Alan Menken is an accomplished songwriter who has won more Academy Awards than any other living composer in Oscar history. He is perhaps best known for his work on Disney movies, including “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin.” Menken and his late writing partner, Howard Ashman, composed seven songs for “The Little Mermaid,” the film that helped revitalize Disney animation and launch his career. Now the movie that audiences adore is making its debut on Broadway as a brand-new production. The show launched a pre-Broadway run in Denver and officially opens at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre next month. Menken has been involved with THE LITTLE MERMAID from the outset and recently spoke about the differences between the film and the stage versions and the challenges of opening a Broadway show.
“Once we brought BEAUTY AND THE BEAST to Broadway there was an open question about what (show) might be next,” Menken explains. “THE LITTLE MERMAID always seemed like a natural except for under the sea. How in the world do you deal with that? Nobody could quite figure it out.” Once Director Francesca Zambello entered the scene, “She and George Tsypin (scenic designer) had a wonderful concept for how to do the under the sea aspect,” Menken says. He describes the underwater portion of the set as “very open, very translucent. It really deals well with under the sea and then shifting to above the sea. I won’t give away how any of those things are done and in fact, in some cases I barely understand how they’re done. But they are beautiful.”
During the Broadway show’s development, Menken collaborated with lyricist Glenn Slater and added ten new songs to the score. Additional songs aside, “a big change (from the movie) is the three-dimensionality of Prince Eric and a much more fully-developed, adult approach to the relationship between Eric and Ariel,” Menken explains. “I say adult only in the sense of a deeper love and maturity.” Another difference Broadway audiences may notice from the movie is the physical look of the actress who plays Ursula, Ariel’s nemesis who deceives her to try and steal her man, Prince Eric. “Obviously she’s (Sherie Rene Scott) somewhat leaner; although she has the look of Ursula, she’s very much an octopus,” he says. “She’s leaner and meaner and she works fantastically well.”
Expectations are inevitably high for THE LITTLE MERMAID, particularly since the movie remains so well-known and popular among all ages. “The only thing that’s difficult I suppose as we approach the opening in New York, is anticipating running the gauntlet of New York press and New York opinion,” Menken offers. “It’s something that I know THE LITTLE MERMAID will do like a champ but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that one of the more daunting things one can do in one’s life is to open a Broadway show. You’re somewhat more insulated in film but as a writer of a Broadway show you go to previews, you really listen to an audience, you’re open to what that audience’s reaction is telling you and you deal with the limitations of what you can change and what you can’t change. Difficult? Yes. It’s a very special skill both to write and to survive the opening of a Broadway show.”
So how have preview audiences been reacting to THE LITTLE MERMAID so far? “Fantastically!,” Menken exclaims. “To me a play is like an established show already and part of that, of course, is that audiences come in with a ready-made anticipation based on the animated feature. You’re already getting families and kids and dates (seeing the show).” He anticipates THE LITTLE MERMAID will tour nationally at some point down the road. “A tour of a Broadway show is one of the things that follows naturally when you have a show that’s successful.”
For more information on the Broadway production of THE LITTLE MERMAID visit the official show site.
By: Beth Cox
