The Little Mermaid Reviews

Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended

"...So, as much as the ballet is a story of a mermaid who longs for love and pines to be human, it is also about the power of fantasy, imagination and words. The only real joy arrives at the very end, when the Poet and his mermaid creation come together in a mystical realm floating in the stars."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended

"... This is a production you simply must experience. It takes us to deep places, and not just in the ocean."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...A feast of delights, the Joffrey Ballet’s “The Little Mermaid” paints a vivid canvas with striking visuals, music, and dance. What makes this production unique is that the audience is given just enough detail to recreate the fantasy in our own minds. Choreographed by John Neumeier with music written by Lera Auerbach, this tragic romance based on Hans Christian Anderson’s 1837 fairytale features dancing and pantomime that astounds us with its ingenuity. I especially loved the character of the Mermaid (the brilliant Victoria Jaiani), who charms us with her slithery movements and sleek costume, complete with a long chiffon tail, held up in the air by three dancers all dressed in black!"

WTTW - Highly Recommended

"...Created by Neumeier for the Royal Danish Ballet in 2005, and subsequently performed by the Hamburg Ballet (where the prolific 84-year-old Milwaukee-born, Chicago-trained artist has served as director and chief choreographer since 1973, and has recently announced his planned retirement), "Mermaid" is now receiving its Chicago premiere in a grand-scale production by the Joffrey Ballet on the Lyric Opera House stage. And it serves as proof of both Neumeier's notably dramatic style and the Joffrey company's exceptional ability to realize it."

Buzz Center Stage - Highly Recommended

"...The Little Mermaid at Lyric Opera House is an incredibly beautiful and massive production that holds the audience spellbound from the moment it begins until the final magnificent scene of love transcendent."

NewCity Chicago - Not Recommended

"...The result is a show that, as a whole, grownups are apt to find cloying and superficial, and children may find long, baffling and dull. And ballet fans of all ages will miss the absence of meaningful, show-stopping dance numbers featuring the Joffrey’s reliably superb corps de ballet."