|
|
Post by veu on Nov 4, 2019 11:30:16 GMT -5
From The Oprah Magazine: How to Watch ABC's the Little Mermaid Live! With or Without Cable
With Auliʻi Cravalho, Queen Latifah, and John Stamos, this is a must-see.
By Kimberly Zapata
Nov 4, 2019
imageDISNEY
ABC has been working on a live remake of The Little Mermaid since September, and the made-for-TV event is slated to air early next week. No, this isn't the same movie as Disney's upcoming live-action remake.
Here's everything we know about The Little Mermaid Live!, including when and how to watch.
The Wonderful World of Disney is about make your week a little more magical and (yes) wonderful. The Little Mermaid Live! will air on Tuesday, November 5, and the star-studded event—starring Auliʻi Cravalho, Shaggy, and Queen Latifah, and John Stamos, to name a few—promises to "take viewers on a magical adventure under the sea." But how can you watch this musical masterpiece? The good news is you don't need cable.
What channel will The Little Mermaid Live! be on?
The live version of the 1989 Disney film by the same name will be broadcast on ABC. According to the network, The Little Mermaid Live! will be performed in front of a live studio audience, and it will be unlike anything we've seen before. "Live musical performances will be interwoven into the broadcast of the original feature film," ABC explains, creating a truly special and unique experience.
When will the musical event begin?
The Little Mermaid Live! will air at 8:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 5.
How can I watch The Little Mermaid Live! if I do not have a TV?
In addition to airing on ABC, viewers can watch The Little Mermaid Live! a few different ways. The event can be viewed on ABC.com or through the ABC app on your smartphone or tablet (iOS and Android). It can be accessed via the ABC channel on select streaming services, including Roku, AppleTV and Amazon Fire TV. However, in order to use said channels, you will need a cable provider. The fix? Try services like Hulu + Live TV or YouTube TV, which offer free 7-day trials.
ABC can also be accessed with a digital antenna.
Who's in the cast?
Prepare to fall in love with this grouping. The Little Mermaid Live! stars Auliʻi Cravalho as Ariel, Shaggy as Sebastian, Queen Latifah as Ursula, John Stamos as Chef Louis, Graham Phillips as Prince Eric.
During an interview with ABC, Latifah admitted that her go-to Little Mermaid song to sing in the shower or in the car is "Under the Sea," while Cravalho agreed.
http://instagram.com/p/B4Wi8PYFDvH |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 4, 2019 11:32:37 GMT -5
From The Mercury News: Television this 7 days: Disney’s ‘Little Mermaid Reside!’ provides Ariel to everyday living
By Eric Kirk -November 3, 2019
Really do not Pass up: “The Wonderful Environment of Disney Offers: The Minor Mermaid Live! “: This must be attention-grabbing. Producers hope viewers are all set to go less than the sea by using a magical journey that brings together footage from the 1989 animated basic with live performances from the film and Broadway musical. Carried out in entrance of a are living studio viewers, this hybrid production functions Auli’i Cravalho (“Moana”) as lovestruck mermaid Ariel, Queen Latifah as Ursula and reggae musician Shaggy as Sebastian the crab. Will you want to be section of their planet? (eight p.m. Tuesday, ABC). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 4, 2019 16:34:05 GMT -5
From EW: Why Graham Phillips' Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid Live! is more swoon-worthy than ever
By Sydney Bucksbaum November 04, 2019 at 09:00 AM EST
When it comes to Disney princes, The Little Mermaid‘s Prince Eric is as close to perfection as it gets. He’s gorgeous. He’s kind. He loves dogs. What more could you possibly want in an animated dreamboat? But Graham Phillips is about to do the impossible and make Prince Eric even more swoon-worthy in ABC’s The Little Mermaid Live!
The actor stars opposite Auli’i Cravalho for the latest live TV musical event as a new version of Prince Eric and Ariel ready to steal your heart. It’s no small feat bringing one of the most iconic Disney roles to life on the biggest stage yet as viewers all over the country tune in to watch and judge the live performances. But right now, Phillips is more worried about how the smoke from the Los Angeles fires is going to affect his voice rather than any normal pre-show jitters.
“I am in the fiery, dry, ashy, smoky city of Los Angeles right now—- it’s perfect right before you have a live singing performance,” Phillips tells EW with a laugh. “It’s funny, I’m like driving around with this humidification mask on just to try to keep from sounding like a 30-year smoker — anything I can do. It is live so you never know what’s going to happen the day before so you just try to be as strong as you can until then.”
But despite freak environmental factors doing everything possible to throw Phillips off in the days before he performs live on TV, he’s actually not feeling nervous at all. “Live performance and theater really is where I started out,” he says. “It’s where my roots are. I’ve always been more nervous in front of a camera when I have a whole lot of takes for some reason rather than when I get on the stage and have only one go at it.”
The actor, best known for roles on The Good Wife and Riverdale, previously starred in Broadway’s 13, so he’s no stranger to the stage. “There’s no room for a lack of commitment when you’re doing something live; there’s no room for playing it safe,” Phillips notes. “This is it. This is the only take you’ve got. There’s certainly no hiding when you’re doing something live. Thankfully for my first entrance [in The Little Mermaid Live!], I get pulled onstage by a rope that’s attached to a bizarre gimbal system so there’s not really much room for me to doubt whether or not I’m going to walk out into the spotlight; I literally get yanked into it!”
ABC’s adaptation of The Little Mermaid is going to be different than all the other live TV musical events that have come before in that it’s actually only half live (guess The Little Mermaid Half Live! didn’t sound as appealing for the title). All the songs will be performed by the live cast including Cravalho, Phillips, Queen Latifah, John Stamos, and Shaggy. But all the spoken scenes are going to be taken right from the original animated feature, airing as is. “It’s a new heightened way that’s a celebration of the original but then the plot and all the scenes are carried forward by the original movie,” Phillips explains. “Instead of competing with the nostalgia everyone has for the iconic film, we’re just using it. I was relieved to hear that because it would be a difficult challenge to try to compete with it. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”
So if The Little Mermaid Live! is using the original movie for half of the production, how is Phillips going to make Prince Eric even dreamier during the songs? Well, by actually participating in the songs, for one.
“You don’t get to see so much of his perspective in the original film — it’s very much Ariel’s story, as it should be, but he doesn’t sing throughout the whole movie,” Phillips says. “What’s nice is Alan Menken got to expand on that in the Broadway musical and some of his adaptations for this particular performance and so you finally get some of that perspective.”
While Phillips promises that his Prince Eric is “certainly drawing from the original,” his performance has “so much more material” to draw on. “There’s a whole song, ‘Her Voice,’ where you finally get to hear why he’s obsessed with Ariel and what it feels like for him to not have love at first sight but to have love at first sound,” he says. “That is a super unique phenomenon that you brush over in the movie. You get a sense of how much her essence is bound with his soul with that song.”
Another way the classic love story gets expanded in ABC’s live musical is by helping fans understand more about how Prince Eric and Ariel are struggling with the same issues at the beginning of the tale.
“The first song, ‘Fathoms Below,’ you really get to explore how Prince Eric feels finally breaking out of the castle walls and all of his royal responsibilities,” Phillips says. “He finally feels free out on the ocean exploring uncharted waters. I love that because when I heard that song for the first time, I realized that he was going through the same thing that Ariel is. She’s stuck in a royal castle of her own, confined by royal protocol, dreaming about a life elsewhere, exploring the land up above. Meanwhile, Prince Eric is right above her on a ship exploring life on the sea.”
Phillips ended up gaining a deeper appreciation for how Prince Eric and Ariel fall in love thanks to The Little Mermaid Live! “It’s interesting that the story starts at a place where they’re ready to explore the unknown and the other and they find love in the other,” he adds. “It’s such a cool message for right now in particular, where there’s a lot of vilification of the other.”
And that strikes a chord with Phillips, who crafted his directorial debut film around that same issue. Along with his older brother Parker Phillips, the actor co-wrote, directed, and stars in the modern Western The Bygone as Kip Summer, a cowboy in North Dakota who meets a Native American woman right before she gets thrown into the underground world of trafficking.
“What I studied in college is U.S. history but I focused on Native American studies for my thesis, which focused on indigenous resistance to colonialism, specifically related to violence against Native women and the origins of that and how Native women have rallied across the centuries to combat it, even today with current legislative efforts going on,” Phillips says. “It’s something I had zero knowledge of and I was blown away by how pervasive it was. It was an issue I felt pretty strongly about — it really spoke to me.”
During his time writing his thesis, Phillips became inspired to write the script for The Bygone (out Nov. 12 on VOD). “One of the strongest microcosms that shows how these battles are still going on is in the North Dakota oil boom that happened recently because of fracking. With that oil boom came an influx of all-male workers to this one area where there wasn’t a lot of law enforcement and created a market for trafficking,” he says. “In those areas, the most vulnerable populations were once again Native women. They’re the most marginalized subdivision in the U.S. It reminded me of what I learned went down in the Gold Rush, so I thought, ‘Wow, how far have we really come as a country if we’re still going through the same patterns?'”
Because Phillips and his brother wanted to “do a modern-day Western that is relevant” for their first feature together, it was a no-brainer for him to use everything he had learned while writing his thesis to create a narrative about which he cared deeply. “We’re turning some Western stereotypes on their head,” Phillips says. “Predominantly instead of having a damsel in distress we wanted to have a powerful female Native heroine and went from there.”
And since Phillips knew that “there are very few people who know a lot about this issue,” he wanted to raise up as many voices as he could.
“When you find someone who does know about this, particularly in Indian country or somewhere in the Native community, they’re super passionate about it and a lot of them dedicate their lives to it and to combat it,” he says. “I met a lot of cool people doing this and one of them ended up in the film — Irene Bedard. She’s most well-known for voicing Pocahontas and she testified in front of congress about these issues. She’s been personally touched by this issue of violence targeting Native women. It was therapeutic for her to help tell a story that nobody really hears outside of Indian country.”
But before Phillips releases The Bygone, he’s going to have to face his toughest critic yet. “I have an 8-year-old niece Stella and she basically told me that if I messed up Prince Eric, she’d kill me,” he says with a laugh. “So I’m definitely far more nervous about what Stella thinks about my performance than I am about anyone or anything else. She’s going to be in the audience — she will be there with my mom. We’ll see how it goes and we’ll see how she likes it.”
The Little Mermaid Live! airs Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 4, 2019 16:35:39 GMT -5
From Playbill: Graham Phillips on Becoming Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid Live!
BY EMILY SELLECK
NOV 04, 2019
The Riverdale and stage alum tells Playbill he's hoping for a Broadway return following the live TV event, airing November 5.
Small screen star Graham Phillips, who in 2008 made his Broadway debut in 13, returns to his musical roots to play Prince Eric in ABC's The Little Mermaid Live!, airing November 5.
Since the Jason Robert Brown musical, he has made a name for himself with roles on such shows as The Good Wife and Riverdale. “My first love was theatre," he tells Playbill. “So I've always felt more comfortable on stage than I have in front of the camera.
“Even though Little Mermaid is in front of a camera, it’s live, so there's no room for pussyfooting around. You really have to commit.”
The Disney presentation, which weaves together live performances from a specially designed concert stage with clips from the original movie, will feature songs from the original 1992 film score and the Broadway adaptation, which played two blocks away from 13.
And unlike the original animated movie, Prince Eric sings in this version. “In the film he’s such a blank slate; he doesn’t even sing. Getting to learn these new songs and understand his perspective a little more was very cool,” Phillips says.
Following his seaside adventure, the actor hopes to return to familiar stomping grounds: “For quite a while I've felt like something was missing, and I've realized that it's singing, so my sights are definitely set on getting back on Broadway. I've been missing it for a long time.” |
|
|
|
Post by merprincess on Nov 4, 2019 21:51:10 GMT -5
I got invited to take part in the audience of this show! Unfortunately it's very last minute and I'm quite far away right now, so I won't be able to attend :( BUT, the producers did open up some more audience slots due to high demand! SO, if you’re nearby LA and want to be there in person to watch the show, check out these links! I wouldn’t want this opportunity to go to waste, I'd love to see some fandom representation there! Links here to register for the dress rehearsal and/or live taping: Dress Rehearsal: bck.lt/roles/775Live Taping: bck.lt/roles/774GO FORTH, MERFOLK!! |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 15:38:09 GMT -5
I hope in an international release. I want to see this movie. From PasteMagazine: Graham Phillips on The Little Mermaid Live! and Why Princes Are People Too
By Amy Amatangelo | November 5, 2019 | 2:15pm
Graham Phillips on <i>The Little Mermaid Live!</i> and Why Princes Are People Too
Tonight ABC takes viewers under the sea to make us part of the Little Mermaid’s world.
Graham Phillips takes over the iconic role of Prince Eric, a royal who hears Ariel’s (Auli’i Cravalho) voice and falls in love. Phillips is most familiar to viewers for the years he spent playing Alicia Florrick’s son Zach on The Good Wife. But his roots are in musical theater and before starring on the CBS drama, he played The Little Prince at the New York City Opera and the lead in the original Broadway production of 13.
Paste had the chance to talk to Phillips about singing live, how not to be nervous, and if viewers will get the chance to see Zach Florrick again.
Paste: Let’s start with the most basic question. How did you end up playing Prince Eric in Little Mermaid Live?
Graham Phillips: I knew there was a lot activity going on with Little Mermaid. I thought, “You know what? Why don’t I just start working on the music?” I’m always looking for new stuff to just work on to keep me sane because I don’t normally get to do that much singing and it’s my first artistic love. I had never seen the Broadway musical but I knew [composer] Alan Menken had written a new song for Prince Eric. I auditioned with an audition tape and they called me and it was actually pretty simple. They pretty much gave me the role in the room which was pretty awesome and had never happened to me before.
Paste: Tell me about the song “Her Voice” which is Prince Eric’s big number.
Phillips: The first time I heard the song Alan Menken had written for Prince Eric I was totally stunned by it. In my opinion it’s such a crucial part of the story. Obviously it’s the mermaid’s story 100% but Prince Eric is going through a very similar thing. As strange as it is for a mermaid to fall in love with a person, it’s just as odd for a person to fall in love with a mermaid. It’s very Romeo and Juliet so it’s kind of neat to finally hear Romeo’s perspective if you will.
Paste: You’ve done a lot of television and your roots are on Broadway. What’s it been like merging these two things?
Phillips: It’s definitely a unique preparation process. I’ve obviously done a lot of television work and a lot of theater work but when you blend them together it sort of becomes a different beast. We do have a live audience and thank God for them because having an audience in the room there’s just something electric that happens when you have all those people and it helps to raise your energy to meet them. That makes it all very exciting.
On the other hand you are hitting certain positions and tableaus which you know will work for the camera but isn’t necessarily the best position for the audience. I think the biggest difference you have to strike this delicate balance of what works for the audience in the room and what works for the cameras that are broadcasting in everyone’s living rooms.
Paste: Disney has really started to evolve and modernize their “princess canon” if you will. How will your Prince Eric be different?
Phillips: They’re showing this other side of Eric without betraying what’s true in the original. When you watch the original film you just don’t know that much about Prince Eric, he’s a little bit of a blank slate. What’s cool, because he’s a bit more of a blank slate, you get it infuse certain aspects of his personality that you maybe haven’t been able to see before. Certain questions he’s asking, certain wants that he has. It does feel a little bit more progressive. Why is this guy trying to get out of these castle walls? Why does he feel so much more at home when he’s exploring uncharted water? Why is he reaching out so much at this point in his life? Why is he so open at this point in his life that he would be able to fall in love with someone from a completely different world? You have to be in a particularly mindset and place in your life for that to be a possibility.
Just as you are seeing a lot of these iconic Disney princesses finding their voice in maybe ways they haven’t before, you’re also seeing the princes be more vulnerable in certain ways too.
When you see someone who is in a position of power, like a prince, able to express uncertainty or go against maybe what everyone would expect of him, you see that these princes are not made of stone. Princes are people too. [Laughs] Make that a hashtag.
Paste: How involved is the audience going to be in the production?
Phillips: The audience they’re all doing stuff. They’re all in some sort of costumes. When you enter this world everyone is taking an active part in holding this reality together. Most of the audience will have ear pieces in. My mom and my eight-year-old niece Stella are going to be in the audience. She’s a huge Little Mermaid fan.
Paste: How excited is she that her uncle is going to be Prince Eric?
Phillips: She’s very confused by this whole thing. She’s a very bright girl. For her these characters are still a reality. She knows I’m an actor. She totally gets what I’m doing but with a show as iconic as The Little Mermaid she doesn’t quite get how I can be the prince.
Paste:How is this whole blending of the animated film with the live action going to work?
Phillips: Quite frankly I didn’t understand it at all when I first signed on to it. The format is that there’s all the original songs including some no one has ever heard before that Alan Menken arranged specifically for this. I think there are a dozen songs in total. The animated feature carries us forward as far as the plot goes. All the scenes are carried forward by the original film but whenever you get to a song, there’s a rather clever transition that takes us into the sound stage at Disney.
Paste: Switching gears a bit, you left The Good Wife to attend Princeton. How big of a decision was it to leave a successful TV series where you were a series regular?
Phillips: It was a fairly big decision, but you have to understand my character was going to college at some point. It was a pretty easy decision for me mainly because at that point I had been home schooled for four years and I like being around people my own age. I had been working with adults for a lot of the time. I always felt very comfortable with people older than myself but I was really craving a normal social situation, and on top of that I knew I wanted to write and direct so I wanted to work on my writing. I also understand that it’s really difficult to be an artist in a vacuum. If you spend all your time acting I think it’s easy to run out of fuel. Because you’re not really experiencing new things and coming into contact with people who disagree with you.
Paste: And you were a history major?
Phillips: I was US history major but I did a bit of Native American history as well. For some reason I’ve always been drawn to all things Native American. It ended up inspiring a film my brother and I did called The Bygone. My brother and I wrote it and we directed it and I actually played the lead in it as well. The thesis that I wrote which was on indigenous resistance to colonialism. It was told particularly from the perspective of violence against native women
Paste: What’s next for you?
Phillips: As far as my acting is going I’ve really been focused on getting roles that use my voice. My focus in the broader sense is a focus on this film my brother and I are doing based on this novel called The Fighter by Michael Ferris Smith. It’s a really cool southern gothic noir fight movie about this middle age fighter in the Mississippi delta. It’s just such an incredible redemption story. We are filming that in April and right now we’re calling it Rumble Through the Dark.
Paste Any chance we will ever see Zach Florrick on The Good Fight?
Phillips: [Series creators] Robert and Michelle King reached out about a year ago when I think Juliana [Margulies] was in talks to do an episode and it didn’t end up working out. I did send an email letting them know I would love to revisit Zach. I’ve matured in certain ways. I now can look back and sort of interpret where Zach might be in this point of time. I heard hints of what they had thought Zach might be doing. He becomes a little bit of a rebel in certain ways, not in a rebel-without-a-cause-way, think more like Wikileaks business. I was really intrigued by everything they’ve told me so they’re aware of my interest and it seems like something that might end up happening in the next year or so.
Paste: So how nervous are you about the live show?
Phillips: You ask me this question as I’m walking into a yoga class. I’m not nervous and I’d like to keep it that way so I’m definitely taking very good care of myself. The important thing is to keep your mind off the worst-case scenarios. There are millions of reasons you should just be going for it in a positive way. There’s so much beauty to be found in a story like this to bring yourself down by thinking how you could screw up your entrance swinging in on a rope or flub a lyric, those thoughts are parasitic if you are doing something live. There’s really no room for it so I’ve decided to not make room for it. I’m feeling really good.
The Wonderful World of Disney Presents The Little Mermaid Live! airs November 4 at 8 p.m. on ABC. |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 15:42:55 GMT -5
From HollywoodLife:
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
NOVEMBER 5, 2019 8:58AM EST
‘Little Mermaid Live’s Graham PhillipsReveals He Gets To ‘Shed A Little Bit OfLight’ On Prince Eric
Graham Phillips is back to his musical roots in ‘The Little Mermaid Live!’ Graham is playing Prince Eric and spoke with HL EXCLUSIVELY about the epic live musical production, his biggest challenge, and more.
The Little Mermaid Live! will make its splashy debut on Nov. 5. Graham Phillips, 26, will be playing the swoonworthy role of Prince Eric and will show us a side of the Disney prince that we’ve never seen before. He stars alongside Auli’i Cravalho, 18, who plays Ariel, and Queen Latifah, 49, who plays Ursula. HollywoodLife talked EXCLUSIVELY with the actor about diving into the hybrid format, honoring the beloved Disney film after 30 years, and his favorite song in the production.
Graham revealed the song he performed for his Prince Eric audition and why he loves “Her Voice,” a song that wasn’t in the original film. He also admitted that his biggest challenge has been “learning to sing with monitors” in his ears. While he’s no stranger to stage work, he said the “size of this is definitely bigger” than anything he’s done before. Graham also discussed his upcoming projects, including the film he’ll be directing. Check out our Q&A below.
What was the process for you to get the role of Prince Eric?
Graham Phillips: I knew that they were doing the film version and so I was already looking at the music for that and I just fell in love with Alan Menken’s music. And so whether I was going to get the role or not, it was a fun thing for me to work on singing wise. I guess I was sort of lucky that I had already been preparing it for a while because I just heard through a friend of mine that this broadcast was happening and they were getting close to the end of it. I put in a call and expressed my interest and I went in for Dawn Soler, the head of ABC music, a few days after that. It was a very quick process. I just went in and sang the one song and they pretty much gave me the role in the room, which has never really happened to me before. I felt kind of bad about it because they had some other people that they were seeing that day afterward. And I was like, “Well, all these other people prepared as well.” But also, you never know. You can think that you get a role… he**, they can even tell you that you got a role and it doesn’t always mean you got it until you’re on stage doing it.
What was the song that you sang for the audition?
Graham Phillips: The song that I sang is called “Her Voice,” which is a song that wasn’t in the original film. It was added by Alan when they adapted it into the Broadway show. It’s a beautiful song. I think a lot of people who love the film are going to be really pleasantly surprised because it feels like such an iconic song that could have been in the original film. I bet most people that are watching it, it’ll be their first time hearing it. I just love it. The orchestrations are beautiful and it helps put you into Prince Eric’s head. I love the film but you don’t really know exactly what’s going on in Prince Eric’s head. It’s not his story, it’s the mermaid’s story. So it’s cool that they give Prince Eric this moment where you really understand him, that the forbidden love thing is on both sides and it’s a little bit more of a Romeo and Juliet story as opposed to just Juliet with Romeo.
Was coming on board the project intimidating for you at all?
Graham Phillips: Since I was born and bred in the theater world, it didn’t really intimidate me too much. The size of this is definitely bigger than I’m used to, just as far as the audience because it’s on television rather than a normal onstage shindig. It didn’t really faze me too much, but it’s definitely the biggest stage that I’ve been on. But at the same time, I’m a little unusual in the sense that I’ve always felt the least self-conscious on a stage versus whether I’m doing film or TV. You have to radiate out what you’re feeling and being authentic is the last thing on your mind. You’re feeding off of the energy of the audience and it’s just a different beast. So I definitely feel more comfortable when there are a lot of people watching, which is kind of bizarre.
I feel like The Little Mermaid Live! is going to be the perfect combination of the movie and the musical. It must feel great to open the eyes of the masses to other characters in the film that we necessarily didn’t get that much of in the movie.
Graham Phillips: It’s really exciting for me to play Prince Eric for that exact reason. Because most people never got to know him from the film. I get to shed a little bit of light on what kind of a guy he is or at least what my interpretation of that is. He does have a lot more going on than initially meets the eye. There’s a reason why he’s the sailor prince and he takes to the ocean to escape from the walls of his castle. He feels comfortable only when he’s exploring uncharted waters, that’s what makes him feel alive. I think it’s really telling that he feels like his destiny is off in the sea and he ends up finding Ariel out there. He’s at an age where he’s searching for something. Like a lot of the great love stories, he doesn’t know that it’s love. He’s out there looking for what maybe feels like adventure or something new and love just comes and hits him on the head with a pan.
What is your favorite song that Prince Eric will sing in The Little Mermaid Live?
Graham Phillips: Obviously, “Her Voice” is special for Prince Eric. It strikes a chord with what the heart of the story is. But “Fathoms Below,” which is the very first song that anyone’s going to hear when they tune in, is about the spirit of the sea. It’s about the excitement of being on a ship and going someplace unknown. I just think it really captures the essence of who Prince Eric is, but also the essence of what the whole show is about. Because it’s something very new, the excitement of getting into something that you’re not exactly sure how it’s going to turn out. That’s true for the audience as well, just in the sense that it’s a multi-medium live production. So in that sense, it’s very new. But it’s also very new for everyone who’s on stage. We’ve never done anything like this before because it hasn’t been done. It feels exciting. There’s almost a danger to it.
What was your initial reaction to this being a hybrid of mediums?
Graham Phillips: When I found out that it was going to be a hybrid version of the show with the musical numbers being live and the movie being screened to carry the plot forward and handle all of the scenes, I was really relieved because one of the things that I wasn’t so sure about was how we were going to compete with the original film. Because there are so many of those scenes that are so embedded in people’s heads. So to try to compete with that sense of nostalgia is just, in my eyes, impossible. Just the mechanics of doing a live show with a mermaid, having to swim around and everything, it just seems really challenging for two and a half hours straight. Thirdly, my last concern was that there are so many different unique locations and to do seamless scene transitions where you can really transform the space enough, seems really challenging. So I was really happy when they were going to be using the film as the foundation. I think it gives us a little bit more leeway with exploring new ideas in the songs. They’re very exciting because they’re different. But it’s nice for people to have a bit of what they already know as well, if we can get away with it.
What’s it been like working with Auli’i and collaborating with her on some really great songs and the cast as a whole?
Graham Phillips: I love working with Auli’i. She’s got such a great spirit. I feel like she’s a perfect mermaid in that she’s very thoughtful but she’s free-spirited. Just the way that she sings even, she really exposes her feelings in a way that’s very natural and not performative. You can naturally hear her emotion in her sound. I think that’s really rare and something that’s important for Ariel. We have a duet that we’re singing in this that has never been done before. So that’ll be really fun to hear people’s reactions to that. It’s a unique story between the two of them because they don’t really spend all that much time together. The time they do spend together, they don’t really get to speak all that much. So in some ways, it is like love at first sight story because even though they’re with each other, they don’t get to learn all that much about each other after that initial electric first moment. So it’s really important that you have two people that can have that chemistry and I feel like she really makes it easy.
Over the course of rehearsals and getting into character, what’s been the most challenging aspect for you?
Graham Phillips: Honestly, the most challenging thing has been learning to sing with monitors in your ears. I grew up learning to sing without anything in my ears. I heard my voice through the natural environment. Even when I record in a studio, I have one headset off of my ear so I can hear what my voice sounds like in an ambient environment. But then, because of the nature of the space and just how they’re having to isolate the sound, your monitor is completely soundproof. So you’re hearing your voice basically piped back into your ears, after going through the sound equipment. Your voice sounds completely different. Just learning to retrain yourself to not be bothered by that and not be hyper-focused on what you sound like. Because I find that I sound best when I’m not thinking about how I sound. So that’s been the biggest challenge.
I can’t believe it’s been 30 years since the movie came out. What do you think makes The Little Mermaid Live! so timeless?
Graham Phillips: I think the theme of people feeling trapped in the routine of their life is something that will never really go away. You have young Prince Eric on one side who is trapped in his seemingly perfect life in a castle where he should really have no problems, and yet he’s fairly unhappy with that life and is trying to escape from it. Likewise you have Ariel, who is trapped inside of a different sort of castle and trying to reach out for something new and different. It just goes to show that no matter how fortunate you are, how good of a life you have, or how good of a life other people think you have, there’s always this part of all of us that wants to connect with others. For every piece of fear in us towards things and people who are different than us, there’s this capacity for love on the other side of things.
You also have so many other projects coming up. What’s next for you?
Graham Phillips: On the completely other end of the spectrum, my brother and I have been working on the other side of camera. We have a modern-day western that we filmed that took place in North Dakota. It comes out November 11 and it’s called The Bygone. It sort of deals with the oil fracking boom in North Dakota and this cowboy who falls in love with this Native American girl who disappears. You have to figure out what happened to her, as she’s fighting her way through this wild borderland of crime and the North Dakota Badlands. What’s interesting is there are actually some similar themes between The Little Mermaid and The Bygone, which I hadn’t really thought about. But again, there’s this theme of two groups of people that you sort of see as different and incompatible in some ways. And in The Little Mermaid, it’s humans and merpeople. And in The Bygone, it’s cowboys and Indians. By the end of both, you realize that they’re not as different as you think. They’re going through a lot of the same things.
You’re also going to be directing!
Graham Phillips: So the next film that we’re doing is based on this novel called The Fighter, written by this incredible Mississippi author Michael Farris Smith. The screenplay title is Rumble Through the Dark and it’s about this middle-aged, illegal cage fighter in the Mississippi Delta who’s deeply in debt and has bad amnesia from all the fights that he did growing up. Basically, it leads up to this one last fight to get himself out of debt and to take care of his elderly mom and get her house back for her. There’s just such unbelievable characters and we’re going into casting right now and I can’t wait to get the cast together. We had been shooting B-roll in Mississippi already and it’s such a unique part of the U.S. There’s just so much history there. There are so many souls there that are still like floating around, be it slaves or soldiers. It’s just where a lot of the U.S. became what it is today.
You’ve obviously been acting a really long time. Have you always wanted to step behind the camera or was this something that you realized pretty recently?
Graham Phillips: I’ve always been messing around with cameras as long as I can remember. Taking them apart, trying to put them back together again, sometimes putting them back together again. I always wanted to be on the other side of camera. I’d say when I was like 13 or 14 I really started piecing together footage into stories. The thing was, I always knew I wanted to do it with my brother. He’s a really talented writer. He’s five years older than me. So we were really just waiting for me to get out of college. Because when I was in high school, he was in college. Then when he graduated, I was in college. So we started The Bygone while I was still writing my thesis at Princeton, which was actually on Native American issues in the United States. That’s sort of what inspired the first film, this problem of violence against Native women and this parallel between how people treat their land and how they treat their women. We’ve always wanted to make films. Now we’re finally getting to do it and we’re loving it. |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 15:47:10 GMT -5
From Playbill: John Stamos Returns to the Role of The Little Mermaid's Chef Louis, False Mustache and All
BY NOAH MUTTERPERL
NOV 05, 2019
The stage and screen star will appear as the “poisson-loving” chef in the live musical on ABC November 5.
As actor John Stamos waited backstage at the Hollywood Bowl for his big song in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, he mentally prepared himself to portray the eccentric Chef Louis. However, once he had the chef’s giant mustache on, his transition into character was instantaneous.
“I put on that mustache and something came over me,” Stamos said. “I had a sense of bravado with the character that I didn’t have before.”
After his energetic rendition of “Les Poisson” (a song about Chef's love of brutally cutting apart dead fish) at the Hollywood Bowl, Stamos was asked to don the over-the-top mustache one last time for ABC's The Little Mermaid Live!, premiering November 5.
“What’s great playing this character is that he can flip at any moment; one second he loves the fish, the next he’s going to murder them,” Stamos said. “He’s like a Sweeney Todd character in that way.”
Unlike previous live musicals on major networks, The Little Mermaid Live! is a hybrid of the animated feature and live performances. This Tuesday, the original 1989 movie will play on ABC, but for each song, the program will cut to a live, fully designed and choreographed musical number. The live portion of the event will feature 12 of Alan Menken’s songs from both The Little Mermaid film and the Broadway stage adaptation.
Read: What to Expect from The Little Mermaid Live on ABC
“This event is the perfect combination of the old and the new,” Stamos said, “Fans of the original get to sit down and watch the movie they love but with some extra zhuzh.”
Stamos is joined by a star-studded cast including Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) as Ariel, Graham Phillips (The Good Wife) as Prince Eric, Queen Latifah as Ursula, and reggae artist Shaggy as Sebastian. Hamish Hamilton, known for his work on numerous Super Bowl half time shows, directs the live television event.
“The team has created a really safe environment for us to play around in and try new things,” Stamos says on the rehearsal process for the production. He mentioned that his musical number in particular will feature dancing, knife throwing, and interaction with the live studio audience.
“We’re really having a blast, and hopefully the audience at home will too!”
The Little Mermaid Live! airs Tuesday, November 5 at 8 pm EDT/ on ABC.Video |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 15:51:32 GMT -5
From Inquisitr: John Stamos Shares Backstage Photo As Chef Louis In ‘The Little Mermaid Live!,’ Fans Say He Looks Like Stavros
The actor's Chef Louis character looks like a 'Full House' villain.
ANDREW ECCLES / ABC TV
Victoria Miller
John Stamos is bringing life to Chef Louis in The Little Mermaid Live!, but fans think he looks like a Full House character. After the actor posted several photos of himself dressed up as the fish-loving chef made famous in the 1989 Disney movie, Instagram followers said he looked more like Cousin Stavros, the character Stamos played in a dual role on the classic ABC sitcom he starred in back in the 1990s.
Stamos, who has been teasing his Chef Louis role in the live ABC musical for weeks, posted a backstage photo which showed him wearing a white chef’s hat and suit and a bushy mustache. Fan comments on the post were priceless as the 56-year-old actor was compared to the creepy Katsopolis cousin he played 25 years ago on Full House.
“Stavros is back!!’ one fan wrote.
“Def look like Stavros on Full House with the mustache,” another wrote.
“Stavros? Is that you?” another fan asked.
Several other fans thought Stamos looked like he was playing food mascot Chef Boyardee instead of Chef Louis. Others pegged him for another movie role.
“You look like Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook in the movie Hook,” a fan wrote to Stamos.
While all of the observations were on point, there’s no doubt Stamos resembles Stavros the most in the new photo, which can be seen below.
If you need the backstory on Stavros Katsopolis, Stamos played his character, Uncle Jesse’s, lookalike con-artist cousin in a dual role in the Full House episode “Kissing Cousins” back in 1994. The sleazy womanizer tried to seduce Jesse’s wife, Becky (Lori Loughlin), in the Season 7 episode.
While Stamos’ Stavros only appeared in one episode of Full House’s eight-season run, the character remains one of the most memorable from the series.
Of course, Stamos left Stavros back in the ’90s and is happy to move on as he gets set to play Chef Louis in The Little Mermaid Live! In addition to his backstage photo, the actor posted some rehearsal footage alongside drawings of the animated version of his character. |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 15:53:41 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 16:00:28 GMT -5
From ENews: Of Course Auli'i Cravalho Is Nervous Taking on The Little Mermaid Live
by CHRIS HARNICK | Tue., Nov. 5, 2019 10:52 AM
From Moana to Ariel, it's all in a day's work for Auli'i Cravalho. But the Disney star knows just how special her role is in The Little Mermaid Live.
"It's fantastic. I am having such a wonderful time. I get to put on the iconic red wig, I get to bring my own life to her, I get to sing the iconic songs, I couldn't be happier," Cravalho told E! News in advance of the Tuesday, Nov. 5 live performance.
Cravalho stars opposite Queen Latifah, Shaggy, John Stamos and Graham Phillips in The Little Mermaid Live, a hybrid special including the original animated movie, puppets and live-action performances. The special, and Cravalho's involvement, was announced in August. So, what was it like when she found out she got the iconic role of Ariel?
"I remember there was a lot of screaming," she said. Cravalho said she was with her mom and they both freaked out, especially when they realized Cravalho will get to play both not one, but two Disney princesses already.
"I remember freaking out about that for a very long time. I'm so grateful to have been able to play Moana, and now I get to have another Disney princess that's associated to the water. I am truly so blessed," she said.
The Little Mermaid LiveABC
And with the excitement comes nerves, Cravalho admitted. "My stomach is full of nerves right now…I've spoken to Jodi Benson who is the original voice actress of Ariel, and I just really want to do her proud," she said. Plus, her family will be watching. "There are a lot of motivating factors to just give my all on stage," she said.
Click play on the video above to hear more from Cravalho about the special and working with her costars.
The Little Mermaid Live airs Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Video |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 16:03:43 GMT -5
From USAToday: 'Little Mermaid Live!': Auli'i Cravalho has prepped for Ariel with 'a lot of ab exercises'
Erin Jensen USA TODAY
Published 8:10 AM EST Nov 5, 2019
Thirty years ago, Disney's "The Little Mermaid" became "Part of Your World."
To pay tribute to the animated 1989 feature, ABC will air “The Wonderful World of Disney presents The Little Mermaid Live!” Tuesday (8 EST/delayed PST), a hybrid musical event that combines the original movie with live performances of its songs. Ahead of the show, USA TODAY spoke with Auli'i Cravalho, who plays mermaid-who-wants-to-be-human Ariel, the girl with "gadgets and gizmos aplenty" and "whozits and whatzits galore."
The 18-year-old star, who made her acting debut as the title character in 2016's "Moana," spoke to USA TODAY last week from Portland, Oregon, where she's shooting her next film, "Sorta Like a Rock Star," and preparing for "Little Mermaid" rehearsals.
Question: You get to play Ariel! How are you feeling about that?
Auli'l Cravalho: I’m so excited! (screams) About a month ago, I think, I got to try on the wig for the first time, and it was crazy to see myself in the mirror with red hair. Then they put a red kind of dye in my eyebrows. And it made me look like, obviously, a completely different person, but it definitely put me in the headspace of Ariel, and I cannot wait to put on that iconic wig again.
Q: What can viewers expect when they tune in?
Cravalho: They can expect the amazing classic songs: “Under the Sea,” “Part of Your World,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls.” And then we also have some amazing songs from the Broadway version of “Little Mermaid,” which I’m really excited to sing because they’re new songs for many of the people, at least for those who are mostly familiar with the animation classic. Those are songs that kind of add some new life to the performance. We have, of course, Queen Latifah (Ursula the sea witch), Shaggy (Sebastian the crab), Graham Phillips (Prince Eric), an amazing cast – John Stamos (Chef Louis) – who are gonna add some really great flavor and new life to these classic characters as well.
Q: Do you have a favorite song to perform?
Cravalho: “Part of Your World” is really exciting to me because I get to do some aerial work in that. So Ariel gets to do aerial work, which I think is also the best pun in the world. And I’m really, really excited. I’ve been doing a lot of ab exercises, I’ve been doing a lot of crunches, a lot of planks.
Q: You mentioned aerials. What other tricks will be used to make it appear that the actors are underwater?
Cravalho: We have the animation playing for most of the show, except for the live performances. We have a fantastic stage that’s been created to really feel like an underwater kind of extravaganza. There’s wonderful puppeteers (who) are going to be scattered throughout the audience, and the audience will get to participate in the live show, wearing costumes, having props. So all in all, I think it will be a fantastic night for the live viewers and the people at home.
Q: I know there are reports of a “Moana” sequel? Is there anything you can share about that? Have you heard anything about that?
Cravalho: My lips stay sealed on that, but I’m really excited for whatever Disney’s coming up with.
Q: So, you would be on board for a sequel?
Cravalho: Yeah, yeah I would.
Q: Growing up, what were your favorite childhood movies?
Cravalho: I really loved “Mulan.” I loved “The Little Mermaid.” I suppose I really enjoyed the characters that went above and beyond to try something new and learn more about themselves. And I felt like "Mulan" and "The Little Mermaid" did that for me.
Q: When you tried out for "Moana," that’s obviously taking a risk and trying to do something beyond your current circumstances.
Cravalho: Yes, it was. I was a freshman in high school, and I didn’t think I was going to get into really anything musical. I didn’t think I was gonna get into the industry at all. I grew up in Hawaii. I didn’t think there were any jobs, really, that would come my way. But I was interested in microbiology, and so in kind of a twist of fate, my mom was like, 'Hey, so maybe you should actually go and try out for this.’ And I was like, 'No, I’m really nervous. I don’t think it will work out, anyway.’ And she was like, ‘Look, when an opportunity presents itself, you’ve got to go for it.’ And, I’m really glad that I followed her advice.
|
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 16:08:09 GMT -5
From UPI: 'Little Mermaid Live!': 'Moana' star Auli'i Cravalho is a Disney princess again
ByFred Topel
Auli'i Cravalho plays Ariel in "The Little Mermaid Live." File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
Nov. 5 (UPI) -- As the voice of Disney's first islander princess Moana, Auli'i Cravalho never thought she'd get to play another Disney princess. But now she'll play Ariel in a live performance of The Little Mermaid.
"I'm not a greedy person," Cravalho told UPI in a recent interview. "I figure, 'Oh my gosh, one Disney princess, I'm set for life' and I truly am. I get to say that I am Moana for the rest of my life and now I'm honestly very honored."
The Little Mermaid has another Moana connection, too. Ron Clements and John Musker directed both the animated Little Mermaid and Moana.
"Because it's Ron Clements and John Musker, my wonderful directors from Moana, I get to pay homage to them for that 30th anniversary of Little Mermaid," Cravalho said.
Released in 1989, The Little Mermaid kick-started Walt Disney's animation renaissance, which continued through the '90s with Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and Mulan. Cravalho is 18, so she never saw The Little Mermaid in theaters.
"I only saw it at home," she said. "It definitely came out before I was born. It definitely shaped my childhood, but I can't remember exactly when I saw it."
Based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, little mermaid Ariel lived in the sea with her friend Sebastian, the crab. Queen Ursula gave Ariel the chance to be human and walk on two legs. She fell in love with Eric, but Ursula had nefarious plans all along.
The Little Mermaid Live! not only will be a new princess role for Cravalho, but it also will challenge her to perform a live show in front of an audience.
"I didn't really get cast in many live musicals or live plays in high school, so I'm putting in a lot of extra work," Cravalho said. "I'm really excited for it, though, but it's very different from live-action or anything that's ever on tape."
Cravalho said even the question about a live performance gave her butterflies.
"Talking about it makes me even more nervous," she said.
The cast is filled with musicians who have entertained live audiences for their entire career, and Cravalho is relying on them.
"I have the most incredible people on my side," she said. "We've got Shaggy playing Sebastian and Queen Latifah as Ursula, so I know that I've got a lot of support from very experienced and wonderful people in the industry."
Cravalho will sing Ariel's song, "Part of Your World." Jodi Benson's rendition in the animated film has been famous for three decades.
"I get to sing it in my own voice," Cravalho said. "I, of course, listen to the incredible Jodi Benson in her gorgeous voice, but I myself sound a little bit different, so I can't wait to work with [songwriter] Alan Menken and let him hear what I've got."
Disney also is producing a live-action feature film adaptation of The Little Mermaid.
Halle Bailey will play Ariel in the film, so between the live-action movie and the live special, there will be a black and islander Ariel. Cravalho is Hawaiian.
"It's definitely time to make representation count, and I think it's beautiful to have different mermaids," Cravalho said. "I absolutely love that Halle is being cast. I myself am very honored to play this role as Ariel, and I think there's so much room for so many different types of Ariels, as well."
Cravalho had a regular role on NBC's short-lived Rise and an episode of Jordan Peele's Weird City. She will play Wendla Bergman in a film adaptation of Spring Awakening. During this time, she managed to finish high school, too.
"I graduated from high school in 2018," Cravalho said. "I got my diploma from my school in Hawaii, which is a very big win for me. I did all of my schooling online, as well as communicated with my teachers back at home to make sure that I graduated from my original school."
The roles keep coming, so Cravalho is holding off on college plans.
"I'm excited about the prospect of college," Cravalho said. "I don't exactly know what I want to go in for yet. I've also been told, excuse the pun, to ride the wave of this incredible journey that I'm on as far as acting and, well, the industry of entertainment, and I truly love it. It's definitely in my future. Just not right now."
Although Cravalho wrapped Moana years ago, it still plays daily in many children's homes.
"Whenever I hear kids say, 'Oh my gosh, you're so inspiring' and I say, 'Yeah, Moana really is,'" Cravalho said. "I still find my inspiration in her, as well."
The Wonderful World of Disney Presents The Little Mermaid Live! airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC. |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 16:10:51 GMT -5
From CinemaBlend: TELEVISION
What It's Like For The Little Mermaid Live's Auli’i Cravalho To Play Both Ariel And Moana
WRITTEN BY JESSICA RAWDEN
Cravalho has had a big last few years in Hollywood. In fact, the Hawaiian actress has gotten to play not one, but two Disney Princesses; or at least, she will once The Little Mermaid Live! airs on ABC. At that point she’ll have both Moana and Ariel under her belt.
Obviously, it’s easy to see why this is a big deal. Most people never get the opportunity to play one Disney princess, much less two. However, if you’ve been wondering what the opportunity has been like for Auli’i Cravalho, the actress recently revealed it’s been hard for her to describe, noting,
I don't know that there really is a way to describe the feeling of being able to play two Disney princesses. I am so honored to be not only Moana but lend my voice to Ariel. I couldn't imagine -- well, I don't think there are any more water princesses. I think I did them all.
I hadn’t even thought to connect the fact that Moana is an island princess who craves sailing and Ariel is a water princess who craves land until Auli’i Cravalho made these comments in an interview with EW, but she’s right. Most of Disney’s other princesses are firmly landlocked. Although, it’s worth pointing out we’ve seen Elsa trying to tame a raging ocean in one of the first look clips at Frozen II. Perhaps next Disney can create another water-oriented princess for Auli’i Cravalho to tackle.
As for The Little Mermaid Live!, the new program has been coming together over at ABC since 2017, but was postponed at one point due to budgetary issues before getting revived in 2019. At one point it looked like it might never happen, but then Auli’i Cravalho was cast back in August and the cast continued to fill out in the months subsequent. We've seen some early looks behind the scenes and more, which have revealed the actual movie will be playing along with the live action, and Cravalho has said this production will also not be "taking any liberties" with the original film's plot.
Although fans have seen these types of Live! productions before, The Little Mermaid Live! will actually be the first foray for ABC, so it's no real shock the network would want to go with such a notable property. What is interesting is the timing, considering ABC's parent company Disney also has it's own live-action version of The Little Mermaid in the works. That version will star Halle Bailey and other notable names and isn't expected to be released until 2021.
The TV production, however, is actually set to air on November 5 at 8 p.m. ET. So it's release is imminent. After which, Auli'i Cravalho can officially declare herself a Disney princess twice over. |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 16:14:18 GMT -5
From ABC7News: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Auli'I Cravalho, John Stamos, Queen Latifah ready to go under the sea with 'The Little Mermaid Live!'
Sandy Kenyon reports on "The Little Mermaid Live."
Tuesday, November 5, 2019 7:04PM
LAS VEGAS (WABC) -- Disney animated magic comes to life once again with a live action performance of "The Little Mermaid" on Tuesday night.
The show is expected to be unlike anything else. It will include parts of the animated movie and live performances.
Entertainment reporter Sandy Kenyon has more on the live action performance of 'The Little Mermaid.'
At the center of the live broadcast soars teenager Auli'I Cravalho as Ariel.
But she is backed up by an army both off screen and on.
Musician Shaggy will play Sebastian the crab. His experience performing live is vital for the new version of "The Little Mermaid."
"I've done these kinds of live situations so I don't know if there's a nervousness or craziness that's supposed to be, I'm just really excited and really happy to bring the character back in to give a Caribbean feel to it and all of that," he said.
The pivotal role of Ursula will be played by Queen Latifah.
"The actual movie will be playing, but then there are these musical numbers that go live," she said. "You'll see the characters pop-out and come to life."
RELATED: 'The Little Mermaid': Fun facts to celebrate movie's 30th anniversary
The cast has been in Las Vegas to practice going back and forth between the film and the live performances.
It all sounded pretty complicated to Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest when Queen Latifah visited "Live with Kelly and Ryan," but they all agreed the costumes are great.
"Wait til you see it, I got this latex number and my tentacles? My tentacles. Don't get me started on my tentacles," Queen Latifah said.
"The Wonderful World of Disney presents "The Little Mermaid Live!" on Tuesday, November 5th at 8|7c on ABC.
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of this station.Video |
|
|
|
Post by veu on Nov 5, 2019 18:17:55 GMT -5
From Variety: ‘The Little Mermaid Live’ Team Talks More Musical Numbers, Aerial Work and Understudies
By Danielle Turchiano
The live television musical is a genre that has seen great evolution over the years. Some productions have employed inside/outside settings, while others have incorporated 360-degree oners, and many have created immersive experiences where the audience is part of the production. For ABC’s first foray into this special area of artistry, it is upping the ante further: “The Wonderful World of Disney: The Little Mermaid Live” mixes live-action song-and-dance numbers featuring puppetry, aerial work and live animals with the animation of the 30-year-old classic film.
“Everybody wanted to do something a little different,” executive producer Raj Kapoor tells Variety. “We had this whole creative team that comes from a vast range of experiences, and everyone wanted to put their own spin on it because we see this as blending the theatrical version with the feature film version with a live awards show meeting elements of the Super Bowl.”
The process to develop Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” into a live television event began more than two years ago, Kapoor explains. But a mere four months ago the creative team he references, which includes the other producers, director Hamish Hamilton and production designer Misty Buckley, started “dissecting the movie — examining how we were going to get in and out of the feature film to our live performances,” he continues.
Unlike past live television musicals, “The Little Mermaid” will play scenes from the original animated film on a screen in Stage 2 on the Burbank, Calif. Walt Disney Studios lot. This will keep the action of the story going as the crew resets the stage for next musical number, during which live-action performers will take the stage.
“Everything that you love about the movie is still intact. We literally just burst off the screen to do these musical numbers,” says John Stamos, who first played Chef Louis in the 2016 production of “The Little Mermaid” at the Hollywood Bowl and now reprises him for ABC.
For Stamos, being a part of ABC’s version is a chance to go “deeper into what I came up with” for the Hollywood Bowl version. “I started thinking this guy was insane, really, so I just wanted to play into that, and they were like, ‘Great, go with it.’ He’s a serial killer for fish and crabs, but he’s just manic. And with the Hollywood Bowl you sort of just stood there and did the thing, but with this, I’m chopping fish and I’m chasing crabs, and I get rid of one crab and there’s another one, and then I think I’ve got all of the crabs cooked and one comes out of the sky. It’s really incredible,” he says.
Enhancing the physicality of Chef Louis while he sings his infamous “Les Poissons” is just the tip of the iceberg for how ABC’s version of “The Little Mermaid” is expanding upon the iconic music of the story, though. While Kapoor admits that composer “Alan Menken’s original score is a masterpiece,” he shares they had the ability to re-score the project so that “even the movie that’s being played has an entirely new in-hand score, so the audio dynamics completely match what will be recorded live.” The production brought in a 45-piece orchestra for this new score — which will be featured on the show’s soundtrack, dropping the same night as the television event.
But that is not all that has been tweaked. Auli’i Cravalho, who plays the titular Ariel, shares that her version of the character is “a little bit more sassy” than in the animated film. “I think she’s got a little bit more spunk to her,” she says. “Admittedly that is myself, that’s also what I brought to Moana: She’s strong and she wants to do something different from her parents and from those around her.”
Graham Phillips, who plays Prince Eric, says there will be new insight given into his character, as well. “He’s lost both of his parents, and he’s decided to go off on a ship, and [when] he goes off on this adventure, he finds this girl who, literally, when he falls overboard brings him back to life. There’s something really interesting about that need to get back into a place where he feels alive again,” he says. “Sometimes it feels like there’s a girl he has a crush on, but it’s a lot more than that: If it wasn’t for her, he wouldn’t be alive and he wouldn’t have his vitality back after God knows how long of him being in the dumps.”
The spoken dialogue of the film will play as animated, but “The Little Mermaid Live” will lean heavier on the music to reach its audience emotionally. For this, too, Kapoor says the production made notable changes, including altering some of the lyrics “because things that people reacted to 30 years ago are a little different now, and we wanted to maybe have Ariel be a little more present and feel like she had a little more of a voice, even when she doesn’t.” But they also wanted to be able to celebrate some of the featured characters in a new and unique way.
While the 1989 film had four iconic character songs, ABC’s version is tripling that, in part by pulling from some of the material that was developed for the Broadway version of the story. This allows for the “Daughters of Triton” number that originally last for less than a minute in the movie to become more of a centerpiece for the characters of Ariel’s sisters, introduced by a brand-new emcee character, played by Amber Riley.
“I kind of channeled Whitney Houston,” Riley says of her character.
Additionally, Prince Eric, who never sang in the animated film, is now a part of four out of the 12 numbers.
“I started out doing opera and Broadway and whatnot, so it feels like a homecoming for me,” says Phillips. “I’ve always felt more comfortable on stage, doing something live, than I do on camera for some reason. In a strange way it feels less contrived because there’s a degree of commitment that requires you to really be fully present that you don’t always get when you’re doing 15 takes. You’ve only got one shot at this.”
In order to adequately prepare for the one-take on show night, the performers have been working for approximately a month, taking part in costume fittings and choreography rehearsals with choreographers RJ Durell and Nick Florez, which led to camera blocking and tech rehearsals. Those performers who will be taking flight in the show, such as Cravalho, also went to Las Vegas to have aerial rehearsal with Fly by Foy.
“I’m in a harness — in a tail, in a wig, in full hair and makeup and singing. It’s been challenging, but I’ve loved the challenge,” she says. “I do crunches before getting into the harness to tighten my core and not to get injured.”
The first full dress rehearsal for the cast did not take place until the day before the live show, on Monday, Nov. 4. In fact, some of the performers, such as Stamos and Shaggy (who plays Sebastian) had not even met until the dress rehearsal.
“No pun but I’m like a fish out of water, really. But that was also part of the excitement of why I wanted to do it. I’ve never done anything like this theatrical production — and I think if they had offered me this 10 years ago, I would have probably said no. But where I am in my career, in my mind, what I’ve already accomplished and done, it feels like the right time,” Shaggy says.
Although the role of Sebastian the crab went to a human, “The Little Mermaid Live” is not shying away from different representations of different animals. Many of the fish and other underwater creatures are done as puppets, for example, but Prince Eric’s beloved dog Max is a real dog — the only live animal in the show. Bagel, an English Sheepdog, plays Max the dog, and came with her trainer to all of the rehearsals that her human costars had to.
“Our show is so layered with people flying and puppeteers, and we also have a dog, but we also have kids. I think the youngest people in our cast are eight years old, but we also have people in our cast who are 72 years old. We have a live audience of about 500 who will get to take part in an interactive way, with performers coming into the audience and bubbles for the kids,” says Kapoor. “We wanted to celebrate all different ethnicities, all different body types, all different ages and have people feel like they could be part of our show. We kind of have everything under the sun because we wanted it to be a family celebration.”
Prior to going true live, the production is running through the show three full times. Kapoor notes that they “definitely have understudies and we are taping all three of our full run-throughs.” After performer Brennin Hunt broke his foot ahead of Fox’s live version of “Rent” in January, the team behind “The Little Mermaid Live” wanted to make sure they had a contingency plan. Fox ended up airing the previous night’s performance, which had been shot live-to-tape, and then went true live for the final act.
“We would never want to have to do what Fox did, but that is one of our backups as well,” Kapoor admits.
Yet, injuries aside, Stamos is one performer who believes the fun of a live show is seeing something go wrong. “Unless you’re screwing up or something funny happens, you may not really know it’s live. I remember they did ‘ER’ live years ago and the east coast one went so perfect they told [George] Clooney, ‘In the next one, kick a camera, mess it up a little bit.’ So that’s what I’m going to do,” he says.
“The Little Mermaid Live” airs Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. |
|
|
|
Post by yougottaloveariel on Nov 5, 2019 20:12:10 GMT -5
I'M WATCHING IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FEW MINUTES IN AND SCENES MISSING!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
|
|
|
|
Post by yougottaloveariel on Nov 5, 2019 22:41:49 GMT -5
OK NOW FIRST Ms. Lara nice to see you are still with us and as to your situation with going to CA Welcome to My World!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So lets get to it a "review"(rant) of what was just broadcast first a FEW ISSUES THERE Was some problems with my connection (The robotic warning voice claiming my computer was Compromised on my computer earlier was not to hopeful) did resolve it hopefully and after thirty years you are gonna gat to comparisons from a broken 20 something old and a current 50 something old so Ms. Lara other moderators gonna try to keep language down BUT expect a @$%^&*ing compromise THAT being said...…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. For those unfamiliar my last trip to Disney was in 1992 as a graduation present so among other things I MADE SURE I saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid (AFTER Leansa Cornet Ms America 1992) was in it What ABC Did tonite was pretty much that stage show WITH bigger stars AND A MUCH LARGER Budget and it was IMPRESSIVE This is what Disney does best when they put their mind (and wallet) to it AND WHAT THE HADES THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE WITH THE @#$%^&*ING BROADWAY SHOW SADLY a college friend of mine did not live to see this for he took his life in 2012 but I think he would have liked if NOT loved this The set Design was nice as were the costumes and stunts Many attempts have been tried with LM as Live and the biggest problem was convincingly doing this live the reason primarily it does not work budget I saw a version performed by a regional theater which was CLEARLY on a fixed budget AND YET they did a fantastic job due to the fact that though flawed the film HAS a solid story BUT LETS GET THIS UT of the way now the cons...……...The Mics the actors were using wee a tad bit distracting on there faces I know why they are there but As stated the film is shown with the "live" stuff just like the Studio attraction though that is shorter BUT scenes from film were missing(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)Trivial BUT STILL Second NOT ALL THE SONGS (cept for the films) are not present World Above was NOT in the version I saw If only is there BUT Only Ariel and Eric no Triton or Sebastain Also no One Dance And then we have "Ariel" Auli'i Cravalho since I will be posting many a statement bad (AND good trust me) and it will be easier to type I shall refer to her as Moana She comes on stage and though a pretty girl (for me 33 years too late) and a good singer some of her takes on Part Of Your World are not well as great as Jodi Benson and why should they be for she is NOT Jodi Benson and this IS a good thing Lea Salonga or Judy Kuhn would have been better BUT she does a decent job here The biggest problem singing just a tad too fast. In an article about Howard Ashman years ago he stated that certain singers handle lyrics differently hnce a reason for Jodi Benson getting Ariel' voice job they worked with her before But Moana was good as our favorite mermaid the red wig was a bit of a problem but that is a bane in playing Ariel WHAT SHADE OF RED is her hair color?  ?? I assumed it was like Star Trek Next Generations Gates McFadden but EVEN SHE wears wigs and since she is older then me (but aged well mind you ) can not be certain what is real even with young red heads for like "natural Blondes" highlights are used. The actress in Once Upon A time Joana Swisher was quite good as Ariel BUT the hair color...………….. Plus I am sure if I could see this live it would have been better BUT...….. Sebatain after being built up was not terrible but NOT Sam Wright so a little disappointment there Most problems are trivial and I can safely say this WAS better then the I pad thing in 2013 HOW IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE That being said the GOOD Moana as Ariel was NOT terrible just some delivery problems During Under Da Sea there was some Add Libbing AND IT #$%^&ING WORKS PERFECTLY WHY WAS THIS NOT DONE IN THE BROADWAY SHOW? ? The performance itself was Excellent all the preformers the puppets the motions ALL BEAUTIFUL AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN @$#%^ WELL DONE IN THE BROADWAY SHOW and yet...…………. as was the opening number THAT IS HOW I ALWAYS ENVISIONED IT cept the boat would be moving across the stage ala rollers And Queen Latifah as Ursula...……………………………………………..SHE SHOULD BE IN THE 2021 FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT since Pat Carroll have we got such a great performance the only flaw too short I would have liked to see her tackle The Good Times back BUT...…….. Thirty years ago this film came out and has been a big part in my life since but as time goes by things change as is your views on life and still get a emotional response when the songs are done right as they were mostly here BUT nothing can top the film experience in a dark theater with a Cadbury Bar all those years ago Not Perfect this was at least a Valiant effort for the changing times so maybe just maybe Hallie Bailey just might do well That being said this is one of the best things Disney has done with Ariel in thirty years AND WHAT SHOULD AHVE BEEN DONE in the years between if ONLY I COULD HAVE GOTTEN THAT %^&ING JOB AT DISNEY (STILL DESERVE IT more then 75 % of what works there now BUT Gonna sign off now as I deal with my emotions here with the lose of friends potential and were and broken romance this is a step in the right direction and now I can say I saw it and KINDA believe hopefully it will get better AND HOPEFULLY will get to Disney Worl this Dec for a "BETTER" vid of Voyage and the hotel if all falls into place good night  |
|
?? I assumed it was like Star Trek Next Generations Gates McFadden but EVEN SHE wears wigs and since she is older then me (but aged well mind you ) can not be certain what is real even with young red heads for like "natural Blondes" highlights are used. The actress in Once Upon A time Joana Swisher was quite good as Ariel BUT the hair color...…………..