The Little Mermaid: Stage Musical

What started with Disney's stage versions of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King was continued with a Broadway version of Disney's The Little Mermaid. The musical had its world premier on 26 July 2007 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, where it ran for its pre-Broadway tryout until 9 September 2007. Then show had its Broadway debut at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on 3 November 2007 and officially opened on 10 January 2008. It closed on Broadway on 30 August 2009.

The stage musical adapts the film's story for the medium with puppetry, props and wirework, bringing Ariel's world to vivid live performance life. The story itself follows familiar beats, but it adds new elements and scenes, such as Ariel learning to dance from Eric, a singing contest in lieu of the Vanessa subplot, and Triton and Ursula are siblings with vicious baggage.

Aside the songs already written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman that were naturally transported over to the stage, Alan Menken and Glenn Slater composed eleven new songs to compliment those we know and love. The book was written by Doug Wright and the production was directed by Francesca Zambello.

Many thanks to Danielle and Laura R. for various info and input for this page.