Review: Pieni merenneito

Helsinki City Theatre’s musical The Little Mermaid deserved its re-premiere. The performance is an experience that will be remembered for a long time – whether the viewer is a child or an adult.

I’m delighted that the musical The Little Mermaid will once again be seen on the big stage of the Helsinki City Theatre. Its Finnish premiere was at the City Theatre at the end of August 2019. I saw the musical about four years ago and I liked it very much (link to the previous review). Now, as I go to the re-premiere, I wonder if the magic of theatre brought by the musical has faded or remained.

To the repertoire, the musical is not overshadowed by the previous one – perhaps even the opposite. The cast of the musical is almost original. The most significant change is the portrayal of the main role. Now Ariel is played by the talented Yasmine Yamajako, whose voice is gorgeous, bright and sonorous.

The voices of Martti Manninen, who plays Prince Erik, and Yasmine Yamajako go well together.

Sanna Saarijärvi, who plays the villain Ursula, is at least as amazing as she was four years ago. He really makes the role of his life that he will be remembered for.

The role of skateboarding Pärsky is a triple crew. At the premiere, it was led by Aleksi Johansson with amazing empathy. No wonder the audience went wild with him.

The musical is directed by Samuli Harjanne, Finland’s musical wizard number 1. He really gets any musical from the so-called. to the next level.

I’ve praised the musical’s visuals before: costume designer Pirjo Liiri-Majava’s undersea costumes, Peter Ahlqvist’s impressive sets, William Iles‘ fine lighting design, Kai Poutanen’s sound design that supports the atmosphere, and Toni Haaranen’s video design. Thanks to them, the viewer can feel like they are part of the undersea world, as if in some kind of maritime bubble. Great job!

The Little Mermaid is based on H. C. Andersen’s fairy tale, which is familiar to all of us, and which deals with the acceptance of differences, among other things. This topic is still relevant today, even though Andersen wrote the fairy tale in 1837.

All in all, Helsinki City Theatre’s The Little Mermaid is of an international standard.

The premiere audience certainly didn’t sit cold and cool, but gave well-deserved applause and gave a standing ovation during the final thanks.