Under the Weather? Disney’s The Little Mermaid Live Leaves Audiences with a Sinking Feeling

You dream about going up there, but that is a big mistake…

There is nothing that better captures the magic of late 1980s/early 1990s Disney than the Disney character Sebastian trying to convince mermaid Ariel that the “human world” is a mess in the film The Little Mermaid, but Sebastian (this time played by Shaggy) may as well have been singing about the mess of the creative conceptualization of ABC’s Little Mermaid Live. From start to end, the seas were too rough, the storms too great, and the siren songs too off-key for even nostalgic Disney-loving viewers to find a coherent, enjoyable program.

Unlike with the animated film, we wouldn’t want to be trapped under the water with the musical enchanted creatures of this hybrid musical that aired on ABC on Tuesday night. From the moment it started, there were strange production and directorial choices that seemed to suggest a lack of continuity.

The show opened with Jodi Benson, the original voice of Ariel, welcoming us to the event. While the purpose of her appearance seemed to be to give the audience some sense of nostalgia, even that was odd. Why just her? And really… why? The RENT cast was needed to…you know, sing on that musical event, but in this case Jodi’s “welcome” speech seemed bizarrely un-needed and yet another time filler in a night full of them.

But from there the hybrid show became even more cluttered and confused. While there is no good way to blend animation with live action, this was definitely not the best way. The onstage characters resembled mismatched puppets and looked like characters from the original Dark Crystal or a nightmare-induced episode of Fraggle Rock. The audience closest to the stage was given low-energy tasks like waving fabric or candles, but that also wasn’t helpful and just made it feel like we were watching the halftime ceremony at the old Orange Bowl.

But the “live” actors were not much better.

While Ariel (Auli’I Cravalho) may have voiced the titular character in Moana, her voice wasn’t strong enough to carry the live stage show. After an adequate performance of “Part of Your World,” her next numbers hit some off-key notes and she seemed lost in the terror of a stage show spiraling out of control. Forget Ursula, the directors seemed to be her biggest adversary.

Blatantly worse than the chaotic direction and lack of early on-pitch singing was the costuming. Ariel’s costume seemed fished out of a thrift store, and we were treated to a bright and costume-y-red wig (Yes, she’s Ariel, but do we need that wig in 2019)? And the other actors’ costumes were not much better. Some characters were dressed in a minimalist style (Sebastian), while others went a bit more flashy (Ursula).

Still, even these rather minimalist costumes seemed to impede the ability of the actors to properly dance. So the choreography resembled more of a stage show-lite—like a high school show that is staged with lack of space and little practice.

Prince Eric (played by Graham Phillips) was Prince Eric. He saves the dog and sings and looks perfectly handsome. An added duet (courtesy of the flop Little Mermaid Broadway musical) with Ariel was rather unspectacular and felt like just another time filler. At one point Shaggy tried to save “Kiss the Girl” but the camera angles often featured dark angles and they were in a boat that was more reminiscent of a bad “It’s a Small World” ride at Disney World.  (By that point, most of the audience at home would have rather seen yet another commercial for Disney Plus, which reminded us that Disney usually creates really good content that makes sense).

Of course, the star power of the night belonged not to Ariel but to Ursula. While there was never a doubt that would be the case, Queen Latifah stole the show with a performance that seemed about as nuanced as this show would allow. She dominated the stage and carried the night— but that again was part of the problem. The audience anticipated it. Twitter waited for it. This wasn’t The Little Mermaid Live, but The Ursula Show with performances by Ariel and Sebastian and a cute-looking Prince Eric for fans to swoon over and John Stamos because… well, because. (And strangely, John Stamos as Chef Louis worked.) The Little Mermaid needs to still be about Ariel—and this show, sadly, was not.

Yet when the show ended, the most unforgiving error was a production decision—the last fifteen minutes of the story (which features no songs) were NOT live. Instead, audiences (including the live one in the studio and all of us watching in our homes) were left simply watching the recycled animated cartoon ending. It was an unconscionable decision: why in the world would you do that?

Sure, there’s no song in the ending of the film: but can’t they ACT out the ending? Can’t they create some emotional resonance? All that was left for The Little Mermaid Live was a bizarre credit sequence where they tried to sing a final version of “Under the Sea” with a rushed curtain call.

It isn’t all terrible news: In an era of participation medals ABC should get that purple participation ribbon for trying. And I mean that—any time networks commit to live television events and musicals and millions of people come together for live, shared TV experiences it’s a good thing.

So as a whole, it was a missed opportunity. Ten million viewers tuned in live to see something and be entertained and happy and a lot of joy was just taken away. Sadly, instead of finding that the seaweed was greener under the sea, most of us felt like poor unfortunate souls.