Review: Pieni merenneito
HKT’s The Little Mermaid offers fairytale-like abundance
So when the calypsophobia of The Little Mermaid starts playing in the Waves, the memories take you back to your own daughters’ childhood at the turn of the millennium. We watched Disney’s The Little Mermaid video, listened to a fairy tale tape and played with Ariel Barbie. The smaller one chose the Ariel cap when you could only get one product from the Disney store.
The animated film The Little Mermaid had already been released in 1989 and is said to have ushered in a new renaissance era for Disney.
With the same daughters, now grown-ups, we went to see the premiere of the musical The Little Mermaid at the Helsinki City Theatre on 29.8.2019.
Before the performance, director Samuel Harjanne told how much he was impressed by the film The Little Mermaid already as a child and how he had hoped to direct a musical one day. She was nervous and said that anything could happen at the premiere!
There is always a special buzz at premieres. Even now, the dress code in the invitation to the musical’s pre-party was “Princess Glamour” and extra glitter was available in the lobby. When the curtain on the stage was raised, the visual view was stunning! A live band played in the pit under the direction of conductor Risto Kupiainen , and the colourful crowd on stage rocked on the ship or under the surface in a fabulously believable way.
The Little Mermaid is the City Theatre’s largest financial investment of all time in a single performance, and it shows. A tropical marine world has been conjured up on the stage, with no lack of colour or people. There is so much in fact that I am afraid that many of the subtleties have slipped past when the eyes have been fixed on the main performers. In the renovation of the City Theatre, the modernised technology comes into its own in the musical. No matter how much I looked, I still couldn’t figure out how in one moment Ariel swam to the surface, i.e. to the ceiling of the stage, and at the same second she was on the beach, i.e. on the stage level, it was real theatrical magic!
At the City Theatre’s autumn preview, Samuel Harjanne told about the birth of the Little Mermaid story. Uncle Hans Christian Andersen was in love with the Englishman Edward Collin, but his homosexual relationship in the 1830s had to be kept secret. The original Little Mermaid story is a more tragic story than the Disney version, for example, Ariel’s every step on her feet is like walking on broken glass. The Little Mermaid was H.C.’s declaration of love to Edward. When Edward got engaged to a woman, H.C. sent him the original text of The Little Mermaid to tell him that he could never be a part of her world. This real, forbidden love story also opens up new interpretations for the story of The Little Mermaid.
Mermaid Ariel wants to be part of the human world, to walk and participate in balls, to have legs instead of tails. The world around him and his own body prevent him from being himself. This resonates with the current world’s topics of discussion about identity and gender, and is the most important theme of the musical. Ariel isn’t just a naïve young mermaid who falls in love with a handsome man – she even gives up her voice to get a pair of legs for three days and finally be herself. He defies his father, the king, and others who dictate to him what he should be like and who he should associate with. Ariel is the first feminist Disney princess! – director Samuel Harjanne
The musical can also be seen as a children’s princess story with a happy ending. But in musicals, you can also find symbolism in relationships where something prevents you from living together or in situations where you feel like you are living in the wrong kind of body for yourself. Without the backstory, I would not have been able to see these more profound interpretations. Nor would I have listened to the lyrics of the wonderful music with such a keen ear as I do now, knowing that Howard Ashman had found out that he had AIDS while writing The Songs of The Little Mermaid. How the lyrics of Part Of Your World, for example, touch you differently knowing the background:
What would I give
If I could live
Out of these waters?
What would I pay
To spend a day
Warm on the sand?
Of course, the City Theatre’s musical The Little Mermaid sings in Finnish according to the very witty lyrics of Reita Lounatvuori and Hanna Kaila . Especially the seagull Skuutti (Tuukka Leppänen) amused me with his funny words.
But let’s go to the main couple of the musical, both of whom are playing a really big role for the first time, Sonja Pajunoja as Ariel and Martti Manninen as Prince Erik.
Ariel’s role is demanding in terms of both music and movement. You have to hang on to invisible wires, wag your tail like in the sea and sing at the same time. Sonja Pajunoja copes with all of this nicely and with a strong, admirably cheerful energy. The only tiny downside is that Ariel as a character doesn’t grow during the show, but the same eager little mermaid progresses from one joy and adversity to another.
Martti Manninen as Erik is a carefree boy prince who would be much more interested in adventures than taking responsibility for national affairs. She also exudes immense joy and energy that is pleasant to watch.
Long gone are the days when you had to watch Finnish versions of Broadway musicals with at least a slight sense of shame. Now they are making bold decisions of their own, such as attaching a child actor to the role of Ariel’s best friend Splash. When you saw elementary school-aged Alek Pérez Lahtinen charming as a little fish at the premiere, you wonder how on earth an adult could even have played a role like has happened elsewhere in the world.
The biggest applause in the audience was deservedly received by the sea witch Ursula (Sanna Saarijärvi), whose rugged, purple figure with its moving tentacles was an impressive sight. I can imagine that the youngest viewers might have been nervous about Ursula and her sidekicks Kiero (Paavo Kääriäinen) and Liero (Antti Timonen).
The crab Sebastian (Tero Koponen) came on stage as a hand puppet, which was a very functional solution. His adventures in the kitchen of the royal palace were a skilfully directed and executed crowd scene.
There is no weak link in The Little Mermaid musical, everything runs smoothly as if a swell hits the shore. The show is great, entertainment of an international standard! The show is perfect for kids and will also hit home with those who have been fans of Ariel as a child. My companions (20-31 years old) said that the musical met their expectations, it was really good and now I have to watch the old movie again!
On an emotional level, I still stayed in the world of the Disney version, but that’s probably because the Disney princess story is so familiar and the stage version looks very similar. I admired the wonderful technical execution and the cast’s dedication, but the performance didn’t reach my heart.
I went to HKT’s autumn pre-event to greet my brother-in-law, Matti Olavi Ranin, who plays Prince Erik’s guardian in the musical. I guess it’s biased to praise Matti’s singing on stage, but it’s probably okay to praise his fine clothes. The costumes for the musical are by Pirjo Liiri-Majava.