Review: Pieni merenneito
Ursula’s Jackpot – Helsinki City Theatre: The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid from Copenhagen is very small. It is 1.25 meters long and weighs 175 kilograms. The Helsinki City Theatre’s The Little Mermaid, on the other hand, is very, very big. That’s what it is, especially visually and ursually.
The musical The Little Mermaid is based on H.C. Andersen’s fairy tale of the same name (Den lille havfrue, 1837), but Disney production has adapted it for its own purposes and eliminated the most tragic elements of the story. However, the fundamental themes of the original work remain, i.e. the fear of being different and the importance of being yourself.
Mermaid Ariel has a crush on people and would like to be human herself. However, she lives as a prisoner in her own body, half sea dweller and half girl.
The theme of the work is very topical today, and Ariel’s struggle to live a life that looks like her is directly related to questions of identity politics.
The performance at the City Theatre is visually shocking. I mean, super- and hyper-superlatively. The stage is filled with colourful characters, sets, lights and pyro effects, not forgetting acrobatics.
The overwhelming queen of the stage is the villain Ursula, played by Sanna Saarijärvi. When a grown woman goes strong, others are bound to be a little overshadowed by her. In her octopus-like costume, Ursula dominates the stage in an irresistible way. If all the bad guys were as amazing as Ursula, who would want to be good anymore?
During the intermission of the performance, my companion and I discussed the target audience of the performance. I hadn’t thought that The Little Mermaid would be aimed specifically at children, although it is clear that Ariel’s story will be of interest to little girls who know her from a Disney movie. At times, it seemed a bit like the show was trying to appeal to child viewers in particular and make them laugh, which of course is really not bad. I think I’ve just been disappointed a couple of times for no reason.
Glitter and mischief. Fireworks and funny animals, of which I was especially attracted by the eels Liero and Kiero with their lamp eyes. In general, the animal figures were inventively and skilfully executed. I even noticed that in the middle of the performance, the thought popped into my head that it would be great to walk like a fish on stage.
Special mention should also be given to Pärsky, played by Valo Eklund, who will soon turn 11 in the performance I watched. What a vibe and energy and the comedian’s abilities. Splash’s hilarity hardly left a single heart cold.
Ariel sang like an angel, but she was forced to be a little overshadowed by Ursula. Not because there was anything wrong with Ariel, but because Ursula just fixed the show’s jackpot. There was a lovely spark between Ariel and Prince Erik (Matti Manninen) and Manninen had received the wonderful brown innocence of his youth. No wonder that when Ariel saw him, she had love arrhythmias.
Linguistically, the performance has been adapted to the present day, without forgetting the comic aspects. Personally, I wouldn’t have minded the slightly more tragic scenes, but it feels crazy to complain about anything at all about this performance, because such a disarming company on the stage of the City Theatre is doing its best. There is a bit of mysticism and even magic. There is glitter dust under which there are big questions about finding one’s own place.
There is also a battle between generations. Ariel’s father, Triton (Mikko Vihma), wants to hold on to the rules and customs that have prevailed for decades. Ariel’s task, on the other hand, is to challenge her father and make him see that the boundary between tailless and tailless is artificial and unnecessary, and that love is the best way to break down fences.
It would be right and reasonable to mention every single person who has been involved in making The Little Mermaid such a great musical as it is. However, since it is impossible to mention each of them separately here, I will put a link here to the Helsinki City Theatre’s website, where you can get to know both the actors and the other creators of the performance in more detail.
The Little Mermaid is food for the ears and eyes. It is a vitamin injection against the cold, winds and rain of autumn. It is an indication that the musical genre is doing well and fascinatingly in our country.