The Little Mermaid is the latest musical to get the live TV treatment, and so far the production sounds like it's going to be hybrid of all our favorite Disney things!
ABC announced its plans to debut The Little Mermaid Live! as a celebration of the film's 30th anniversary at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. Director and executive producer Hamish Hamilton is already hard at work dreaming up what the production will look like and how it will tackle the impossible task of bringing this underwater world to the stage and screen in a new yet familiar way.
Although the production is still in the early stages, we do have a few details to share. Here's everything we know so far about The Little Mermaid Live!
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The live performance will air this fall. The Little Mermaid Live! will air Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 8/7c on ABC, just over a week before the film celebrates its 30th anniversary.
The show will be a hybrid of the movie and live performances. Rather than completely recreate The Little Mermaid in a live format, the production will combine live performances with the animated feature we all know and love. The animated movie will play in its entirety, with the live performances coming in whenever the story breaks out into song.
"We're not asking these guys to re-voice the original feature," Hamilton clarified to reporters at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. "The original feature will exist exactly as it always has and we all love. And when we come to a song, we will transition from the original to the new."
Shaggy and Auli'i Cravahlo, The Little Mermaid Live! " data-image-credit="Image Group LA, ABC" data-image-alt-text="Shaggy and Auli'i Cravahlo, The Little Mermaid Live!" data-image-credit-url="" data-image-target-url="" data-image-title="Shaggy and Auli'i Cravahlo, The Little Mermaid Live!" data-image-filename="190805-shaggy-aulii-cravahlo-the-little-mermaid-live.jpg" data-image-date-created="2019/08/05" data-image-crop="" data-image-crop-gravity="" data-image-aspect-ratio="" data-image-height="1380" data-image-width="2070" data-image-do-not-crop="" data-image-do-not-resize="" data-image-watermark="" data-lightbox="">The cast is decked out with stars. Moana's Auli'i Cravalho has been cast to play Ariel, and Queen Latifah has been chosen to play the role of Ursula. In another excellent bit of casting new, Shaggy will play the beloved crab, Sebastian, so naturally, we can't wait to hear his rendition of "Under the Sea."
We don't know whether Ariel will have red hair. Hamilton was reluctant to reveal whether Cravalho would be donning a red wig for the performance, but he did say that the producers didn't plan to depart too much from the original in the costume and hair department though.
The Little Mermaid Live Musical Casts Moana's Auli'i Cravalho as Ariel
The show will incorporate a few songs from the Broadway musical. Not every character in The Little Mermaid has their own musical performance, so it is why to know that The Little Mermaid Live! will be incorporating two or three songs from the Broadway musical to give those characters their time to shine. Sadly, there's no word yet on which songs from the musical will make it in.
There are no understudies. Despite the fiasco that befell the Rent Live! performance when one of the show's leads injured himself during the dress rehearsal the day before the show, The Little Mermaid Live! will not have any understudies. Hamilton did say, however, that there is "a robust plan to kind of combat all of those situations."
The Little Mermaid 1989 " data-image-credit="Walt Disney Pictures" data-image-alt-text="The Little Mermaid 1989" data-image-credit-url="" data-image-target-url="" data-image-title="The Little Mermaid 1989" data-image-filename="170803-littlemermaid.jpg" data-image-date-created="2017/08/04" data-image-crop="" data-image-crop-gravity="" data-image-aspect-ratio="" data-image-height="1380" data-image-width="2070" data-image-do-not-crop="" data-image-do-not-resize="" data-image-watermark="" data-lightbox="">The Little Mermaid Live! will air Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 8/7c on ABC.
Other Links From TVGuide.com The Little MermaidAuli'i CravalhoQueen LatifahShaggy