Thursday, January 18, 2007

There goes the baker with his tray...

I must admit that I am sort of happy Beauty and the Beast is finally going bye bye. (No one tell Jim Byk I wrote that.) I had heard Disney wanted the Lunt-Fontanne for The Little Mermaid, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I feared a Beauty move. And while I don't wish for the failure of things, I really did not want another Broadway house tied up by Beauty and the Beast. I mean--the piece of crap has run long enough. I admit the story is often effective, but, during that beer number, I always want to get up and leave. It goes on and on and on... I still think I respect it more than The Grinch, but, that's really saying very little.

Anyway, those of you who know me, know I am the biggest Little Mermaid fan. I used to have a mermaid on my window at my office with a little sticky pad note that said "Kerry" and an arrow, after Kerry Butler was announced for an early reading. (That was before Celia played it and before the Sierra Boggess rumors... It was also back when Emily Skinner was Ursula, not Sherie Rene Scott.) I have not been wowed by anything I've heard concept-wise about the stage production, but I am still eager to see it... I am holding out hope. And I want everyone to go visit http://www.francescazambello.com/ in preparation.

1 comment:

Moxie said...

All That Chat has been crazy w/ the casting rumors... Tom Wopat or Norm Lewis as Triton, Titus Burgess as Sebastian, Michael McGrath or Eddie Korbich as Scuttle, Tyler Maynard and/or Derrick Baskin as one of the eels. So many wonderful, memorable characters - I hope this production makes use of them, unlike Mary Poppins.