Theater Thursday - Literally Alive Theater's The Little Mermaid, Du Barry Was a Lady, and Million Dollar Quartet

We were given free tickets to The Little Mermaid for review purposes.  Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: The Little Mermaid

Where: Players Theater
            115 Macdougal
            New York, NY

When: Now through April 23

Who: Ages 5 and up

Me - Literally Alive Theater's The Little Mermaid is not the same as the Disney version. The main story is the same. It is still about a mermaid who falls in love with a prince and wants to be human. However, the character names are not the same nor are all the characters the same. The ending of the show is different too. There are songs  in the show, but they are not the ones you are used to. The songs are okay but not especially memorable. Some of them are fun to listen to. The acting is good. The singing is good. The dancing is really good. The set is nice. The costumes are colorful.  It is definitely a show that little kids would enjoy although you may have to explain the different ending to them. The show is even better than Literally Alive's production of the same show from approximately three years ago.

The show will run through April 23. For more information or to order tickets  go to http://literallyalive.com/shows/mermaid.html.
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We  were given free tickets to Du Barry Was a Lady for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Du Barry Was a Lady 

Where: Theater Row
            42nd St.
            New York, New York

Who: 11 and up

When: Last performance April 9, 2017

Me - Du Barry Was a Lady was good. It is the story of  a man who is love with  a singer and in trying to drug his rival's drink he ends up drinking the drugged drink himself and falls asleep and dreams he is Louis the XV. The story was interesting although the plot was hard to follow at times. The songs were okay but most of them weren't that memorable. My favorite was Friendship which I had previously heard in Anything Goes. The acting was good. The singing was nice. There really wasn't as much dancing as in other Musicals Tonight's shows. However, the dancing that there was was good. It wasn't one of my favorite Musicals Tonight shows although it  was equally well performed,  I just liked some of the other shows better. However, in general, I would really recommend Musicals Tonight's shows.

Mom - Du Barry Was a Lady was the last show of  Musicals Tonight's 2017 Spring Season. This Cole Porter show was originally staged in 1939 and was later made into a movie starring Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly and Red Skelton. It is not the most interesting of Cole Porter's shows. However, it does have some nice songs including Do I Love You and Friendship, the latter of which was later inserted into one of Porter's better shows, Anything Goes. Anything Goes was also recently presented by Musicals Tonight. While over all, Anything Goes is a better show, both shows were equally well acted and sung by Musicals Tonight's talented casts. Over all, if you are looking for a quality musical at a reasonable price particularly if you are looking for a musical that you may not have seen before, Musicals Tonight is the place to go.

Unfortunately, Du Barry was a Lady was the final show of Musicals Tonight's 2016/2017 season. Their next season will begin in the Fall  of 2017 and conclude in the Spring of 2018. Shows currently announced to be part of Musicals Tonight's next season which will include their historic one hunderedth show are Bells Are Ringing, The Boys From Syracuse, Calamity Jane, The Apple Tree and High Society, Of course, sometimes some of the shows change from what is initially announced. Follow our future Sunday Scoop posts for any updates to the schedule. For more information about Musicals Tonight go to http://www.musicalstonight.org/.
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We were given free tickets to Million Dollar Quartet for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Million Dollar Quartet

Where: Papermill Playhouse
            22 Brookside Drive
            Milburn, New Jersey

Who: Recommended for Ages 13 and up

When: Through April 24, 2017

Mom - If you love the music of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and/or Carl Perkins, you will definitely want to see this show about a historic meeting which took place between these four music giants. The show is full of their famous songs among others. Even if you are not necessarily a fan of any of these men, but you just want to see a really well acted and entertaining show, this show is a great choice. All four of the main actors in the show do a really good job of capturing the essence of the men they are portraying.  Nat Zegree does a particularly good job of capturing Jerry Lee's Lewis' zaniness. He is equally as talented  a musician and can play the piano both blinded folded and backwards. In fact, all of the cast members are talented musicians, and all play their own instruments in the show. The show does not really involve anything particularly objectionable for young children, but it just would not be of much interest to them, however older children particularly those that are interested in classic rock and/or rock history should enjoy it. All in all, it is a fun show that is definitely worth seeing.

For more information or to order tickets go to https://tickets.papermill.org/shows/million%20dollar%20quartet/info

And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for Funtivity Friday.
Photo credits: All Million Dollar Quartet photos by Mathew Murphy