THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY: THE LITTLE MERMAID LIVE, ABC!

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I have to say that Graham really sold me on his version of Eric. The more I watch his performances, the more impressed I am with how he emulated the movie version but made it his own at the same time.

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From Variety:

Live+3 Ratings for Week of Nov. 4: ‘The Little Mermaid Live’ Surfaces in First Place

After posting big numbers in the Live+Same Day TV ratings, ABC’s “The Little Mermaid Live” has emerged at the top of the charts for the week it aired after three days of delayed viewing.

The live musical, which featured Auliʻi Cravalho in the titular role and a powerhouse performance from Queen Latifah as the evil Ursula, grew 26% from a 2.6 rating to a 3.2 in Live+3. It managed to hold off “The Masked Singer” on Fox and “This Is Us” on NBC, which grew to a 2.8 and a 2.4 respectively.

It will be interesting to see whether “The Little Mermaid” can carry home the trident after seven days of delayed viewing, given that live TV typically grows less than non-live.

In terms of total viewership, the special came second in L+SD behind “NCIS,” but after three days of delayed viewing it managed just under 11 million total viewers and was overtaken by three other CBS series in “FBI,” “Blue Bloods” and “Young Sheldon.”

Telecast: WWOD:LITTLE MERMAID LIVE!
Network: ABC
Broadcast Date: 11/05/19
Live+SD Total Viewers (in millions): 9,020
Live+3 Total Viewers (in millions): 10,933
Actual Increase: +1913
% Increase: +21%

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Don’t know if anyone has shared this but Graham did a video of himself singing “Her Voice” before he was cast as Eric: vimeo.com/334573394

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He is a good actor and a good singer!


From The Hollywood Reporter:

NOVEMBER 19, 2019 10:45am PT by Rick Porter

TV Ratings: 'Little Mermaid Live' Gets Strong 7-Day Boost



The ABC special remains the top entertainment program in adults 18-49 for the week of Nov. 4.
The "live" part of The Little Mermaid Live turned out to be more of a suggestion for a sizable portion of its audience.

The ABC special, which first aired Nov. 5, put up solid gains with seven days of delayed viewing. It tied with The Walking Dead and American Horror Story for the ninth-largest boost among adults 18-49 in the week of Nov. 4-10, growing by 0.84 points from its initial 2.6 rating. The Little Mermaid Live also added 2.7 million viewers over seven days, a little outside the top 20 for the week.

Both the viewer gain and the 18-49 boost are larger than usual for a "live" event (the special aired on tape delay outside the Eastern and Central time zones). Fox's Rent Live in January, for instance, gained only 0.2 in adults 18-49 and 729,000 viewers over seven days. Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, which aired on NBC in April 2018, had similar initial ratings to The Little Mermaid Live but didn't grow as much after the fact.

The special also held onto its spot as the week's top-rated entertainment program in adults 18-49: Its 3.44 rating after seven days is 0.41 better than the 3.03 for The Masked Singer. As usual, This Is Us (+1.43 in adults 18-49) and The Good Doctor (+5.05 million viewers) had the biggest total gains. Half of the top 20 at least doubled their same-day 18-49 ratings over a week.

Below are the 20 broadcast and cable shows with the biggest seven-day gains in adults 18-49 and total viewers.

Adults 18-49

Show: The Little Mermaid Live
Network: ABC
Live-plus-7 18-49 rating: 3.44
Change from live-plus-SD: 0.84
Percent change from live-plus-SD: 32%

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From Variety:

Live+7 Ratings for Week of Nov. 4: ‘The Little Mermaid Live’ Outswims the Competition

By WILL THORNE

“The Little Mermaid Live” continues to perform swimmingly in the TV ratings.

The ABC musical topped all non-football shows for the week of Nov. 4, growing 34% from its Live+Same Day rating and 30% in total viewership to finish with a 3.4 and 11.7 million total viewers. That represents pretty substantial growth for a live event given that, for instance, Fox’s “Rent” only gained roughly 730,000 total viewers to “Little Mermaid”‘s 2.7 million. “Little Mermaid Live” was the third most watched show of the week, behind only “FBI” and “NCIS” on CBS.

“The Masked Singer” came second in the 18-49 demo with a 3.0 after seven days of delayed viewing, followed by “This Is Us” with a 2.8. “Stumptown” was once again the strongest performer in delayed among the new fall shows, doubling its total viewers to 6 million.


Read the full week’s rankings below.

Live+7 Adults 18-49

Telecast: WWOD:LITTLE MERMAID LIVE!
Network: ABC
Broadcast Date: 11/05/19
Live+SD A18-49: 2.6
Live+7 A18-49: 3.4
Actual Gain: +0.8
% Gain: +31%

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From LaughinPlace:

“The Little Mermaid Live!” Coming to Disney+ November 27
by Laughing Place Disney Newsdesk | Nov 22, 2019 1:37 PM Pacific Time

Earlier this month, Disney’s animated classic The Little Mermaid was adapted for a live performance on ABC. Now, The Wonderful World of Disney presents The Little Mermaid Live! is set to debut on Disney+ next week.


The Wonderful World of Disney presents The Little Mermaid Live! will be added to Disney+ on November 27.
Want to see what the special has to offer before watching it on Disney+? Check out Tony’s recap of The Little Mermaid Live! from the night it aired on ABC.

About the special:

The Little Mermaid Live! features:
Auli’i Cravalho (Ariel)
Queen Latifah (Ursula)
Shaggy (Sebastian)
Graham Phillips (Prince Eric)
John Stamos (French Cook)
The Wonderful World of Disney presents The Little Mermaid Live! honors the 30th anniversary of the beloved animated classic through a never-before-seen hybrid format that will take viewers on a magical adventure under the sea as live musical performances by a star-studded cast are interwoven into the broadcast of the original feature film.
The live musical event features beautifully intricate sets and costumes by designer, Zaldy, with music from the original animated film and the Broadway stage version, originally composed by Alan Menken.
Howard Ashman’s iconic film lyrics were also showcased, while lyricist for the Broadway adaptation, Glenn Slater, contributed to the star-studded spectacular as well.
Joining this all-star creative team were choreographers Nick Florez and RJ Durrell, who recently completed work on P!nk’s The Beautiful Trauma World Tour.
The Wonderful World of Disney presents The Little Mermaid Live! debuted Tuesday, November 5 live on ABC.

Creative team:

The Wonderful World of Disney presents The Little Mermaid Live! was produced by:
Done+Dusted
Executive producers include:
Done+Dusted’s Hamish Hamilton (also serving as director)
Katy Mullan
David Jammy
Raj Kapoor
Ian Stewart
Richard Kraft (Hollywood Bowl productions of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast)

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From Sunriseread:

USA
Scores: Little Mermaid Makes a Splash, Top-Rated Live Musical Since Grease
30th December 2019



ABC’s Little Mermaid Live on Tuesday evening averaged 9 million whole viewers and a 2.6 demo score, making it the highest-rated dwell musical TV occasion since Fox’s Grease Live, which posted a 4.Three in January 2016.In whole viewers, it was essentially the most watched dwell TV musical occasion since NBC’s Jesus Christ Famous person Live (in April 2018).

TVLine readers gave Ariel and buddies a median grade of “C+.”

With a beefier lead-in, Emergence (3.5 mil/0.7) rose 35 and 40 p.c to match and hit its finest numbers since its premiere. And… it’s once more pre-empted subsequent week, by a Dolly Parton particular. #LittleMomentum

Reverse that large fish story….

THE CW | The Flash (1.2 mil/0.4, learn publish mortem) slipped to new sequence lows, whereas Arrow (621Ok/0.2, common TVLine reader grade “A”) tied its personal sequence lows.

CBS | NCIS (10.7 mil/1.0) dipped to hit and tie sequence lows, whereas FBI (8.5 mil/0.8) and a very eventful NCIS: New Orleans (6.6 mil/0.7, watch forged reactions to ’s loss of life) held regular.

NBC | The Voice (8.1 mil/1.3, learn recap) ticked up week-to-week, whereas This Is Us (6.7 mil/1.3, learn publish mortems) and New Amsterdam (5 mil/0.7) each dipped.

FOX | Again after two weeks of World Sequence preemption, The Resident (3.Four mil/0.7) was up whereas Empire (2.5 mil/0.7) was down.

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From Sunriseread:

Little Mermaid Reside! Movies: Watch Queen Latifah’s ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’ and Other Big Numbers
30th December 2019



From Queen Latifah’s vicious vocals to that polarizing Flounder puppet, The Little Mermaid Reside! was all anybody might tweet about on Tuesday night time.

Whether or not you missed out on the motion, otherwise you’d merely prefer to take a second dip, ABC has launched movies of the night time’s greatest numbers, from Ariel’s iconic ballad to Sebastian’s pro-ocean propaganda anthem.

Solely 5 of the 12 performances have been uploaded, however if you happen to’d prefer to see the remaining, The Little Mermaid Reside! is accessible to observe via ABC on Demand. Examine ’em out beneath:

“FATHOMS BELOW” | Prince Eric (Graham Phillips) and his motley crew of singing, dancing sailors opened the present with a efficiency of everybody’s favourite expositional sea shanty. Watch:

“PART OF YOUR WORLD” | Ariel (Auli’i Cravalho) made fairly a splash with this high-flying, high-belting tune about her want to reside within the human world. As for Flounder… let’s simply conform to look the opposite manner. Watch:

“UNDER THE SEA” | This Academy Award-winning jam was transformed right into a duet, with Sebastian (Shaggy) permitting Ariel to share the highlight. Watch:

“POOR UNFORTUNATE SOULS” | Simply the very best second of the night time, Queen Latifah had us totally beneath her spell with this excellent tackle Ursula’s legendary quantity. Watch:

“LES POISSONS” | John Stamos confirmed us a very totally different aspect of himself by channeling the knife-wielding, crab-cooking Chef Louis. Watch:

Hit PLAY on the movies above to see each efficiency from The Little Mermaid Reside!, then drop a remark along with your favourite(s) beneath.

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From Sunriseread:

The Little Mermaid Stay!: All 12 Musical Numbers Ranked From Worst to Best
30th December 2019



With a sizzling crustacean band at its disposal, ABC’s The Little Mermaid Stay! served up a dozen musical numbers on Tuesday, which ranged from “the bubbles” to [in Ursula voice] “pathetic.”

Now, earlier than I formally slip on my old-timey choose wig, let’s get one factor clear: This was an unimaginable feat — if not only a actually costly industrial for Disney+ — and everybody concerned must be happy with the work that was achieved tonight. As an embarrassingly vocal fan of each the unique 1989 movie, in addition to the 2008 Broadway adaptation, I give The Little Mermaid Stay! my official stamp of approval.

I additionally appreciated (for essentially the most half) the entire Stay! manufacturing’s shock additions, together with lyrical modifications and — in some instances — totally surprising reprises. (When Queen Latifah appeared in Vanessa’s mirror, you’d higher imagine I gasped.)

That mentioned, it wasn’t good. Notes have been missed, strains have been flubbed and a few actually questionable choices have been made. And I’m not simply speaking about that Flounder puppet, which is able to certainly be swimming round within the recesses of my nightmares for the remainder of my days.

It feels odd to name this a “finest and worst” listing, as even the least-impressive numbers within the present have been nonetheless entertaining. However that is the web, and so we should rank them.

Browse our gallery of the most effective and worst musical numbers from The Little Mermaid Stay! — you possibly can click on right here for direct entry — then drop a remark with your individual rating beneath.

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From Sunriseread:

The Little Mermaid Dwell!: Grade It!
30th December 2019



ABC on Tuesday took us underneath the ocean (and again once more) with The Little Mermaid Dwell!, an bold manufacturing that blended the unique 1989 animated traditional with live-action musical numbers. And puppets. And aerialists. And Shaggy!

The two-hour occasion kicked off with a particular introduction from Jodi Benson, the unique voice of Ariel, earlier than launching into an prolonged model of everybody’s favourite expositional sea shanty “Fathoms Under.” We then relocated to the Kingdom of Atlantica, the place the emcee — a brand new character designed for this manufacturing, performed by Glee‘s Amber Riley — launched Ariel’s sisters for a efficiency of “Daughters of Triton,” although we will all agree she stole the highlight from these primary fishes.

Sadly, Ariel (performed by Rise‘s Auli’i Cravalho) completely forgot in regards to the live performance, as a substitute opting to scour the ocean flooring looking for human trash — sorry, human “treasure” — along with her finest bud Flounder. Ariel’s old-yet-muscular father, King Triton, was understandably miffed that she selected to shirk her royal obligations, instructing his crab-in-chief Sebastian (performed by Shaggy) to maintain a better eye on her.

Sebastian put his finest claw ahead, first by sneaking into Ariel’s museum of human trinkets (“A part of Your World”), then by enlisting everybody in his contact record to hitch him for a pro-ocean propaganda quantity (“Below the Sea”), however his efforts didn’t extinguish Ariel’s fascination with the human world. In reality, her obsession solely grew to become extra intense, particularly after she laid eyes on Eric (performed by The Good Spouse‘s Graham Phillips), a dim-yet-delightful prince she saved from drowning. And as we realized throughout Eric’s huge solo quantity (“Her Voice”), he’s simply as depressed about being a horny royal as she is.

Ariel’s need to hitch Eric within the human world led her to Ursula (performed by Queen Latifah), a sassy sea witch who supplied to make her a human for 3 days in alternate for her voice (“Poor Unlucky Souls”). A good commerce? After all not. However contemplating Ariel doesn’t even know what a fork is, did you actually count on her to learn — not to mention comprehend — the positive print on a binding contract in the course of a musical quantity? Fish, please.

Although Ariel’s mute, two-legged adventures acquired off to a superb begin — Eric even invited her to reside with him, no questions requested! — the scenario quickly took a chaotic flip when the palace’s royal chef (performed by John Stamos) tried to serve Sebastian for dinner (“Les Poissons”). With solely someday left on land, Sebastian as soon as once more employed the help of his musical animal mates, this time to get Eric to “Kiss the Woman” and make Ariel a human ceaselessly. Sadly, his plans have been foiled by Ursula’s hench-eels, who tipped the couple’s rowboat over earlier than they acquired an opportunity to lock lips.

Right here’s the place issues acquired actual soapy: Upon realizing that Ariel’s powers of silent seduction have been just too robust, Ursula disguised herself as a beautiful human and used the mermaid’s stolen voice to lure Eric right into a darkish engagement. And whereas Ariel’s animal military was in a position to cease the marriage, her reunion with Eric didn’t fairly make the three-day minimize. So not solely was there no reception (boo!), however Ariel and Eric — OK, principally Eric — have been compelled to battle a large Ursula, armed with the facility of Triton’s trident. (Wow, attempt saying that thrice quick.)

In the long run, Triton forgave his daughter for defying his orders and placing your entire ocean in jeopardy, rewarding her disobedience with a pair of magical legs. And she or he and Eric lived fortunately ever after. And nobody realized something.

Inform us: Did The Little Mermaid Dwell! meet your expectations? What was your favourite musical quantity? And which actor gave the perfect efficiency? Grade the manufacturing under, then drop a remark together with your full assessment.

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From CheatSheet:

Life Is the Bubbles With a Disney+ Subscription — ABC's 'The Little Mermaid Live!' Joins the Streaming Platform's Library
Julia Dzurillay

December 4, 2019

Our musical prayers have been answered. Disney+ added a stage production to their library of movies and television shows — ABC’s 2019 release, The Little Mermaid Live! However, this isn’t the only musical available on the streaming platform. What other musicals are available on Disney+? Is the original The Little Mermaid and its sequels available for binge-watching? Learn more about this subscription service here.

Disney+ added ABC’s ‘The Little Mermaid Live!’ to their library
For the first time, ABC did their own live stage production of a musical. On Nov. 5, 2019, the television network premiered The Little Mermaid Live, complete with clips of the original film and original songs. The cast included Moana’s Auli’i Cravalho as the title character, Queen Latifah as Ursula, and John Stamos as the Chef. If you missed the premiere of this production, there’s still a chance to catch The Little Mermaid Live, thanks to Disney’s recently-released streaming platform, Disney+.

This December, Disney added The Little Mermaid Live! to its Disney+ library. With this subscription service, viewers can watch content produced by Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and National Geographic. There are even a handful of musicals on there available for binge-watching. (We’re looking at you, Into the Woods and Newsies.)


The original version of ‘The Little Mermaid’ is available for streaming on Disney+
It’s always a good time to go under the sea with Ariel and her friends. Thanks to Disney+, the company’s library vault of animated classics is now open and available for watching anytime. That includes the 1989 animated movie, The Little Mermaid, in addition to movies like Sleeping Beauty, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast.

Additionally, spin-off movies and television series’ of The Little Mermaid are available on this streaming platform, as well. That includes The Little Mermaid II: Return To The Sea, The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning, and the television series, entitled The Little Mermaid.


Will the live-action ‘The Little Mermaid’ premiere on Disney+?
There’s a new version of The Little Mermaid swimming into cinemas. Disney recently announced their live-action adaptation of this movie, complete with cast members Halle Bailey (Ariel,) Melissa McCarthy (Ursula,) and Jonah Hauer-King (Prince Eric.)

According to Showbiz Cheat Sheet, “this adaptation will feature songs of the original movie, in addition to new musical numbers written by Alan Menken (music) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (lyrics.) Additionally, Rob Marshall will direct The Little Mermaid. The film is produced by Rob Marshall, John DeLuca, Marc Platt, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. According to Radio Times, ‘filming and production are rumored to start in April 2020.’”

While this production will likely head straight to theaters, other live-action adaptations are available for streaming on Disney+. That includes the live-action versions of Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. Disney+ also releases original movies, like their live-action adaptation of Lady and the Tramp.

The original animated movie, The Little Mermaid, and ABC’s The Little Mermaid Live are available for streaming on Disney+. To learn more about Disney+ and to subscribe, visit their website.

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From Sunriseread:

Little Mermaid Live!’s Graham Phillips Dives Deep Into Those Prince Eric Songs You’ve Probably Never Heard
31st December 2019



On the time of this publication, Graham Phillips — as The Little Mermaid Dwell!‘s Prince Eric — is belting out the ultimate notes of “Her Voice,” an emotional ballad that establishes Eric as a multi-dimensional character, one who feels simply as trapped in his personal world as Ariel is in hers. Stunning as it could be, “Her Voice” isn’t precisely a family favourite, however that’s solely as a result of only a few households have ever heard it earlier than.

“It’s actually thrilling that I get to premiere a variety of these songs for individuals who haven’t gotten an opportunity to see the Broadway musical,” Phillips tells TVLine. “And it’s liberating that I get to discover a bit extra of the place Eric is coming from. For those who watch the film, you don’t actually perceive his perspective. It’s Ariel’s story, however like all good love story, there are all the time two sides of the coin. It’ll be good for everybody to get a clearer sense of why Eric is so bonded with this woman that he’s solely heard. Quite a lot of tales are love at first sight, however that is love at first sound. He has some thought of what she seems to be like, however actually, it’s the sound that drives his search. So it’s good that I’ve a complete music, ‘Her Voice,’ that permits me and the viewers to discover how a lot Eric is searching for Ariel.”

In fact, this is only one of a number of songs Eric sings in The Little Mermaid Dwell! that gained’t essentially be acquainted to viewers. Later within the broadcast, he’ll be a part of Auli’i Cravalho for a music referred to as “If Solely,” which was written as a quartet for the Broadway model (with Sebastian and King Triton), then transformed to a duet for ABC’s stay manufacturing.

“Attending to sing along with her is superior,” Phillips says. “Her voice is tremendous expressive, and he or she has this uncanny skill to convey precisely what she’s feeling with out broadcasting it. All the things simply comes throughout actually effortlessly, and there aren’t many individuals who can try this. Anybody can push an emotion out, however to get to sing with somebody who has such an honesty in her voice is contagious, as a result of I attempt to meet her at that stage.”

Engaged on The Little Mermaid Dwell! has felt “like a homecoming” for Phillips, who carried out in musicals and operas lengthy earlier than touchdown the position of Julianna Margulies and Chris Noth’s son on CBS’ The Good Spouse. “The theater is my dwelling,” he says. “Attending to return to my roots after a decade-long hiatus — between The Good Spouse and faculty and every little thing — is very nice.”

Are you having fun with The Little Mermaid Dwell! to this point? Drop a remark along with your ideas beneath, and make sure to come again to TVLine after the present to share your full evaluate.

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From Sunriseread:

Little Mermaid Dwell!: Here’s Everything You Will (and Will not) See Tonight
31st December 2019



In case your familiarity with The Little Mermaid begins and ends with the 1989 big-screen adaptation, you’re in for an evening of surprises. Whereas ABC’s presentation of The Little Mermaid Dwell! (8/7c) stays trustworthy to the animated Disney traditional, it additionally options a number of lesser-known additions which can be positive to have folks tweeting. Or effervescent. Or no matter fish do on social media.

Let’s begin with what could also be new to you: Tonight’s occasion — which stars Auliʻi Cravalho as Ariel, Queen Latifah as Ursula, Shaggy as Sebastian, John Stamos as Chef Louis and Graham Phillips as Prince Eric — features a mixture of songs from the unique film and the 2008 Broadway manufacturing. These earworms-to-be embrace a ballad for Eric, which sheds some mild on the internal workings of his #SadPrinceLife, in addition to a duet between Ariel and her beloved prince.

ABC has additionally added the position of “emcee,” which might be performed by Amber Riley. We’ll meet her throughout “Daughters of Triton,” as she takes the stage to introduce every of Ariel’s singing sisters. “The emcee has this grand entrance, and it’s actually speculated to be about them, however she makes it a bit of bit about herself,” Riley explains. It’ll give the music a totally completely different vibe, however when you try this preview of the previous Glee star belting her half, you gained’t ever wish to hear the unique once more:

–
What’s extra, the large occasion is opening with a particular introduction from none apart from Jodi Benson, who voiced the title character within the film. She confirmed her involvement simply days in the past on Instagram, the place she has continued to share invaluable behind-the-scenes treats for keen Disney devotees.

Now, let’s speak about what we gained’t be seeing: In contrast to earlier televised musicals, The Little Mermaid Dwell! is barely going reside for its large numbers. When nobody’s singing, it’ll be enterprise as typical, with the unique animated film airing simply as you keep in mind it. So although some songs from the Broadway model might be carried out, we gained’t must endure the Broadway adaptation’s infamously much less common story adjustments. For instance, logistical points pressured the stage model to chop the present’s last battle with large Ursula, changing it with an especially forgettable singing contest.

That additionally implies that Ursula and King Triton gained’t be depicted as estranged siblings, as they have been on Broadway. And whereas we’re on the topic, right here’s a enjoyable little reality: Ursula and Triton have been initially supposed to be associated within the film, however the lyrics explaining their connection have been finally lower from the opening quantity, “Fathoms Beneath,” thus axing the relation. (Frankly, I’m very interested by what Ursula and Triton’s dad and mom regarded like, contemplating their solely two youngsters turned out half-fish and half-octopus.)

As Phillips assures TVLine, “The one time we actually make adjustments is when there can be a music. So it’ll nonetheless be the standard story that everybody has all of the nostalgia for. They’re protecting it actual OG.”

Are you planning to take a look at The Little Mermaid Dwell! tonight? Which performances are you most anticipating? No matter’s in your thoughts, drop it in a remark beneath.

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From Sunriseread:

What to Watch: Little Mermaid Stay, Greenleaf and Mayans M.C. Finales, The End of the F***ing World and More
31st December 20191 Min Read



The Little Mermaid Live - ABC
Courtesy of ABC

On TV this Tuesday: Captain Marvel goes Operating Wild, Mayans M.C. and Greenleaf wrap their seasons and The Little Mermaid is (at the very least partially) dwell bait. Listed here are 11 applications in your radar; all instances are Jap:

Loading feedback…

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From Awardsdaily:

Misty Buckley Creates A Brand New World for Ariel to Discover
The production designer reveals how she honored the film while making something new.
by Joey Moser
June 16, 2020



Disney’s The Little Mermaid came out when I was 6 years old, so the film is something I grew up with. It was the first movie that kicked off the Disney renaissance of animated films, so it has been a favorite among children for over three decades. Reinventing a classic is always risky. For Disney’s The Little Mermaid Live!, however, production designer Misty Buckley managed to create an immersive theatrical experience that both calls on our nostalgia but leaves us excited to see more.

Buckley has designed concert sets for artists like Ariana Grande, U2, and Coldplay, and her Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show design is both classic yet feminine. The Little Mermaid Live! is Buckley’s first live narrative musical for television, and her designs were even bigger than I realized. She created a system of rocks to accommodate the story’s puppetry, and she expanded on the iconic “Part of Your World” sequence. Every piece in Ariel’s collection feels like something with a living history. When creating Ursula’s dark lair, she faced challenges in terms of the size of the space she had to work with, to not disrupt the actors.

Unlike other televised musical experiences, The Little Mermaid Live! was a totally immersive one, and Buckley loved designing for a huge audience to partake in the action. Grab your dinglehopper and dive in!

Awards Daily: This really transforms you into a kid again.

Misty Buckley: That’s lovely to hear. I grew up with it as well, but you sort of forget that it has an impact on people. That kind of nostalgia goes deep, doesn’t it?

AD: There are good and bad types of nostalgia on TV lately, and I think this is definitely the good kind.

MB: It’s charming.

AD: Yeah, it definitely is. You’ve done a lot of designs for concerts like Coldplay and Kacey Musgraves, and this is your first live performance of a musical for television. How are these kinds of projects similar to one another?

MB: What’s lovely about doing something like The Little Mermaid or those live performances that follow a narrative is that they are centered on a story that has already been interpreted into a piece of film that we already adore. But it goes deeper because it was originally Hans Christian Anderson’s story and there’s a richness to the story. There’s a depth to the story that is incredible to bring onto the stage and interpret. We’ve had a live film version and the animated version and so many interpretations of it. You’re dealing with something that on the one hand is a well-trodden path, but on the other hand, it challenges you to take the audience somewhere that is different but doesn’t disconnect from the magic of Disney. I hope we managed to achieve that.

AD: I can confirm that it does.

MB: It was a brilliant situation to be in, because you had to be inventive within something that was really loved. That was kind of cool.



AD: A lot of it feels familiar like the big rock Ariel is sitting on at the end of “Part of Your World” but the rest of it had elements that made it feel like its own iteration of the story. My brain knew where the story was going to go, but I was anxious to see what was going to happen next.

MB: You get moments that were so brilliant like Queen Latifah and you suddenly think that it’s just insane. (Laughs) It was so rich and exciting.

AD: With “Part of Your World,” we see some of the items upstage behind her, and there is that great overhead shot where we see everything Ariel’s collected. How did you figure out what you put on stage?

MB: I was actually pretty rigorous about that scene. I was specific how we were going to interpret that moment. In the animation, when you break it down, it’s really quite simplified. What I didn’t want to create was if the objects were over-sized and difficult to handle, it would become too much to handle. It’s really a delicate scene where she talks about what she wants and desires so much. I took the essence of the story and tried to imagine the reality. That’s where I dipped into the Hans Christian Anderson and where they would’ve collected these great objects. I looked into old shipwrecks and Titanic.

AD: That’s so interesting.

MB: I was careful to take the kind of antique items and the stuff that was tangible and real so it felt there was a connection with it. Then we added oversized things as well. There were things that were correct scale and things that were oversized. It made the audience understand that they were in a magical world and it was Disney and it was charming and beautiful. There was something real about it. Because we were filming it for TV and it was high-definition, we needed to be able to show that it was stuff that meant something to her and they weren’t just props. Most of it was real from antique markets. I had an amazing art director in Joe Celli and amazing set dresser in Jason Howard. The three of us just tackled this area—we must’ve dressed it 12 times until we got it exactly right.

AD: Oh wow.

MB: I didn’t want it to look like an antique market, but we didn’t want it to look as simple as the film did. It was hard to juggle really. That was my favorite scene.

AD: That’s the scene that everyone is waiting for, too.

MB: I know!

AD: Every piece does make you wonder how she went about to collect them.

MB: Yeah! And you can imagine her collecting them all. The fun part was to put in little Easter eggs as well. There’s a little Moana in there as well as magical Disney things.

AD: During some of the musical numbers, there are puppets that pop up. I was so thrilled to see them in all those group songs. How was that a new thing for you to incorporate into your designs?

MB: We were some way into this design, we needed to create a sort of central piece that would be able to adapt and serve all the scenes with authenticity and honesty. And we have to add puppets and special effects and be able to do quick changes live on screen. We created a piece that was a sediment rock section where Sebastian does “Under the Sea.” We decided that if we took a piece of that and created a modular rock system—basically there were pods with puppeteers with special effects. It was made of about 12 parts of rock.

AD: Oh, wow.

MB: It would transform. One minute it would be for a configuration for “Daughters of Triton” and then it would be used for “Under the Sea” and bring in the puppeteer pods. Then for “Le Poisson,” that is the rear side of it that we spun around to make a massive French oven. It was one of those eureka moments to figure out how to make it manageable. When you do something like The Little Mermaid, you can find yourself designing infinite amounts of rock. But I think we got there!



AD: To talk about a different space entirely from the rest of the production, the most unique space had to have been Ursula’s lair. Tell me about designing that space.

MB: Ursurla’s lair had to have a very different tone from the rest of the space. We used to a lot of projection, and we closed it in to make it more frightening and sinister. We brought in more rocks but in a different way. What was interesting about that was that she had to interact with Flotsom and Jetsam, so she needed a lot of space to move and we needed room for her dress. So it needed to be tight, but on the other hand, out of all the characters, she needed the most space in order to move around. We had to constantly reimagine this and revisit it to make sure we were getting the balance right. Raj Kapoor created the screen content and the projections were amazing. Al Gurdon’s lighting was able to get these vines encroaching. This production was incredibly collaborative—it had to be.

AD: I can imagine. This production is huge.

MB: We met every week on how we were going to pull all these elements together. Al managed to create these gobos that went over the entire room of vines that felt like incredibly immersive. I remember that moment when we felt like we were somewhere else.

AD: Some dark recess of the sea that we don’t want to go to.

MB: Yes.

AD: You just mentioned the immersive quality. You covered every inch of the theater. The runway curves out like a wave of the ocean. During the “Daughters of Triton” scene, there are even little pieces of sea life clinging to the stairs. It just adds more texture and depth. Even the audience was part of the show. Was there ever a question of this not being an immersive experience?

MB: No. (Laughs) This was where my experience of live touring and music events came into play. My biggest thing with working with bands is how do you want your audience to feel, but how do you want to feel? What do you want to see when you’re on stage, other than thousands of people? What do you want to feel when you’re standing there. We wanted to create a visceral experience. The animation makes you feel a certain way. We did a live event where you could move around. People could come in costumes. There were no limitations. We were encouraging this immersive experience from the very beginning.

AD: That’s awesome.

MB: That feeling of connection with the audience and the characters. I’m always looking at the big wide of how people feel in the space. But I’m also obsessed with details. We may not capture all of the space on camera, but as long as the audience feels it, we will capture that essence on camera. We will catch the audience’s vibe. To see their faces when they walked in was incredible. They lit up. The catwalk that came into the audience, I never wanted it to be straight. I always wanted a sense of water of the organic shape. That was a massive challenge to build a set without a straight line. People have to interpret what you’re trying to explain. You’ve got carvers and painters and scenic artists and renders. It’s quite extraordinary when you see that talent, when you see everyone that put it together. They bring it to life. The more organic it is, the more you lose control of it. We really did have an extraordinary thing.

The Little Mermaid Live! is streaming now on Disney Plus.

[veu]

From Goldderby:

Doing ‘The Little Mermaid Live!’ was a ‘no-brainer’ for production designer Misty Buckley [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW]

“The Little Mermaid Live!” gave a whole new meaning to “Part of Your World.” A hybrid spectacle, the ABC musical special merged the animated Disney classic with live productions of the film’s famous songs, creating an immersive experience for fans at home and in the theater. And production designer Misty Buckley knew she could not turn down this one-of-a-kind opportunity.

“When they asked me to do it, it was just a no-brainer,” she told Gold Derby at our Meet the BTL Experts: Production Design panel (watch above). “It was just such an incredible invitation to do something to take something so narrative-based and so beautiful and whimsical, so it was a really exciting invitation.”

“The Little Mermaid Live!” was the first live narrative TV musical for Buckley, who has designed concert sets for the likes of Coldplay (including its Super Bowl halftime show), U2, Kacey Musgraves and Ariana Grande, and events such as the Glastonbury Festival and the 2012 Paralympics Closing Ceremony. While the entirety of “Little Mermaid” was obviously a huge undertaking, Buckley says the team’s biggest concern was perfecting the transitions from film to live and vice versa.

“That was our main issue: How do we make that feel seamless? How do we make it feel part of the magical story we wanted to tell? So we looked at those transitions very early on and how we could get them to flow,” she explained. “So the moment when the fish was thrown over the side of the ship and you move into the film, that was a really lovely moment, so we just tried to get those details and really thought about how we’re going to execute those details.”

Buckely utilized LED screens to help add depth to the stage, which included a wavy runway, along with scaling the size of objects featured on stage or suspended in the air, such as all the thingamabobs Ariel (Auli’i Cravalho) has collected during “Part of Your World.”

And then there were the puppets. Buckley crafted the stage to accommodate all the puppeteers who had to quickly move in and out through the musical numbers. “We designed the stage like a giant modular rock, and it had to do everything. It had to have to house loads of puppeteers, it had to have special effects come out of it, it had to be able to be much bigger and produce right down to small intimate moments, and it had to turn around become a giant French oven instead of stairs,” she said. “There was a lot of making puzzles and making things fit. We did a lot of model-making and figuring out how we’re going to get people in, but then they have to exit the right moment. That was definitely a real challenge. The puppeteers are so professional and so used to doing what they do, they knew exactly the amount of space they would need, it was really incredible to work with them.”

And yes, she would definitely do this all over again. “My favorite Disney movie is ‘Moana.’ I don’t know how you’d do it live,” Buckley shared. “But that would be a good one.”

Be sure to make your Emmy nominations predictions today so that Hollywood insiders can see how their shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before the nominees are announced on July 28. And join in the thrilling debate over the Emmy Awards taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our TV forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.


Video:

Here

[veu]

From Goldderby:

Emmys 2020 exclusive: ABC categories for ‘The Conners,’ ‘The Little Mermaid Live!,’ ‘Modern Family’ and more

Chris Beachum
TV

June 29, 2020 11:00AM


ABC

In a Gold Derby exclusive, we have learned the category placements of the key Emmy Awards contenders for ABC. For this season, the broadcast network has returning hits “Black-ish” (Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross), “The Conners” (John Goodman, Sara Gilbert), “The Good Doctor” (Freddie Highmore), “Grey’s Anatomy” (Ellen Pompeo), “How to Get Away with Murder” (Viola Davis) and “Modern Family” (Ty Burrell). Variety programs “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “The Little Mermaid Live!” and “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” are also among their slate.

Below, the list of the network’s lead, supporting and guest submissions for their comedies, dramas and other genres. More names might be added by the company on the final Emmy ballot. Also note that performers not included on this list may well be submitted by their personal reps.

“$100,000 PYRAMID”
Competition Program
Reality Host – Michael Strahan

“AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS”
Structured Reality Program
Reality Host – Alfonso Ribeiro

“AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE”
Comedy Series
Comedy Supporting Actress – Meg Donnelly, Carly Hughes

“AMERICAN IDOL”
Competition Program
Reality Host – Ryan Seacrest

“THE BACHELOR”
Unstructured Reality Program
Reality Host – Chris Harrison

“THE BACHELOR IN PARADISE”
Unstructured Reality Program

“THE BACHELOR: LISTEN TO YOUR HEART”
Unstructured Reality Program

“THE BAKER AND THE BEAUTY”
Comedy Series
Comedy Actor – Victor Rasuk
Comedy Actress – Nathalie Kelley
Comedy Supporting Actor – Dan Bucatinsky, David Del Rio, Carlos Gomez
Comedy Supporting Actress – Belissa Escobedo, Michelle Veintimilla, Lisa Vidal

“BLACK-ISH”
Comedy Series
Comedy Actor – Anthony Anderson
Comedy Actress – Tracee Ellis Ross
Comedy Supporting Actor – Miles Brown, Deon Cole, Laurence Fishburne, Marcus Scribner
Comedy Supporting Actress – Marsai Martin
Comedy Guest Actress – Loretta Devine

“BLESS THIS MESS”
Comedy Series
Comedy Actress – Lake Bell
Comedy Supporting Actor – Ed Begley, Jr.

“BRAD PAISLEY THINKS HE’S SPECIAL”
Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)

“CARD SHARKS”
Competition Program
Reality Host – Joel McHale

“CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD”
Competition Program
Reality Host – Steve Harvey
SEESara Gilbert Interview: ‘The Conners’

“THE CONNERS”
Comedy Series
Comedy Actor – John Goodman
Comedy Actress – Sara Gilbert
Comedy Supporting Actor – Jay Ferguson, Michael Fishman, Ames McNamara
Comedy Supporting Actress – Lecy Goranson, Emma Kenney, Laurie Metcalf, Katey Sagal
Comedy Guest Actor – Noel Fisher, James Pickens Jr., Paul Reubens, Rene Rosado, Stephen Monroe Taylor
Comedy Guest Actress – Estelle Parsons

“DANCING WITH THE STARS”
Competition Program
Reality Host – Erin Andrews
Reality Host – Tom Bergeron

“DISNEY FAMILY SINGALONG VOL. 1”
Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)

“DISNEY FAMILY SINGALONG VOL. 2”
Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)
SEEDerek Hough Interview: ‘World of Dance,’ ‘Disney Family Singalong’

“**** CLARK’S NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN’ EVE”
Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)

“EMERGENCE”
Drama Series
Drama Supporting Actor – Owain Yeoman

“FAMILY FOOD FIGHT”
Competition Program
SEENicholas Pinnock Interview: ‘For Life’

“FOR LIFE”
Drama Series
Drama Actor – Nicholas Pinnock
Drama Supporting Actor – Glenn Fleshler, Boris McGiver, Dorian Crossmond Missick
Drama Supporting Actress – Joy Bryant, Tyla Harris, Mary Stuart Masterston, Indira Varma
Drama Guest Actor – Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, James McDaniel

“FRESH OFF THE BOAT”
Comedy Series
Comedy Actor – Randall Park
Comedy Actress – Constance Wu
Comedy Supporting Actress – Chelsey Crisp

“THE GOLDBERGS”
Comedy Series
Comedy Actor – Jeff Garlin
Comedy Actress – Wendi McLendon-Covey
Comedy Supporting Actor – Troy Gentile, Sean Giambrone, Sam Lerner, George Segal
Comedy Supporting Actress – Hayley Orrantia
Comedy Guest Actor – Barry Bostwick, Dan Fogler, Judd Hirsch, Hulk Hogan, Richard Kind, Tim Matheson, John Ratzenberger, George Wendt, Jamie Widdoes
Comedy Guest Actress – Kirstie Alley, Christie Brinkley, Rhea Perlman

“THE GOOD DOCTOR”
Drama Series
Drama Actor – Freddie Highmore
Drama Actress – Christina Chang, Paige Spara
Drama Supporting Actor – Nicholas Gonzalez, Hill Harper, Will Yun Lee, Richard Schiff
Drama Supporting Actress – Fiona Gubelmann, Jasika Nicole, Antonia Thomas
Drama Guest Actor – Robert Sean Leonard, Joshua Malina
Drama Guest Actress – Sharon Leal, Jenny O’Hara, Tracie Thoms

“GRAND HOTEL”
Drama Series

“GREY’S ANATOMY”
Drama Series
Drama Actress – Ellen Pompeo
Drama Supporting Actor – James Pickens Jr.
Drama Supporting Actress – Kelly McCreary, Kim Raver
Drama Guest Actress – Beanie Feldstein, Alyssa Milano

“GROWN-ISH”
Comedy Series
Comedy Supporting Actor – Trevor Jackson
Comedy Guest Actor – Marcus Scribner

“HOLEY MOLEY”
Competition Program
Reality Host – Rob Ribble and Joe Tessitore

“HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER”
Drama Series
Drama Actress – Viola Davis
Drama Supporting Actor – Rome Flynn, Conrad Ricamora, Charlie Weber
Drama Supporting Actress – Amirah Vann, Liza Weil
Drama Guest Actress – Beverly Todd, Cicely Tyson

“JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE”
Variety Talk Series
Comedy Guest Actor – Pete Buttigieg, Fred Willard
Comedy Guest Actress – Brie Larson

“KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS”
Competition Program

“THE LITTLE MERMAID LIVE!”
Variety Special (Live)
Movie/Limited Actress – Auli’l Cravalho
Movie/Limited Supporting Actor – Shaggy, John Stamos
Movie/Limited Supporting Actress – Queen Latifah

“LIVE IN FRONT OF A STUDIO AUDIENCE”
Variety Special (Live)
Movie/Limited Actor – Andre Braugher, Woody Harrelson
Movie/Limited Actress – Viola Davis, Marisa Tomei
Movie/Limited Supporting Actor – Asante Blackk, Kevin Bacon, Ike Barinholtz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jharrel Jerome, Jay Pharoah
Movie/Limited Supporting Actress – Corinne Foxx, Tiffany Haddish, Ellie Kemper, Justiina Machado

“MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.”
Drama Series
Drama Supporting Actor -Clark Gregg

“MATCH GAME”
Competition Program
Reality Host – Alec Baldwin

“A MILLION LITTLE THINGS”
Drama Series
Drama Guest Actor – Chandler Riggs, Jason Ritter
Drama Guest Actress – Melora Hardin

“MIXED-ISH”
Comedy Series
Comedy Actress – Tika Sumpter
Comedy Supporting Actor – Ethan William Childress
Comedy Supporting Actress – Christina Anthony, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Arica Himmel
Voice-Over – Tracee Ellis Ross

“MODERN FAMILY”
Comedy Series
Comedy Supporting Actor – Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O’Neill, Eric Stonestreet
Comedy Supporting Actress – Julie Bowen, Sarah Hyland, Sofia Vergara, Ariel Winter
Comedy Guest Actor – Benjamin Bratt, Fred Willard
Comedy Guest Actress – Courteney Cox

“NIK WALLENDA: HIGHWIRE LIVE IN TIMES SQUARE”
Variety Special (Live)

“THE OSCARS”
Variety Special (Live)

“PRESS YOUR LUCK”
Competition Program
Reality Host – Elizabeth Banks

“THE ROOKIE”
Drama Series
Drama Actor – Nathan Fillion
Drama Supporting Actor – Richard T. Jones, Titus Makin Jr., Eric Winter
Drama Supporting Actress – Mekia Cox, Alyssa Diaz, Melissa O’neil
Drama Guest Actor – Harold Perrineau
Drama Guest Actress – Annie Wersching

“SCHOOLED”
Comedy Series
Comedy Actor – Tim Meadows
Comedy Actress – AJ Michalka
Comedy Supporting Actor – Bryan Callen, Brett Dier
Comedy Guest Actress – Ana Gasteyer, Lenon Parham

“SHARK TANK”
Structured Reality Program

“SINGLE PARENTS”
Comedy Series
Comedy Supporting Actor – Tyler Wladis
Comedy Guest Actor – Adam Brody

“STATION 19”
Drama Series
Drama Actress – Jaina Lee Ortiz
Drama Supporting Actor – Grey Damon, Okieriete Onaodowan

“STUMPTOWN”
Drama Series
Drama Actress – Cobie Smulders
Drama Supporting Actor – Michael Ealy, Jake Johnson, Cole Sibus
Drama Supporting Actress – Tantoo Cardinal
Drama Guest Actor – Donal Logue
Drama Guest Actress – Cheryl Hines

“TO TELL THE TRUTH”
Competition Program
Reality Host – Anthony Anderson

“WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE”
Competition Program
Reality Host – Jimmy Kimmel

“WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY: MAGICAL HOLIDAY CELEBRATION”
Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)

Be sure to make your Emmy predictions today so that Hollywood insiders can see how their TV shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before the nominees are announced on July 28. And join in the fun debate over the 2020 Emmys taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our television forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.

[veu]

From Goldderby:

Misty Buckley Interview: ‘The Little Mermaid Live!’ production designer

“The Little Mermaid Live!” gave a whole new meaning to “Part of Your World.” A hybrid spectacle, the ABC musical special merged the animated Disney classic with live productions of the film’s famous songs, creating an immersive experience for fans at home and in the theater. And production designer Misty Buckley knew she could not turn down this one-of-a-kind opportunity.

“When they asked me to do it, it was just a no-brainer,” she told Gold Derby at our Meet the BTL Experts: Production Design panel (watch above). “It was just such an incredible invitation to do something to take something so narrative-based and so beautiful and whimsical, so it was a really exciting invitation.”

“The Little Mermaid Live!” was the first live narrative TV musical for Buckley, who has designed concert sets for the likes of Coldplay (including its Super Bowl halftime show), U2, Kacey Musgraves and Ariana Grande, and events such as the Glastonbury Festival and the 2012 Paralympics Closing Ceremony. While the entirety of “Little Mermaid” was obviously a huge undertaking, Buckley says the team’s biggest concern was perfecting the transitions from film to live and vice versa.

“That was our main issue: How do we make that feel seamless? How do we make it feel part of the magical story we wanted to tell? So we looked at those transitions very early on and how we could get them to flow,” she explained. “So the moment when the fish was thrown over the side of the ship and you move into the film, that was a really lovely moment, so we just tried to get those details and really thought about how we’re going to execute those details.”

Buckely utilized LED screens to help add depth to the stage, which included a wavy runway, along with scaling the size of objects featured on stage or suspended in the air, such as all the thingamabobs Ariel (Auli’i Cravalho) has collected during “Part of Your World.”

And then there were the puppets. Buckley crafted the stage to accommodate all the puppeteers who had to quickly move in and out through the musical numbers. “We designed the stage like a giant modular rock, and it had to do everything. It had to have to house loads of puppeteers, it had to have special effects come out of it, it had to be able to be much bigger and produce right down to small intimate moments, and it had to turn around become a giant French oven instead of stairs,” she said. “There was a lot of making puzzles and making things fit. We did a lot of model-making and figuring out how we’re going to get people in, but then they have to exit the right moment. That was definitely a real challenge. The puppeteers are so professional and so used to doing what they do, they knew exactly the amount of space they would need, it was really incredible to work with them.”

And yes, she would definitely do this all over again. “My favorite Disney movie is ‘Moana.’ I don’t know how you’d do it live,” Buckley shared. “But that would be a good one.”

Video:

Here

[veu]

From Rolling Stone:

Shaggy on Revisiting ‘Hot Shot’ and Singing With the Little Mermaid

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of his landmark album, the reggae star is releasing ‘Hot Shot 2020’ this week

By Andy Greene

When Shaggy released Hot Shot in the summer of 2000, many in the music industry were ready to write him off. It had been five long years since the Jamaican-born reggae artist landed high on the American charts with “Boombastic” and his follow-up LP, 1997’s Midnight Star, was such a colossal flop that Virgin dropped him from the label, presuming that his hitmaking days were in the past.

Shaggy and his new label had high hopes for Hot Shot, but even they didn’t expect to see the first two singles, “It Wasn’t Me” and “Angel,” hit Number One on the Hot 100 and help the album go platinum six times over. It was a monumental success that forever detached the dreaded one-hit-wonder label from his name and gave him a career that’s going strong to this day.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hot Shot, Shaggy recently went into the studio and re-recorded many of the album’s songs, along with some old favorites and a few new tracks, for an album he’s calling Hot Shot 2020. It includes a cover of Eddy Grant’s classic “Electric Avenue” and guest spots from his close friend and frequent collaborator Sting on “Angel” and “Primavera.”

Hot Shot 2020 is out this week and Shaggy phoned up Rolling Stone to talk about its creation, the difficult years that preceded the original LP, his recent performance of “Under the Sea” as part of the live broadcast of The Little Mermaid on ABC, his friendship with Sting, and why people have been missing the true message of “It Wasn’t Me” for all these years.

Where are you quarantining?
Kingston, Jamaica. I’m at home.

How is that going?
Not bad at all. I am very privileged. They have actually done all the right things here. Right before it really took off, they started to isolate and quarantine people and they shut the country down. They created curfews and issued masks out and shut the airport down. I was stranded in New York for eight weeks before I could come home. I’ve been home a little over two weeks.

It sounds like they’re doing better in Jamaica than in the States.
Everyone is doing better than the States, let’s face it. [Laughs]

You were touring England in early March when this first started breaking. What was that like?
I had just finished a tour and got to New York a day before they closed the border in the U.K. I was lucky to get out. It was a great tour. It was me and Nelly and a bunch of us.

That might be your last time on stage for God knows how long.
For a while. I don’t see any of us coming back until 2021 and probably late 2021. We had a chance to make this a little better and maybe come back at the start of 2021, but with what’s going on in America now, this is going to linger. This will linger.

I want to go back and talk about your career here before the creation of Hot Shot. Your previous album, Midnite Lover, wasn’t a big success and Virgin dropped you. Were you facing a lot of naysayers at that point?
I never looked at it like that, though I certainly had my battles. But you gotta understand that I was criticized from the second I started doing music. “Oh Carolina” was the first dancehall record to reach Number One on the British charts. It was a hybrid type of a record. It wasn’t cookie-cutter dancehall or cookie-cutter reggae. I had a song called “Big Up” that was a massive dancehall record in London and New York. It did really well for me, but I didn’t want to continue down that path, so I started doing these hybrid records.

I was taking myself outside of the box. With that comes a lot of criticism and naysayers. A lot of them were dancehall and reggae purists. I was an artist on a major label, but I knew I’d never be a priority. In 1993, “Oh Carolina” was on an independent called Greensleeves out of the U.K. I had an offer from Ken Berry, the head of Virgin at the time, and he gave me a million dollars. There was a bidding war between him and Chris Blackwell. I wanted to be on Island Records so bad because every reggae great is on Island. But Chris Blackwell couldn’t pay anywhere near a million dollars and I was not going to be that dummy taking less than my value.

Everyone thought that Ken Berry wouldn’t make his money back. The very next record I gave them was “Boombastic.” That debuted at Number One. It wasn’t because they were trying to market me like that. If you were the head of any of these companies, you would not be putting your job on the line by putting millions of dollars behind an artist where there’s no track record of it working. There were no reggae stations to support it. There were pop stations and rock stations, R&B stations and hip-hop stations, but no reggae stations. How do you put money behind a guy in a genre that doesn’t really exist in the mainstream?

Where did that leave you?
I knew that I had to do a record 10 times better than the average person and perform 10 times better than the average person and work 10 times harder than the average person. I knew it wasn’t a level playing field.

Were they writing me off? Absolutely. They dropped me after Midnite Lover. They dropped me and Maxi Priest at the same time and they signed Beenie Man. At that point, I had sold two platinum albums and had many hits. Beenie Man hadn’t done nearly as well. That hurt.

As the songs started coming together for Hot Shot, all these future hits, did you still hear from people that they couldn’t get radio play or be popular?
Yeah. That was such a low point for me. But I was thrown a lifeline when they called me to do a song [“Luv Me, Luv Me”] for How Stella Got Her Groove Back. They told me Janet Jackson was going to be on it, and I was ecstatic. I was like, “Jesus Christ, I’m a little reggae guy on a record with Janet Jackson!” And obviously she wouldn’t be in the video and didn’t want to go out there and promote the record. That was a blow, but I went out and promoted it myself. I hit every single radio station across the U.S. and we got it to the top of the charts, which sparked another bidding war. That’s how I ended up on Universal.

Let’s talk about “It Wasn’t Me.” What was the original spark of the idea for that song?
I was watching Eddie Murphy Raw. He had this skit where he was caught and he keeps going, “It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!” I just thought it was great. It was a great conflict and so relatable to everyone’s lives. In writing songs to this day, I aways write with a subject matter that is relatable to an average person. “It Wasn’t Me” is either you’re banging or someone’s banging or you wish you were banging. It’s a part of everyday life. And it just made sense.

I think people read it that you were saying it was OK to cheat on your partner, but you definitely weren’t if you listen to the whole thing.
Yeah. The thing became such a da** club banger that nobody got to the end of the record. The bridge section explains: “Tell her that I’m sorry for the pain that I’ve caused/You may think that you’re a player/But you’re completely lost.” Nobody got to that part of the song, bro. By the time they got to that part, they were going into the next song or they started the record over. Nobody really paid attention to that part and it just sounded like a cheating song. It was so funny that the very next record I released was “Angel.” And songs like “Strength of Woman” [from 2002’s Lucky Day] were so pro-women. It’s been a weird journey.

What inspired “Angel?”
My producer at the time, Sting International, sampled “The Joker” by Steve Miller. When I heard how they did it, I was like, “Man, the beat of this is reggae.” My producer and friend Dave Kelly said to me, “We should do something with this like Lauryn Hill with ‘Killing Me Softly.'” We started out trying to create a record like that.

We wrote the verses first and came up with the concept of a woman that sticks by you through thick and thin, and you really should have treated her better. It was stuff that everyone can relate to. We’ve seen this happen to our mothers and aunts and we talked about that.

This was the peak of Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, but this was so different than what was mainstream at the time.
I’m glad you noticed that. I always say it was Britney Spears and ‘NSync mode at that time. Then we came with this song that was so left-field. Now, the drawback to doing records that aren’t cookie cutters or go against the grain is that it puts you at a disadvantage with the people that you have to convince, like record companies and promo people. They’re like, “I don’t see where the f*** this fits in.” So you may have a record company not putting huge marketing dollars behind you. They say it doesn’t sound like anything on the radio. But these songs just took on a life of their own. Once the DJ played it, it was off and running. That really helped us.

This is right before Napster hit and the industry changed forever. Nobody knew it, but this was the peak of the entire history of the record business. Looking back now, it must feel like a very different era.
Absolutely. We caught it at the tail end. We sold huge numbers on that record and it really changed my life. Now we’re entering a whole new world, a new norm. It was ringtones and downloads and now streaming. It’s been quite a journey. Now you have TikTok and Shazam and Pandora and Spotify. It’s crazy. It makes music more accessible to people, but they have shorter attention spans.

Why did you decide to redo Hot Shot 20 years later?
A lot of these records, “Angel,” “It Wasn’t Me,” “Boombastic,” are recurrent on radio. They are still played a lot and recurrent amongst a new audience. I wanted to appeal to this new audience and let them buy into these really infectious records.

Also, Universal asked me if I wanted to do a 20th-anniversary album. They wanted more of a remaster. I was like, “I don’t know if I feel like doing that. How about a re-record?” And my manager was like, “If you re-record it after five years, you can actually own these masters.” And so I made a deal with Universal to do that.

I did the first five songs, which was “Angel,” “It Wan’t Me,” “Luv Me, Luv Me,” “Keep’n It Real,” and “Hot Shot.” When I did that, the feel of them was so amazing. I liked what I was doing with them. It was new recordings, new vocals, new production that I got to a point where I was like, “I like where this is going. Why don’t I do some of my older stuff?”

And so I added some of my older stuff that was not Hot Shot like “Boombastic,” “Oh Carolina,” and “Strength of a Woman” with this new feel. My manager was like, “They aren’t going to take it because it’s not the full album of Hot Shot anymore.” Then I said, “OK, I’m going to put four new songs on it.” So I did “Primavera” with Sting and other songs. I also did “Banana” in August, which was jumping up at the time. I thought, “Why don’t I make Hot Shot 2020 a celebration of the journey of Shaggy?” That’s how it came together and Universal made me a deal on that. Meanwhile, “Banana” turned into this massive thing. Everything was just timing.

How did you approach redoing a famous song like “It Wasn’t Me?”
I didn’t want to stray too far from the authenticity of the record. I really kept it the same. The only thing I changed was the drums. The reason I did that is because the original really had a hip-hop beat that I just did dancehall cadences over because, at that time, radio wasn’t playing dancehall-style music. If I had done some dancehall drums, they wouldn’t have played it. But now that we’ve traveled that journey and dancehall is becoming popular with reggaeton and dancehall has become the part of popular music and popular culture, it was like a celebration for me to actually use it now.

I put Rayvon on it instead of Rikrok because Rikrok is retired from singing now. He lives in Cayman with his wife and kids, and Rayvon is still an artist. He originally sang it when we did it, but he was on “Angel” so we used Rikrok.

How was your experience in the Little Mermaid show where you sang “Under the Sea” on the live broadcast?
I’m a guy that likes to try and be comfortable outside of my comfort zone. That’s something I’m up for. My manager didn’t even ask me about it. He just told me, “You’re doing Little Mermaid. And it’s live.” I’m like, “OK.” He goes, “By the way, you have four rehearsals to get it right.”

I had to go there and get the dance moves and learn the song and really dedicate myself to it. It was a real nerve-racking experience. When you see the head of Disney come to your trailer and say, “Hey, great job. We’re really looking forward to seeing you. It’s going to be great.” That’s when you know it’s a big deal. [Laughs] That means basically, “Don’t f*** it up.”

You’re just wearing a red leather jacket while everyone else is dressed like a fish. Did they initially try and get you into a crab outfit?
Oh, yeah. I was in a crab suit with claws. I even had a hairpiece and glasses. We went through a couple of dress rehearsals going into the live when the powers that be came down and went, “Hey, remove the claws. Remove the glasses. And tell Shaggy to smile. We want to see him smile.” That was it. That worked for me. With an audience of 9 million people viewing, it allowed me to sell myself.

That introduced you to a whole new, young audience, while the Sting album and tour exposed you to a very different one.
Absolutely. Everything has worked together. And now having a song like “Banana” that took off on TikTok — that’s such a young audience and a young platform. To get streaming audiences back on Brand Shaggy again is nothing short of amazing.

I saw you perform at the Rainforest show at the Beacon back in December. What was the best part of that whole experience for you?
I sat down in rehearsal and had an extensive conversation with Bruce Springsteen.

What did you guys talk about?
Music. Horse riding. My daughter is a big horse person. She has her own horse and she jumps. His daughter does the same thing. He was saying to me it was an expensive sport. I was like, “Jesus Christ. If Bruce Springsteen is saying it’s an expensive sport, I’m really in for it!” [Laughs] We just sat there with our feet up on the chairs and were bullshitting. It’s not the first time I’ve met him, though. He’s really good friends with Sting and I’ve met him at Sting’s house numerous times. We’ve been to dinner together before. But this was a good time of sitting there and watching rehearsal. John Mellencamp was on the other side of us.

That whole thing was such a fuckin’ party and Trudie [Styler] is such a master at getting everybody together. Any energy you’re feeling in that room is through Trudie and her vibe.

That’s where you first played “Electric Avenue,” which is on the new album.
That was Trudie’s idea. Sting came to me and said, “Trudie thinks you should do this. I think it’s great. It’s right in your key.” When I did it, it came off so well and everybody loved it. We brought the house down. Sting said to me, “You should record that song. … It’s perfect. That song is made for you.” He was with me when I recorded it for Hot Shot 2020.

You guys look like you’re having a lot of fun when you perform together.
That’s my brother. He’s my brother from another mother I never knew I needed. He does a lot for my confidence and my creativity, my motivation. We’re competitive in a really fun way. We let each other take the lead when we need that. I was doing a record with Daddy Yankee and I kicked him out of the studio. I was like, “I need a minute.” Then I sat down and wrote the song with Daddy Yankee. He couldn’t understand where I was going with it. He came back and said, “Thanks for kicking me out. Nobody has ever kicked me out of a room, but it came out great.”

Are you thinking yet about your next record?
Absolutely. I have tons of things that I’m doing, but I don’t want to put anything out there yet because I really want to focus on Hot Shot 2020. But there’s a lot of stuff that we’re working on. Sting and I are continuing to share ideas and make music. I don’t think that’ll ever stop. We’ll always be in each other’s projects.

Do you miss being onstage? Is it hard adjusting to this new world where concerts aren’t doable?
Absolutely. That’s the thing I miss the most. If I couldn’t do live music, I wouldn’t have gone into music. To take live away from me … all this virtual concert sh** is fuckin’ nuts. I’m not feeling it. Get me in front of an audience. I want to feel that energy.

[veu]

From Deadline:

The Little Mermaid Live! got three nominations:

- Outstanding Production Design For A Variety Special
- Outstanding Contemporary Makeup For A Variety, Nonfiction Or Reality Program (Non-Prosthetic)
- Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Special