Review: Pieni merenneito
Helsinki City Theatre’s The Little Mermaid with a 5-year-old
Last year, just before Christmas, Friidu and her cousin Pikku Ystäväinen, who is a few years older, went to Studio Pasila to see the Christmas play Saiturin joulu for the whole family. Since then, for a whole nine months, we have been playing orphan girl almost every day. So the new game was already more than welcome.
The recommended age limit for The Little Mermaid is 7, but we estimate it to be suitable for Friidu, who turns 6 in December. We went through the scenes that might be scary beforehand, and the girl assured me that at least she wasn’t scared at all.
The Little Mermaid, which premiered again in August, is more or less the same implementation as the musical that was in HKT’s repertoire in 2019, and when we had seen it back then, we knew more or less what to expect.
So the expectations were already high, but they even managed to be exceeded! And there were also new things here, a few changes in the occupation, among other things.
The Little Mermaid is a visually impressive and narratively captivating fairy tale – an enchanting love story – that convinced both the youngest of the family and the older ones. From the moment the lights in the auditorium went out and the performance began, we heard an ecstatic “Ooh!” “Wow! ” Aaah!” or “Is that right?” The genuine crush of the little companion made us adults downright moved, it was so sincere.
Immediately after the applause, Friidu announced that he wanted to come again soon. So the girl coped very well with the 2.5-hour theatrical performance (with intermissions), and she really wasn’t scared even in the dramatic Ursula scenes.
By the way, Sanna Saarijärvi in the role of Ursula deserves special praise, she is brilliant! The other performances are also excellent, for example, Yasmine Yamajako, who plays the role of Ariel, interprets the mental landscape of a slightly stubborn and sensitive young person who is in pain in her independence.
Special praise also deserves special praise for the technical implementation of The Little Mermaid , which manages to capture the underwater world really wonderfully. The jellyfish, glowing like holograms, almost come into your arms, and the scene where Prince Erik sinks into the water looks really real. There was also plenty to admire in the details of various fish and other seafood, and at least in the front of the stalls they stood out well.
As a story, The Little Mermaid feels a bit old-fashioned and stereotypical at first. The girl falls in love with the prince, the prince chooses his future spouse with the help of an audition, and of course, all of the spouse candidates are not only fond of the prince, but also clichéd somehow weird. But in essence, the story is not only about love, of course, but also about walking your own path. Ariel listens to her own heart and rebels against the expectations placed on her. So does a prince who loves the sea and would rather be a sailor than a future king. And in the end, they get each other.
In the original fairy tale by H. C. Andersen , however, the little mermaid and the prince do not get each other, but the mermaid saves the prince from death and turns into the foam of the sea itself. So it’s good that the theatrical adaptation (as well as the Disney animated film) is only loosely based on the original fairy tale and the most dramatic twists have been smoothed out quite a bit.
The Little Mermaid can be described without hesitation with the words spectacle, grand musical, world-class performance, theatre event, visual fireworks, enchanting fairy tale. Humour has not been forgotten either, and both children and adults laugh at many points. For the adults in our family, the farce of the crazy chef went a little overboard, but the child laughed.
It probably goes without saying that we warmly recommend The Little Mermaid to everyone – both with and without children. The Little Mermaid is excellent theatre entertainment in the usual style of the Helsinki City Theatre. Go before it’s too late.