One review says Stamos steals the show. Not really when he gives a “look at me I’m John Stamos” performance. No seriously, he goes out of character a few times to remind everyone who he is.
When the live audience must have been bored mostly watching the movie. Very little is actual actors in a live show.
Queen Latifah as Ursula was perfect casting. She was the show. Auli’i, who I’ve seen be amazing live in the past, sounded like a novice at times, possibly from the rigging and costume, or she just had an off day. Kind of a bummer. Stamos was goofy but I expected as much and actually enjoyed him in his small role. Sebastian, however, was a not-so-hot mess. It was like they put a red, pleather jacket on Shaggy and shoved him on stage. No vocal presence. No dance skills. Not even a decent costume to distract me from his ruining some of the best songs. Some of the screen to stage transitions were extremely clever, and the chorus had great costuming, choreography, and skill. Kudos to them for their hard work and managing to put a little Disney magic and shine on what otherwise was a ho-hum show.
I love live theatre. I love musical theatre. But, I'm still struggling to be excited by this new wave of Live TV productions of classic musical theatre, classic TV shows and now animated classics. This one set itself a gigantic task to perform live a story that was about mythical worlds is both on land and under the sea where the primary character is confined to sitting. What, in fact, they did was project the original animated movie for the story and interposed live performances of the songs. I can only image it was a spectacular feast for those in the live theatre: puppets, aerials (cum Cirque du Soleil), characters in costumes, dancers and stars belting out award winning songs. However, even on my big screen TV, it failed to capture the excitement that must have been in the studio. I also didn't find all the stars up to the task. Queen Latifah was absolutely perfect. Graham Phillips was a revelation, his voice and bearing befitting a prince (who knew Zack had such hidden talents?). Auli'l Cravalho's beautiful voice was compromised by aerial harnesses and by being forced to sing sitting because of her fish tail (she was breathless and pitchy). Shaggy and John Stamos were just plain bad casting giving cringe worthy performers. This production just didn't translate to its medium despite some genius elements. I give this production a 6 (fair) out of 10. [Live Rebrand of Animated Classic].
Shout by darksilverBlockedParent2020-10-31T11:39:50Z
Auli'i spent all of Moana trying to make it to the sea... and then spent all of this trying to get back to land! Hahah!
Also... Prince Eric looks so much like Gavin Leatherwood!