ABC is making its first foray into the land of live musicals.
Helming the production is director and executive producer, Hamish Hamilton, who explains that The Little Mermaid Live! will be an “interesting hybrid” between the animated original and live performances of the feature’s musical numbers, rather than a fully staged production.
Starring as the lead is Moana’s Auli’i Cravalho. Queen Latifah will play villainous Ursula and Shaggy will star as Sebastian the crab.
“There will be visual signatures all the way through that will reinforce the original feature,” Hamilton explained. The actors will not re-voice the movie; they will only perform the songs. “The original feature will exist exactly as it always has, and then when we come to a song, we will transition from the original to the new.”
The forthcoming production will not include new songs but will include several numbers from the Broadway musical.
The Little Mermaid Live! airs November 5, on ABC.
