The Little Mermaid LIVE-ish
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- We were so hype for Disney's first live television musical event!!!...until we weren't. So let's go under da sea and talk about The Little Mermaid LIVE!
This is episode 19 of our Stealing Focus REAL THOUGHTS series. Stealing Focus is a show that reviews the best (and worst!) movie and tv musicals. / stealingfocus
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I do love how Cody works to Keep Gerald just alive enough even when he's not talking.
Jilly Cooke as a fellow puppeteer, yes
I've only recently discovered this channel...and I love Gerald!
@@jenniferschillig3768 I _so want_ stuffed animals and a sitcom about him. :)
The "Be Our Guest" parody in "Les Poissons" was actually in the Broadway version, too.
well yeah! i guess it never hit me till that exact moment that it's the same melody! :)
Awww, Gerald's' personal investment in his heroes!
One teacher/director I had, when a singer wasn't giving it their all or the ensemble was a bit too loose, would refer to it as "Amateur Night in Dixie." This was the DIsney version of that.
omigod this is my new favorite phrase. i am using it all the time now!
Maybe “Amateur Night In Disney”? 😃
Auli'i was on the show "Rise" last year that lasted for about a season. It was about a high school putting on a production of Spring Awakening and she was pretty solid on it.
Y'all, John Stamos was living his best Disney nerd life. The art design wwa garbage, as were the costumes, but knowing how much he loves Disney while watching him have fun diminished the cheapness of it for me. That and Queen Latifah slaying. The rest of it though, including Flounder, was pathetic.
Agreed. She was fantastic, and I do love John Stamos. I saw him play the Emcee in Cabaret on Broadway and he was great. And I was at Turtle Talk when he had the Animation building at DCA closed down so he could propose to his love a couple years ago. He IS living his best Disney nerd life!!! Nothing against him or Queen Latifah. It wasn't their fault that this thing was so bad ;)
People have been saying that Stamos is apparently really gross in person though. :| twitter.com/JennyENicholson/status/1191841889042829312
By basically screening the animated film with live performances, you're also possibly reducing how many people will be watching The Little Mermaid at Disney +'s launch. That timing seems so counter-intuitive.
Exactly. Such a strange decision.
For me personally it made me wanna go watch the movie bc the live action parts were so cringe and the movie clips were the best part to me lol I was sucked into each clip
2:15 GEPPETTO REVIEW WITH SOME JERK WITH A CAMERA?!? YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!
it's happening baby!!
Cheers! Coming sooooooooooon! We just have to drop Annie first, probably tomorrow, and then Geppetto soon after that. Tony is so good in that episode I can't wait for you to see it, and we just had the best time watching the film beforehand. I kinda want to watch it again with people who haven't seen it. I was absolutely amazed ;)
Our middle school kids in PMTP did a more exciting and entertaining version of Under The Sea!
it wasnt live on the west coast. disney lied to me
How dare anyone rewrite the great Howard Ashman's lyrics.
Meanwhile, Norm Lewis randomly showed up in the Aladdin panel at D23 (which was cool, no complaints, but nevertheless a bit inexplicable)
I think there was another flaw in the advertising of the live event. Not only did some people, like you guys, think it was going to be the musical version, but there were plenty of people expecting the song performances to be the ones from the original movie with no added material. I saw both sides having different gripes with the show for their separate reasons. The people expecting a musical were disappointed in the songs from the musical that didn't make it and the people expecting the movie songs were disappointed by the addition of songs they didn't approve of. Disney/ABC needed to choose a side. Either just have the movie songs performed in concert (maybe if the movie had to been seen, have the songs simply dubbed over the movie by the new artists to cut down cost and improve quality lol) or the musical songs performed ala Sweeney Todd in concert, cut back props and special effects but still acted in full. The former could have been been called The Little Mermaid 30th Anniversary Live Performance and the latter be called The Little Mermaid the Musical Live. Both titles give a better idea about what each would pertain, I think. Anyway, that's only what could have (and probably should have happened). However, it didn't. I think Queen Latifah doing Poor Unfortunate Souls (only full scene worth watching) was the highlight of the night, with the vocal performances being second best (Shaggy being the worst of them vocally). The production design and direction being what dragged the vocals down, since like you said, it often time made performers try over thinking and therefore not sing the best. You guys do such a good job reviewing musical adaptations. So happy I found this channel.
I'm totally in agreement about getting conned into thinking this would be the Broadway version only to find out it was mostly just the movie with a few live numbers interspersed. But another thing that rankled was the audience shrieking their way through every song as if it were a rock concert and not a stage show. That's happened with JCS Live (as much as I enjoyed it), Rent Live, and now this.
Man, 2019 has not been a good year for Disney.
Yeah, it sucks that a company I love goes through hardship.
I really hated this one. But I'm starting to hate the live ones. Specifically because not a single included audience member has never even HEARD OF theater etiquette. I'm all for applause for a stunt casted entrance. But all the screaming they allow makes the entire show unreadable. I was really looking forward to Latifah. But I COULDN'T HEAR HER.
The rest of your criticisms are absolutely right.
Fun Facts: Little Mermaid and Disney MGM Studios both premiered in 1989. For the park, it was specifically May 1st, 1989 aka, the day I turned one year old.
With the amount of commercials in Little Mermaid Live, I could have watched the animated film twice.
If they had used the projections to just create the movie backgrounds, and have done the Broadway musical otherwise, I would have loved this version!
Queen Latifah was the star of the show for sure totally agree
So, if they ever do "Frozen Live" on ABC, it'll probably just be a TV version of the crappy Frozen sing-along that was in California Adventure and Hollywood Studios, if they use what they did for Little Mermaid Live as a template for future TV specials. Disney, stop being cheapskates, and do proper TV versions of your Broadway shows! If NBC and FOX can do it, there's no excuse why you can't for ABC.
Matt C Disney overall has just become lazy.. looking for quick and easy cash grabs... not caring at all about how the product looks...
Matthew Rosenkoetter That’s absolutely not true. They still make amazing animated films.
I liked that Sing Along. Mostly cause they skipped the worst song.
@@matthewrosenkoetter6351 The MCU would disagree with you on that one.
I just like the puppets!
I have a friend who performed in Disney Dreams when she worked on the Disney Cruise Line. I asked and she does not know Jeff.
Nice. Yea it's been on both the Magic and the Wonder for years now, so there have been tons of casts. I was in it (barely) 3 times on the Magic and once on the Wonder. That show was basically a night off for me ;)
agree
Shamefully, Disney is going to pull the same exact stunt this December with a special celebrating the 30th Anniversary of “Beauty and the Beast”! Disney, will you ever learn?!
It's not gonna be "Live!" tho It's prerecorded I wish it was gonna live
...I was really looking forward to this, THAT'S disappointing. Voyage of TLM stopped being appealing to me a while ago, I don't need a feature length version of that. Let Auli'i play Ariel proper, you cowards! Oh also she was on that TV show Rise, she made for a great Wendla on it.
22:11
I dunno how I'd feel about them doing the whole show using elements from the Broadway show, since a lotta stuff that was made for that were... not very good. The new songs weren't that good (other than Her Voice and If Only), the overall production design was too fake looking (that Julie Taymor-ish look you were talking about backfired), the story/character changes were misfires, etc. I elaborate more on it here: www.deviantart.com/averagejoeartwork/art/Disney-on-Broadway-pt-2-612174636
I wouldn't say this was hastily put together. I remember reading announcements for this from summer of last year (and it was said to have the same half-&-half presentation), but then it got shelved for unknown reasons (which was also before anything about the TLM movie remake was said other than the crew). But yeah, that aspect was really bad. If Disney/ABC ever decides to do this again, it's the full live production or nothing. 'Cause you might as well put on your Blu-Ray with this format.
"Disney owns the Muppets. There's no excuse for these puppets to be this bad".................................................................... what are you on, Tony? Disney... DOING something with the Muppets? That's a joke & you know it.
Agreed. The Muppets have been pretty wasted huh? And Diz has owned them for a LONG time. The big thing for me is that theater puppets and TV puppets are different. TV/Film puppets are usually much lighter and more intricately designed, therefore more fragile. Theatre puppets are built to withstand wear and tear for years and years of use. Why were the puppets they used the WORST kind of theatre puppets when it was for a ONE night TV concert event? So bizarre.
I'm sure someone mentioned it, but I believe Disney is reviving the Beauty and the Beast musical on Broadway sometime next year.
Graham Phillips is on Riverdale!
Seriously, Disney are supposed to respect their musicals as musicals - that's what started their Renaissance!!! I thought they were going to restage the stage adaptation of the movie, because all of the stage adaptations of their movies at least retain the quality of the source material, while also expanding it to fit the medium. What, THIS was the highest rated ABC entertainment telecast in 5 years? Moral of the story: always learn from your mistakes.
I enjoyed it, but I won't pretend it was good. If anything, I enjoyed how cheesy it was. I'm sure the remake will be better from a financial standpoint... but then instead of Shaggy in a goofy looking red jacket you'll have a hyperrealistic crab singing Under the Sea... and... Have you seen a crab's face up close?
I can't imagine this production being any BETTER than the live-action film they're currently working on.
The remake I’m sure will be better. But some people are thinking the opposite because they can’t handle the fact that Ariel is black.
I just wish I felt like I had just watched a Rocky Horror Picture show version of the Little Mermaid! any of you guy feelin' me?
I really love The Little Mermaid live especially since I knew what to expecting in with them advertising the half and half idea. And one can't say it wasn't advertised as such. I thought all the Fox live musical were trash and done not very well.
Honestly, with all the fish and sea creature costumes, Ursula's tentacles, and the hassle of properly giving off the illusion of the characters swimming and being underwater, I _don't_ think _The Little Mermaid_ is the best movie to adapt to theater or live television.
Grease 2 is considerably worse than Grease, but it's also a hell of a lot better because of how insane it is.
If I wanted to watch a live-action remake of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”, I will watch “Splash” instead: www.imdb.com/title/tt0088161/ .
Besides, “Splash” was released by Disney’s adult label “Touchstone Pictures”, so technically speaking, it IS a Disney movie!
In fact, “The Little Mermaid” was initially rejected by then-Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg for being “too similar to ‘Splash’”.
To add insult to injury, Disney was busy developing a sequel to “Splash” called “Splash Too” (you read right, a SEQUEL to “Splash”: www.imdb.com/title/tt0096159/ ).
To avoid the inevitable similarities between the two Disney movies, Ariel was given RED HAIR AND A GREEN FISH TAIL in order to distinguish herself from the blonde orange-tailed mermaid Madison in “Splash”.
Let’s just assume that someone who has zero Broadway or cruise ship experience turned on the TV and discovered that Little Mermaid Live!!! was on………What might that totally novice person notice? Well, pretty much the same things you all mentioned. That tells me that the production was pretty dang awful. I thought Ariel looked constricted and very uncomfortable. Sebastian (Shaggy) seemed to be out of breath from fatigue. The puppets looked …………they sure as hell didn’t look Disney. And then (I know you don’t start sentences with “”and” …sue me) anyway, and then, they just ended the cartoon and did this weak ass Under the Sea reprise slash curtain call (I paused your video to write this ……I imagine you have plenty to say) what a massive let down. All that talent just f***ing standing there. I don’t care how the movie ends, sing something.
When Emily drops more F bombs than Tony………did Martin Scorsese direct this episode of Stealing Focus? I loved the little clip they added of everyone drinking beer and yelling at the TV. Have you noticed that reviews of really bad stuff are so much more fun than the reviews good stuff ?
I did enjoy the show but I'll admit that it was kind of...trashy xD
Auli'i Cravalho was great as Moana but she was bland playing Ariel. She was good singing but her acting was barely there and when it was (like in the 'Kiss the girl' scene or the 'If only' one) I thought at first that she was portraying her in a demure, sort of...stereotypical classy princess way that didn't fit Ariel at all. I did enjoy the actor who played Eric and yeah, Queen Latifah was definitely the best part. I laughed at the Le Poissons part because they took the child in the crab costume and dragged her on the table while they were season her. Lol poor kid.
Overall yes, like you guys said, it was almost the whole original movie with the songs being live in a cheap way.
Damn, they're so analytical. I think their goal was to entertain and not be Broadway. It's not the best but we enjoyed it and that's all tha matters. A lot of the criticisms here are mostly nitpicking and comparing.
I enjoyed it in a so bad it’s good kind of way.
you guys are just haters
It was horrible
No you are horrible
@@EdwardSanchezProductions lol Grow up guy.
bahahahaha! yes. indeed i hated this. you are stating a fact.
@@StealingFocus atleast he didnt call you horrible. I'm so sad now