Review: Pieni merenneito
The Little Mermaid Swims to the Bullseye Helsinki City Theatre’s Disney musical meets all the expectations set for a fairytale musical of our time.
The absolute queen of the spectacle of the season is here! I dare say so, even though autumn has barely begun yet. The director of The Little Mermaid, Samuel Harjanne, emphasizes the content of the work in the script: “—Both Ariel’s body and the world around her prevent her from being who she is. This resonates with the modern world
and genders, and is the most important theme of the musical.”
Accepting differences and being oneself, loved and accepted are of course at the heart of the story, but they do not yet create the work that drove the premiere audience crazy to shout and thank with numerous applauses and to applaud standing up at the end. It also requires an overall vision, a sense of style, fairytale-like brilliance, catchy music, humour and a touch of magic.
In recent years, Samuel Harjanne has profiled himself as a director of successful musicals. His top so far is considered to be last year’s Kinky Boots at the Helsinki City Theatre. The Little Mermaid strengthens her position at the top of Finnish musical directors.
It is a Disney Theatrical production that premiered on Broadway in January
2008, which is based on the Disney animated film from 1989 and it is based on the classic fairy tale by H.C. Andersen (1805–1875), which was released more than a hundred years earlier.
Disney-like is strongly present in the work, but I think the stage version is even better than the beloved animation. There are more songs in the musical, and the conflict between King Triton and the sea witch Ursula, for example, is better grounded. The Finnish translation of the musical also beats the translation of the animation by a wide margin. Despite its cinematic nature, The Little Mermaid is a living theatrical piece.
The Little Mermaid is said to be the Helsinki City Theatre’s greatest production of all time. A lot of effort has been put into visuals, and I’ve never seen anything like this before. The expertise of respected international bodies has been utilised in the design and flying of the magnificent underwater figures.
The visual impact of the performance is also largely in the hands of the people of Turku, as the set design is by Turku-based actor-scenographer Peter Ahlqvist and the costumes are by local costume designer and scenographer Pirjo Liiri-Majava.
The set design solutions handsomely create the structures of different environments, which are complemented by fantastic projections. Liiri-Majava, on the other hand, has put her entire rich imagination into play when creating the costumes. In fact, there are so many flashy costumes that it’s starting to look like a waste.
The Little Mermaid is the perfect work for those hungry for romance and fantasy. However, the second half is more flat than the first, as the plot focuses more on the development of Ariel and Erik’s love relationship.
As sweet as Sonja Pajunoja and Martti Manninen are in their youthful sensitivity and willpower, the absolute ruler of the musical is the fierce Ursula, played by Sanna Saarijärvi with complete sovereignty.
Without the young Splash, who was expressively played by Alek Pèrez Lahtinen at the premiere, Tuukka Leppänen’s gull Skuutti, who spews out twists and turns, and Sebastian the hand puppet crab, animated by Tero Koponen, the musical would lack a lot of humour that enriches the performance.
The entire ensemble exudes the joy of making, which leads to such top numbers as Lääpällä and Jää syvyihin.