Dance Reviews

Oct 23, 1999 - Disney on Ice's "Little Mermaid" Charms at Lawlor

By Jack Neal

With "The Little Mermaid" producer Kenneth Feld and his master creative team, headed by director John Dietrich, have turned out one of the one or two best Disney on Ice shows ever. "The Little Mermaid" opened Thursday night (10/21/99) at Reno's Lawlor Event Center, and - with the exception of a script that's a bit too loquacious - it's a charmer.

With an assist from Hans Christian Andersen, who penned the original tome, the undersea setting and the enchanting Alan Menken and Howard Ashman Academy Award winning score, "The Little Mermaid" is a captivating show that should thrill even the most dour and hard to please.

So what if Jerry Bilik's chatty script is a bit much? What's a writer to do, when they're transferring a story from screen play to ice play and trying to keep some sense of story? With so many classic production values on its side, a few too many words make nary a dent in "Mermaid's" ability to entertain.

As uniformly exceptional as the skating is, it's the show's art work - production design, costumes, lighting, music and choreography - that makes "The Little Mermaid" one of ice show business's most impressive achievements.

There's something fishy about "Mermaid," only this time "fishy's" not a slam. Costume designer Scott Lane had a field day designing outfits for the show's myriads of underwater creatures. The designer's creature-clothes are a sumptuous lot. Character fish (particularly Sebastian and Flounder) are given star treatment. "I'm still big," they seem to be saying, "it's the ocean that got small." Move over star fish! Make way for the jellies, the shells, a pesky shark and an enormous monster. Add Lane's dry-land types - a wonderfully garbed, virile looking crew, dashing outfits fit for a prince and a bridal gown of Ziegfeld splendor - and "Mermaid's" costumes are nothing less than a ravishing feast for the eyes. ø0a

Robert L. Smith's extraordinarily effective production design and lavish set pieces - handsome conceptualizations evoking the splendors of an undersea kingdom - are superb illusions and very much in keeping with the fairy-tale look of Disney art. The misty and haunting lighting Abigail Rosen Holmes has designed gives the production a shimmering, at-sea mystique.ø0a

The work of co-choreographers Cindy Stuart and Gia Guddat is first-rate throughout. The full-cast numbers are more balletic than one finds in more traditional ice-show dance patterns and are vibrantly managed by the company's excellent corps of skaters. Especially exciting are the pairs numbers Stuart and Guddat have choreographed, both for Prince Eric and Ariel, the mermaid and his love, and for Eric and Ursula, the wicked sea witch, temporarily transformed into what appears to be an enticingly beautiful young woman.

It's Ariel's transformation from mermaid to human in a tender pas de deux with Eric that elevates the norm for ice-show choreography to exhilarating heights. What transpires is a rapturous encounter between two beautiful young people that's transcendent, truly lovely and touching.

Russian skating star Inna Volianskaia is Ariel and she's enigmatic, expressive and quite believeable as a youngster fearful of disappointing her father, yet swept away by a love she can't resist. And what would a Disney production be without a handsome prince? Alexei Kiliakov is perfectly cast as Ariel's perfect love. Young, handsome and athletic, Mr. Kiliakov is a strong, eloquent skater, at his best when bonding with one of his partner's in dance.

Joey Daysog skates Sebastian, the witty, busybody fish who ties "Mermaid's" storyline into whimsical knots of intrigue and fun. Likewise, Sandra Garde is a stunningly wicked Ursula. I haven't seen a wicked lady that's such a delight, since Evilene the witch sang "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News" in "The Wiz" nearly three decades ago.

"The Little Mermaid" has the fun and spectacle children adore and the lyricism and artistry that makes this very special show a treat for adults as well. It's the best Disney on Ice production I've seen since "Beauty and the Beast."

"The Little Mermaid" plays today, Saturday (10/23/99), at 11:30 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and closes its Reno run with a performance at 1:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon (10/24/99). Performances of "The Little Mermaid" are at Lawlor Event Center, 900 North Virginia Street, Reno. For tickets call 1-800-225-2277 or 775-784-4444.