Last week we covered how Les Misérables is a pretty perfect adaptation. (If you missed it, the link is here: https://www.amandaebner.com/post/the-metamorphosis-of-les-mis) Now I want to talk about the musical that set my mind spinning about all this to begin with, The Little Mermaid.
The Little Mermaid starts with the opposite problem of Les Mis. Les Mis’s source material is too long for a stage musical. The Little Mermaid’s is too short. In response to this, the show’s strategy has been to flesh everything out just a little bit, add in some bits that were cut from the movie, and alter a few things to be better fit to stage.
You’ve heard of death by a thousand papercuts? This is the opposite of that. It did a thousand little things right (and one pretty big thing, but we’ll get to that.)
Ariel’s Family
For starter’s Ariel’s family is all more fleshed out. Her sisters get a bop with Flounder about how she’s fallen in love, Triton gets a forlorn part in a quartet, you get the idea. While Ariel’s sisters get the biggest percent increase in stagetime, I actually think Triton benefits more from the added time.
In aforementioned forlorn quartet part, he mourns Ariel’s disappearance, sings of his regret for his actions and wish to do better by her in the future. It makes him more sympathetic, and while the same vague sentiments may be expressed in the film through dialogue and facial expressions, it’s not put as emotionally eloquently there as it can through song.
All in all, the it makes her family feel more real, and makes Ariel’s life under the sea feel more fleshed out by showing off all the important people in it.
Speaking of important people, let’s talk about Flounder.
Flounder
Flounder is probably the second best (yes, I’ll be talking about the best later) example of something that was straight up changed, not just given more time. You see, in the stage show of The Little Mermaid, Flounder has a crush on Ariel. In the movie, he does not.
This change actually has a lot to do with the show being a stage show. In both, Ariel is meant to be sixteen. But while Flounder’s age in the movie isn’t clear (you could maybe assume he’s the equivalent of an adolescent fish, but he’s still just a fish); in the stage show, he is typically played by a boy around the age of twelve. With the setup of a teenage girl best friends with a twelve year old boy, it makes more sense why the creators of the show would choose to flesh out the dynamic of their relationship by alluding to Flounder’s crush.
And yes, I know that in the story of the show, Flounder is still a fish. But while you know that, I know that, and the audience knows that, it doesn’t change that to the audience eye he is being physically played by a kid, who looks much more like a kid than a fish. This viewpoint makes it easier to swallow the idea of Flounder having a crush on Ariel. The fact that they added this helps give a little more dimension and motivation to his character.
Ursula
Ursula gets more backstory as well. She gets considerably more songtime than in the movie, and the musical takes an idea that was cut from the original movie: that she and Triton are siblings. They are meant to be equal in power, but he banished her for her crimes, which include but are not limited to the murder of her and Triton’s other sisters and the murder of Ariel’s mother.
(Neither Ursula being Triton’s sister nor the killer of his wife are canon in the movie because they contradict things in the sequel and prequel. But that’s not relevant, and anyway, isn’t it more dramatically fitting that Ariel’s mother was killed by Ursula than by a random sailor?)
But all of this is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It all helps, but none of it is what really makes The Little Mermaid one of the best adaptions of all time. That starts with a little song called “One Step Closer”.
Let me explain.
One Step Closer
“One Step Closer” is sung by Eric, to Ariel. Since Ariel cannot speak at this point in the story, Eric shows her how to dance, because to him dancing is a way of expressing himself without saying a word. It’s a nice song, shows more of Eric, and shows more of Eric and Ariel building a relationship. But where it really becomes important is the ending.
See, the ending of the movie involves Ursula transforming herself into a human, casting a spell on Eric, becoming fifty feet tall and ultimately being speared through by a ship. The musical decided that none of this was in their capacity to do, and good for them for knowing their limits.
So instead, the musical made a new ending. In this version, Ursula doesn’t become a human or cast a spell at all. Instead, Eric’s palace holds a singing contest so he can find the girl with the unforgettable voice who saved his life. Ariel shows up, and since she can’t sing, she dances the way he taught her in “One Step Closer”.
From there, Eric decides, forget about the competition, forget about the mystery girl, he’s choosing Ariel. The relationship they’ve developed since she showed up is more important than someone who saved his life once. Of course, since the story can’t end quite yet, this all happens just a moment too late. The rest of the ending is similar to the movie, only with slight alterations to be more fit to stage.
The change to the ending may have come about for practical reasons, but it’s a much stronger ending. Now as an audience, we are shown proof that Ariel’s time with Eric mattered. Over those three days they really did fall in love. Even when he didn’t know that she was the girl he was looking for, he chose her, which is so much more emotionally satisfying than just thinking he probably would have if not for a magic spell.
Conclusions
By taking into account the strengths and limitations of the musical medium, the makers of The Little Mermaid musical managed to create a show that not only captured the magic of the original, but made it even better. The final product is deeper, more resonant, and more emotionally satisfying than the movie (which wasn’t bad to begin with.) It is the perfect adaptation.
So that’s The Little Mermaid. Next Thursday I’ll be back with a new musical to cover, but hit me with any requests or recommendations in the comments below!
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