fairly similar, so here’s just a brief, representative sample of response, along with the dialogue that has ensued with readers. (Feel free to add your own comments at the end of the story):
Dear Mr. Moore,
I just finished reading your second piece on “The Little Mermaid,” and I’m a bit perplexed. Having seen the show myself, I disagreed with much of your initial review. However, I respected your opinion as well-thought-out and objective – albeit safe. But now, I believe your second article will most likely leave you open to a greater criticism from the readers claiming you are a Disney apologist.
Talking about great ticket sales or how much the audiences are love, love, loving “The Little Mermaid” is why people think you are pushing a pro-Disney agenda.
Audiences loved, loved, loved the new version of the movie “The Dukes of Hazzard,” and the horrendous Robin Williams movie “RV.” Does audience love always equal artistic merit?
All Disney theatrical productions should be held to the high artistic standards of “The Lion King”. And the reason why is this: Disney is a huge, multi-media powerhouse with virtually unlimited resources in terms of money, material, artists and creative staff. The fact that something so mediocre was created from this talent- and money-pool is dismaying. There are so many brilliant, beautiful shows that never see the light day. And these productions could be brought to fruition for a fraction of “Mermaid’s” budget.
In my opinion, “The Little Mermaid” is analogous to Paris Hilton. For all the money and advantage, it never leaves the realm of superficial and, in the end, it’s a wasted opportunity and fluff. Sorry if I sound like I’m on a soapbox 🙂
Best regards,
Karen Parsons
My (excruciatingly long-winded) response, sorry:
Hi Karen,
Thank you for the thoughtful and compelling note. Fantastic food for thought. And don’t mind the soapbox … as long as you don’t mind scooting a cheek and allowing me to join you there for a spell.
I don’t think I did a good job getting my point across, because your argument, I think, actually bolsters what I was trying to say. People “in the know” are excoriating “The Little Mermaid,” and, as I said in my column, they are therefore also excoriating me for not being harsh enough in my opinion (though what I wrote could hardly be read by anyone as a blind endorsement of the show).
But I did go on to say that those people, based on my email and voice mail, are in the minority, when compared to those who are angry with me for not liking the show enough. Polarizing, but equally valid, camps.
I long ago accepted the nature of this job, that no matter what I say, about any show, there will be (and should be!) a percentage of readers who disagree with me. That’s the subjective nature of evaluating art. That’s why I’ve always said my opinion is no more or less valid than anyone else’s. I do find it interesting that I get far more hate mail for liking any given production than for lambasting one (and I do).
But based on my email (and the box-office numbers), those who want to ride Disney out on a rail are in the minority. No, “Mermaid” hardly erases Disney’s reputation for producing commerce rather than art — which I have frequently asserted in print over the past seven years — but that was not the subject of this column. This column was to responsibly report that Denverites have given “Mermaid” an incredibly positive response, and that bodes well for its chances of overcoming inevitable critical negativity in New York, because we all know the target audience on Broadway will be luring tourists visiting New York from places like … Denver.
What’s most surprising to me is that those who think I’ve gone soft are really mad that I reviewed this show for what it is — a developmental musical — that probably will bear little resemblance to its current incarnation when it takes to the stage in New York. I understand that there are effects and set pieces still being developed in New York for Broadway that Disney never even intended to work into the Denver run. This is common. The opening performances of “The Lion King” in Minneapolis didn’t even have a functioning wildebeest stampede. The show’s not done yet.
It would have been easy for me to break out my thesaurus of negative adjectives here, and that would have served only to reinforce every clichéd stereotype there is about critics — that we’re out of touch, impossible to please, in this for our own aggrandizement. Of course, I realize that the more histrionic my review might have been, the more it might have been “played up” nationally. If that’s how I honestly felt about the show, I would have. But I’m not in it for that. I find it amusing that the most-quoted voice of condemnation on this show is coming from New York — from someone who has not yet even see the show.
I was true to my visceral response, just as you were to yours, just as the dozens who who have shared their positive reactions were to theirs. Should we expect more from Disney? Of course. I’ve said that repeatedly. We all were hoping for something more emotionally profound and artistically groundbreaking (I have been saying that, too, for the full year leading up to the Denver opening). But is it fair for me to now denigrate the “common” person’s prevailing opinion that they are enjoying the show? To castigate such ticket-buyers for not being “critical enough” would serve only to ostracize the vast majority of the general public who rarely otherwise go the theater because they simply don’t feel welcome there. Some people find theater to be arrogant, distant, self-indulgent and intellectually intimidating (I hear this from people ALL the time) — and yet, we “in the community” wonder why, even though we had 62 plays running simultaneously around Colorado in August (the slowest month of the year), theaters were struggling to find audiences.
I saw a competent play yesterday afternoon with four people in attendance — the director, an actor’s girlfriend, one elderly woman … and me. I ached for those poor actors. This company had taken out bus ads. It involved a collaboration between two theater companies. It had good word of mouth. So people knew about it. And yet … only four people showed up for the closing performance. Awful all around, but I do not blame audiences for not coming to see plays that they simply do not feel compelled to attend.
Should people want and expect more? Absolutely. Do I wish more people wanted to see “Virginia Woolf” than “Knocked Up?” Of course I do. I’ve written reams on that subject. I do my part by expanding the role of theater critic by offering readers more than reviews. I give them slideshows, podcasts, script samples, profiles, columns and Q&A’s. I run an entire myspace page (on my own time) dedicated to promoting the growth and visibility of theater in Colorado. It has opening and closing dates for every show, and hyperlinks to every company’s homepage. We have a permanent, rotating online slideshow that includes one picture from every currently running production at any given time. These are innovations that, cumulatively, no other newspaper in the country is offering their readers.
We’re not like The New York Times, which has different people to do different things as part of their overall theater coverage. In Denver, a theater critic can’t just be a theater critic. I have to (try to) be all things for all people, when it’s far bigger than a one-person job. Here it’s about striking a balance between informing the public; helping the readers make tough economic choices about what plays are worth their time and money with tough, honest evaluations; AND using my unique position to promote overall interest and awareness of theater in Colorado.
But I won’t simply shill. Not for that company with four people in the audience, and not for Disney. I say what I have to say, but I also fundamentally believe that every review should answer the question, “who is the audience for this production?” Every show has one, and oftentimes it’s not me. The one for “The Little Mermaid” happens to be massive — and by my reporting that every ticket in Denver was sold, I was simply offering factual justification.
And I won’t call those people out as idiots for liking the show “well enough.” The day I do that, I become that awful critic stereotype. I just think that if the creators fix some of the basic problems (and they are fixable), and “Mermaid” draws a million bucks a week on Broadway, people will look back at this summer in retrospect and (probably begrudgingly) admit that a more moderate response such as mine — neither a rave, nor a flaming torch — was probably most appropriate here.
Thanks so much for instigating this interesting discourse. Just keep in mind my mantra: that the show’s not even finished yet. Can we at least wait for December to throw it on the pyre? Hahah…
john moore … denver post … 101 w. colfax ave. no. 600 … 303-954-1056 …
Dear John Moore,
Thank you for taking the time to clear up fan confusion. I’ve been a fan of “The Little Mermaid” since I was 3, loving everything about the story with all my heart. On Sept. 9, 2005, I was in a car accident that almost took my life. I lost my voice in this accident, and at the time, we weren’t sure if I was going to get it back. In July of 2006, I got my voice back, having lived out my own “Little Mermaid” story. While I was mute, I met my now fiancee and graduated with my class on time. I lived my own version of “The Little Mermaid” story.
To have this show previewing in Denver brought me to tears, simply because of the story. I was so dead-set on loving the show … that I walked out a little disappointed. I wrote a 3,000+ word review on the show for http://www.micechat.com, saying the exact thing that you said. “But until they fix the little bit of wardrobe issues, the show will only be mediocre.” … “My only (real) criticism would have been to do something more with the background.” I later had to reassure Disney fans about the show when a few people thought this show would turn into a “Tarzan.” People are treating the version in Denver like it’s already in its own house in New York.
When I went back a second time, it was amazing. Disney is really getting their act together on this one. I’m trying to see it one more time, that’s how much I enjoyed it. Honestly, if you go in without an open mind, you won’t like it. I adored the new music, and once this hits Broadway, it will be great.
So thank you for helping to let fans know that the show isn’t going to be a flop (as long as Disney gets the idea). Being a hard-care fan, I only gave the show a “6” on opening night. Since seeing it again, I have brought my review up to a “9,” but still see the costumes as a barrier.
Your review made me sad at first, but only because they had yet to change the same errors I saw on opening night.
Meghan McLaws
http://www.miraclemeghan.com
Hi Meghan,
An amazing story, and an amazing response. Thanks for sharing it. John
