The Little Mermaid barged on to Broadway this week - and neither sank nor swam. It is perhaps fitting for a fairy tale focused on a hybrid life form that its musical incarnation should be so thoroughly neither-nor. It's not squarely for children (too slow at times), yet definitely not built for adults (too lacking in wit). It is neither a travesty of the 1989 animated Disney feature on which it is based nor a successful re-imagining.

Most worthy of a crisp salute are the designers: George Tsypin for sets, Tatiana Noginova for costumes, Natasha Katz for lighting. For this Hans Christian Andersen-inspired tale - a young mermaid named Ariel must defy her father and escape an evil sea witch to capture the heart of a human prince - a waterless stage conceit was hatched. Using multimedia projections, streaming clear plastic strips and bizarrely entrancing corkscrew columns to anchor the staging, Tsypin and director Francesca Zambello move us from above water to below with barely a hitch.