The Little Mermaid Live (2019)

Despite trying to go in cynical, I always wind up feeling hopeful about these TV live musical events, and I keep getting burned. This is one that I was really optimistic about, but, even though it does have some good points, it was an overall disappointment.

Ariel, the youngest daughter of King Triton, is our titular little mermaid. Despite all that life “under the sea” offers, Ariel is enchanted by the thought of the world above the ocean and the human beings who inhabit it. When she saves the human Prince Eric from a shipwreck, she falls so instantly in love with him that she turns to desperate measures: making a deal with the nefarious sea-witch Ursula in the hopes of using magic to be with him.

My biggest issue with this event is at least a product of my own misunderstanding. When I first heard about it, I understood it as a live musical in the vein of previous TV productions like Hairspray and Jesus Christ Superstar, performing the Broadway adaptation of The Little Mermaid. However, that’s not what it is. It’s a special 30^th-anniversary celebration of the original movie’s release, and while it does feature live performances, it’s not an entirely live show. All the dialogue/story stuff is shown through clips of the animated film, only cutting to the live performers for the songs. As such, the performances are mainly just of the songs from the movie, although there are some lyrical additions from the stage show as well as “Her Voice” and a truncated version of “If Only” (which are admittedly the best songs added for the Broadway version.) If I’d known from the jump that this was going to be half cartoon/half live show, my expectations might have been more realistic.

But even for what it is, it could be a lot better. Only bringing out the performers for the songs leaves them with little continuity for their characters, and rather than telling the story onstage, it ends up feeling more like elaborately-staged and costumed Glee or American Idol performances. While some of the songs are staged like actual musical production numbers, others feel completely divorced from the story. For instance, Eric isn’t even onstage (albeit unconscious from the shipwreck) while Ariel sings the reprise of “Part of Your World,” and during “Les Poisson,” a young actor in a giant crab costume stands in for Sebastian instead of the actual performer playing him in his own songs.

Also, some of it might be that a lot of the staging is overly busy, but with or without that, the camera work is atrocious. It constantly flits around to different angles during big ensemble numbers so you never have enough time to see what’s going on anywhere, and it inexplicably cuts away from solo singers at important moments. Even if this was done more like a real production, it would still be hard to settle in and enjoy it with such counterintuitive camera work.

Also, I didn’t know beforehand that John Stamos was in this, playing Chef Louis. That was disappointing to me, as I’ve preferred to avoid his work since hearing about his past gross behavior.

Allllllll that said, let’s look to a few of the brighter points. What excited me most about this event was Auli’i Cravalho playing Ariel. I loved Cravalho as Moana and I was happy at the prospect of her joining Lea Salonga in the very exclusive club of dual Disney princesses (honorary membership to Jalani Alladin, who was the original Kristoff in the Broadway version of Frozen and recently played the title role in a tryout stage adaptation of Hercules.) Even though the way this event is set up is pretty much a bust, Cravalho still does a nice job. Her singing is lovely, and I’m impressed by how little I thought about Moana while I was watching her as Ariel. Major points also go to Queen Latifah as Ursula. Her “Poor Unfortunate Souls” is easily the best moment of the whole event, vamping it up for all she’s worth.

Warnings

Some scary moments for kids (mostly in the segments from the animated film.)