The story and much of the music of "The Little Mermaid" is familiar to anyone who was once a little girl-or who knows a little girl. The performance I saw of the Broadway musical is a retelling of the Disney cartoon that has been played and replayed on DVDs in many homes across America before the watchful eyes of young children. Disney's animated feature film is, of course, itself based upon the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale of the same name, and contains such classic songs as "Part of Your World" and "Under the Sea." To prepare for the show, I watched the DVD again, and I also read over Anderson's tale, to re-familiarize myself with the songs. I also wanted to be aware of what the creators of the musical had decided to keep from the Disney animated film, perhaps added back from Anderson that Disney had rejected, and what they had introduced that was entirely new to realize a different creative vision.
             The musical was splashy (no pun intended) fun with bright colors, dazzling special effects and glittery costumes (particularly in terms of how the underwater world was created). The many show-stopping tunes were clearly designed to 'wow' the audience. The show has a strong narrative, but the sea-witch Ursula, Ariel's transition from mermaid to 'real' girl, and other aspects of the work obviously used special effects in a way that was designed to draw attention to the effects, rather than the plot. However, the younger members of the audience didn't seem to mind and audibly gasped for breath when various costumes and sets were revealed. Some of them had bought their own toy 'Ariels' from home and knew the songs from the cartoon by heart. However, the older members of the audience, from parents to people like myself, enjoyed the lead actress' strong voice, the comic performance of Ariel's marine friends and switch, and the calypso rhythms which took up the overall quality of the performance a clear 'notch' from what might be exp...