Review: Pieni merenneito
The Little Mermaid at the Helsinki City Theatre is a magical spectacle
This year’s major musical at the Helsinki City Theatre is The Little Mermaid, which is based on Disney’s classic film of the same name. The premiere of the musical was on Thursday, and I was able to watch the premiere performance together with The Lady and Daughter.
The musical is directed by Samuel Harjanne, who also directed HKT’s Kinky Boots and TTT’s Billy Elliot, and both received praise and thanks from critics and audiences alike. And no wonder, because both musicals were also wonderful in my opinion.
It was a pleasure to see that The Little Mermaid continues in the same vein, and HKT has a guaranteed super hit in their hands. And that’s a good thing: the production is said to be the biggest of all time in Finland, so it also gives it all the success it can get.
The show is big in every possible way: the underwater world requires spectacular sets, even more spectacular costumes, video projectors and a lot of technology with which the mermaid swims in the air as if flying. I would have wished that Ariel (Sonja Pajunoja) had risen into the air on the wires more often, so spectacular and effortless was the mermaid’s swimming and spinning in the air.
Perhaps the most magical moment was when Prince Erik (Martti Manninen) fell from his ship into the sea and Ariel swam to save the drowning prince. It seemed as if gravity had really forgotten both actors, and the big stage of the City Theatre had turned into an ocean, where Ariel dragged Erik, who was sinking into the depths, back to the surface.
Of course, the magic of the theatre was also that when the actors reached the roof of the stage, they were already back on the stage floor and on dry ground seconds later.
The musical had colours, speed and eye candy so much that especially the hit song Jää djupyyksin (Under the Sea) could have been rewound and immediately watched again. The stage was flooded with more and more colorful seafood in imaginative costumes, some of the actors had turned into coral rot teeming with small fish, and larger fish floated into the background, supported by several actors.
The most spectacular character, however, was the sea witch Ursula (Sanna Saarijärvi), whose tentacles filled half of the stage and moved under the direction of eight other actors. Saarijärvi as Ursula was so dazzlingly stunning and deliciously sarcastic that she literally stole the whole show.
In addition to Ursula, the story was also brought comedy by the nervous Sebastian the crab (Tero Koponen), the Splash Fish (premiered by Alek Pèrez Lahtinen) and the gantry Skuutti the Seagull (Tuukka Leppänen). Sebastian had the honour of performing two of the musical’s biggest hits, the aforementioned Jää djupyyöin and Kiss the Girl.
The biggest hit song was, of course, Ariel’s theme, Part of Your World, of which several variations were heard, and Pajunoja performed several new songs composed for the musical strongly and confidently.
In the musical, Erik also got to sing, luckily, because Manninen’s song sounded so lyrical that it was the greatest joy of the evening. I could also have heard more of Triton’s (Mikko Vihma) singing.
Despite the fine execution, some criticism must be given to the manuscript of the work, which HKT has of course not had the opportunity to influence. Disney’s The Little Mermaid is different from H.C. Andersen’s original fairy tale in terms of its story, and the happy ending where the princess gets her prince is part of this story. However, it doesn’t bother me anymore 30 years later, and I missed one of the twists and turns in the plot towards the end of the film.
In this version, Ursula doesn’t change herself into Vanessa, who sings in Ariel’s voice, and Erik isn’t there to marry her when Ariel has to turn back into a mermaid. It would have been fun to see how the film’s dramatic final battle at sea would have been carried out by means of theatre, because in this version, the ending of the story was somehow too easy and abrupt.
I was sure that my daughter would also have asked why Ursula didn’t turn into a giant, but maybe she had already forgotten how the movie ends.
Instead, she wondered why Ariel sings after turning into a human, even though she has given up her voice. Admittedly, this surprised me as well, but I explained it so that Ariel’s song could only be heard inside her own head, and no one else could hear it.
The performance was also well suited for a 7-year-old, and even though he pressed himself closer to my side when Ursula screamed, he didn’t find the performance scary. He was so impressed by it that now he thinks The Little Mermaid beats every show he’s seen before – even Aladdin’s on Broadway!
We adults were also very impressed by the implementation, and the Lady had time to cry several times during the performance, because she was so happy for the HKT working group. Personally, I would have watched the performance even longer, and I could easily go and watch it again. So, congratulations to HKT and the working group for a great presentation! I encourage others to get tickets to the performance right away.
Now I just wonder how HKT can make this even bigger and what Samuel Harjanne intends to direct next. We look forward to it.