ABC is heading under the sea with Auli’i Cravalho, Queen Latifah, and Shaggy!
ABC is venturing into the world of the live music genre with a classic — The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid Live! is the network’s first live musical event, but it isn’t going to be a fully staged production like the other live musicals.
Director and executive producer Hamish Hamilton explained — “The last thing I would want is somebody to do a carbon copy of what we’ve done before.”
Hamilton explains that the production will be an “interesting hybrid” between the animated original and live performances of the feature’s musical numbers. This basically means that viewers will see the animated feature on TV, but when a song begins, the screen will transition to the live performance.
“There will be visual signatures all the way through that will reinforce the original feature,” Hamilton explained. The actors will not re-voice the movie; they will only perform the songs. “The original feature will exist exactly as it always has, and then when we come to a song, we will transition from the original to the new.”
The Little Mermaid Live! production will not include new songs, but will include several numbers from the Broadway musical.
”We’re not creating any new songs or any new characters or any new environments. We are celebrating the animated feature, but we are also celebrating the bigger world of The Little Mermaid,” Hamilton added.
The Little Mermaid Live! airs November 5, on ABC.
