"It's exhausting!" says actor Sean Palmer of playing dreamboat Prince Eric in the Broadway adaptation of Disney's The Little Mermaid, which opened last night at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. "Most people are waiting for their prince to come along once in a lifetime -- I come along eight times a week." It would seem that the broad-shouldered and swarthy Palmer, with his cartoonish (in a good way) good looks, was an obvious choice to play one of the Disney canon's most beloved princes, but Palmer says it wasn't quite that easy.
Known for his role as Stanford's swoon-worthy underwear model boyfriend Marcus in seasons four, five and six of Sex and the City, Palmer moved out to Los Angeles after the show ended to focus on TV and film -- but high-tailed it back to New York and Broadway when he realized he didn't want to wait tables anymore. "[In New York] the possibility of me starring in a Broadway show is always imminent -- it can happen at any time -- that's how life is here. But in L.A., there are so many doors to beat down and so many people to shake hands with that I just thought, I don't want to start over right now. I'm just too tired."
Serendipitously, back in New York, Palmer fell in love with the role of Prince Eric when he heard the ballad "Her Voice," one of the 11 new songs written by Alan Menken (the Oscar-winning composer of the animated version) for the Broadway show. "It sort of sticks out. I thought it was going to be this cheesy song and it really wasn't," says Palmer. After a rollercoaster ride of an audition process, which included being told several times by the producers that they were no longer considering him for the role, he was offered the part at the "11th hour." Since then, he has happily donned the pony-tailed wig, tall boots and billowy blouse that is synonymous with the land-dwelling Prince Eric -- a very normal get-up compared the elaborate contraptions worn by his under-water-dwelling cast mates, who spend hours before each performance applying glittery makeup, squirming into ornate costumes with mechanical fins and lacing up their Heelys, that give them the impression of gliding through the ocean. "I've been getting Heely envy lately. It's just really beautiful and you sort of want to have the freedom to just glide," Palmer only half-jokes. But after chatting with (and staring at) Palmer and seeing the show, the one to envy is Ariel (Sierra Boggess), who ultimately gets to kiss her dashing prince.
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