The Little Mermaid (Disney Cruise)

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Sotiris
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The Little Mermaid (Disney Cruise)

Post by Sotiris »

The film is getting a modern reimagining in the form of a Disney Cruise stage show. Ariel will be played by a Black actress in this adaptation as well. Here, you can listen to the rendition of Poor Unfortunate Souls for the show.
It's an entirely new theatrical adaptation of the renowned 1989 animated classic, The Little Mermaid. We have a reimagined script and score and in our production, it's the journey of a young woman learning to value the power of her own voice. The Little Mermaid will feature everything our cruise line guests have come to expect from a Walt Disney Theater show. So, innovative theatrical design, puppetry, special effects, but like I said, our show has a reimagined script and score.

In this modern-day retelling, the curtain rises on an enchanted treasure chest at the moment it's discovered by a group of storytellers, led by a very special young woman who can unlock the power and the magic of the chest with her voice. As they uncover what's hidden in the trunk, the storytellers will take on the roles of the beloved characters, bringing to life the immersive world under the sea before out guests' eyes. Our reimagined score includes new arrangements of favorite songs like Part of Your World, Poor Unfortunate Souls, and Under the Sea.
Source: https://twitter.com/AllEarsNet/status/1 ... 3726703619
“Disney The Little Mermaid” will be an original Broadway-style stage adaptation of the renowned 1989 Disney Animation film developed exclusively for the Disney Wish. During this one-of-a-kind theatrical production, audiences will rediscover the iconic scenes, acclaimed music and beloved characters of “The Little Mermaid” while experiencing the story like never before.

In this modern-day retelling, the curtain will rise on an enchanted treasure chest at the moment it is discovered by a group of storytellers, led by a special young woman who has the power to unlock its magic. As they uncover the whozits and whatzits galore hidden within the trunk, the storytellers will take on the roles of Ariel, Ursula, Prince Eric, Sebastian, Flounder and more, bringing to life the immersive undersea world right before guests’ eyes. They’ll put their own contemporary spin on the timeless story of a young woman’s search for independence, love and a place in the world.

“Disney The Little Mermaid” will feature innovative theatrical design, dazzling special effects, artistic choreography, and a reimagined script and score that will surprise and delight guests of all ages.

• New orchestrations of favorite songs like “Part of Your World,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Under the Sea” will enchant audiences with moving ensemble pieces and breathtaking production numbers.

• Unexpectedly playful scenic designs and state-of-the-art video projections will transform the Walt Disney Theatre into a 360-degree undersea environment.

• Contemporary, interpretive costuming will reflect the show’s unique blending of a modern setting and a mystical, fantastical story.

• Cutting-edge puppetry will animate fantastical sea creatures and characters such as Sebastian, Flounder, Scuttle, and Flotsam and Jetsam in never-before-seen ways.
Source: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/ ... sney-wish/
The creative minds at Disney Cruise Line have joined forces with a team of top Broadway talent to develop an all-new stage adaptation of “The Little Mermaid” exclusively for the Disney Wish. In this modern-day retelling, audiences will rediscover the iconic scenes, acclaimed music and beloved characters of the film, as a cast of contemporary storytellers put their own spin on the timeless tale. “Disney The Little Mermaid” will feature innovative theatrical design, dazzling special effects, artistic choreography, and a reimagined script and score that will surprise and delight guests of all ages. Here’s a closer look at three of the most wow-worthy scenes:

“Under the Sea” will be the show’s biggest production number, complete with incredible vocals, show-stopping choreography and plenty of special effects. Here, the show’s cutting-edge puppetry will be on the greatest display, as countless sea creatures and fantastical characters like Sebastian and Flounder gather on stage to sing, dance and celebrate.

Throughout the show, playful scenic designs and state-of-the-art video projections will transform the Walt Disney Theatre into a 360-degree undersea environment. During “Kiss the Girl,” Sebastian will lead a chorus of sea life in a refreshed rendition of the melody as the audience is visually transported into the scene. In a new twist exclusive to our show, even though Ariel doesn’t have a voice at this point in the story, her inner voice will play an important and meaningful role in the song.

If you tuned in to Destination D23 last fall, you may have gotten a sneak peek at our show’s spin on “Poor Unfortunate Souls.” This will be a more soulful take of the classic tune, filled with all of Ursula’s confidence and glamour. During this number, her power will manifest in a jaw-dropping moment as she truly becomes larger than life.
Source: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/ ... sney-wish/
Developed exclusively for the Disney Wish, “Disney The Little Mermaid” is a unique stage adaptation of the original 1989 Disney Animation film. You might recognize the songs, scenes and characters, but this show has been reimagined in a delightful new way.

The curtain opens on a group of modern-day storytellers, who happen to come across a treasure chest full of whozits and whatzits galore. From there, you’ll become part of Ariel’s world during an immersive story about independence, identity and love. With state-of-the-art puppetry, an innovative script and a score full of surprises, this is a show your whole family will enjoy.
Source: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/ ... g-ovation/
Technology built into the theater aboard Disney cruise ship the Wish has given creative teams the ability to produce three Broadway-caliber shows on the ocean. Rui Rita, lighting designer for the productions “Disney Seas the Adventure,” “Disney the Little Mermaid” and “Disney’s Aladdin — A Musical Spectacular,” says the theater’s advanced LED system helped the crew maximize design potential. “This affords us the highest degree of variety [of] looks possible, allowing deep, lush colors as well as light tints,” notes Rita. “It also allows us to dial in the exact color of light that complements each fabric choice, paint color and makeup tint.”

In a process that Kelly Benton, who produces the three shows, calls “painting with light,” the designs draw attention to specific areas within a production. Citing “The Little Mermaid” as an example, Benton points to “undersea” moments that feature blues and greens that would make the costume colors seem off or create a black light-style effect where they glow distractingly. But the theater’s technology, like a top lighting board on land, can highlight bright costumes, like the ones worn by Ariel’s sisters, giving them a range of hues. “You see these color [light] shafts that accent and bounce off of the set and the costumes,” says Benton.

Building on the standard palette that illuminates production designer Robert Brill’s set-pieces, including a rock, a sandcastle and a treasure chest, the lighting design can transform the objects by suggesting, for instance, a rock bathed in sunlight; projections can help the audience see the same rock as appearing to be under the sea. As the pieces are moved around the set, embedded trackers ensure that the video projections move with them, regardless of where they wind up onstage.

Some of the costumes come with a bit of magic too. To accomplish Ariel’s onstage transition from mermaid to human, designer Christine Burchett Butler created a special tail with a series of hidden snaps and releases for actor Stephanie Zaharis. As Ursula’s minions crisscross the stage around Ariel, they affect the dramatic transition, revealing Zaharis’ legs under a simple skirt. Benton adds that the trick tail is indiscernible from the original costume. “Nobody would know the difference,” he says.
Source: https://variety.com/2022/artisans/news/ ... 235345700/


Logo and concept art.

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Source: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/ ... the-world/

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Source: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/ ... sney-wish/

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Source: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/ ... sney-wish/

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Source: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/ ... sney-wish/

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Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TQfR27XQzw
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Disney's Divinity
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Disney Cruise)

Post by Disney's Divinity »

I think it's like you said in the Annie thread, once a character has been racebent, they'll be racebent for every iteration onwards. At least with the racebent Annie's, they're not dumb enough to try to give her a bright red wig and pretend that's natural like they are with Ariel. :roll:
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Disney Cruise)

Post by Sotiris »

The thing with racebent characters is once you move that needle, you can't undo it. Even if the IP holders wanted to go back to the way the character originally looked, there would be a massive backlash against it. They'd be accused of racism and whitewashing and they would eventually be cowed into submission.

Racebending was a practice prevalent in theater long before it spread to film and TV. The difference is that in pre-woke times, you could revert the character to their original race in subsequent productions without any trouble. Now you can't do that. A recent example of that is the case of the Broadway show "The Great Comet". A white actor playing a white character, the play is set in 19th-century Russia after all, was replaced by a Black actor. When that actor moved on from the show, the producers tried replacing him with a white actor like it was originally conceived. That caused a huge controversy which resulted in the show closing. You can read more about the whole debacle here. My point is, even if the powers that be wanted to revert the racebent character in question to their original state (which they usually don't; they want to broadcast their diversity efforts and virtue signal), it would be an uphill battle to have this accepted by the industry and more importantly the activists and influencers on social media.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Disney Cruise)

Post by Disney's Divinity »

I thought that was the Josh Groban show you were referring to. I've been meaning to buy the OBC for it because of his involvement, but hadn't yet because it's so high.

I definitely see what you mean about the possibility of backlash. IDK. I think it would be different with a film since a Broadway audience and general film audiences are probably very different. I think there would be some teeth-gnashing from far left Twitter people and so on, but the film audience at large wouldn't care; I know we're talking about Disney here though and they are rarely "courageous." :lol:

Btw, I like the picture of how Ursula looks / will look in the top post. I'm glad she's purple and not green like in the horrid Broadway show.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Disney Cruise)

Post by Disney Duster »

Disney's Divinity wrote:I think it's like you said in the Annie thread, once a character has been racebent, they'll be racebent for every iteration onwards. At least with the racebent Annie's, they're not dumb enough to try to give her a bright red wig and pretend that's natural like they are with Ariel. :roll:
But the race bent Ariel wouldn't have natural red hair, but magical mermaid red hair.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Disney Cruise)

Post by DisneyJedi »

I just hope the mermaids will actually look like… well, mermaids.
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Re: The Little Mermaid (Disney Cruise)

Post by Disney Duster »

Looks cool.
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