You’d have to be a shut-in to not realise that Disney is on something of a live-action reboot roll right now.
And while the monster production + corresponding media circus that is ‘Beauty and the Beast’ has been taking headlines and box offices by storm, another Disney classic is quietly, almost underway: a live-action reboot of ‘The Little Mermaid‘.
Bonafide Disney Legend Alan Menken – the composer behind the 1989 classic, as well as other stalwarts of Disney’s golden age including ‘Aladdin‘, ‘Pocahontas‘, ‘Hercules‘ and the aforementioned ‘Beauty and the Beast’ – is teaming up with Broadway darling Lin-Manuel Miranda to score the upcoming production.
The good news? It’ll feature all the classic numbers, including the Oscar-winning ‘Under the Sea‘. The better news? Menken basically confirmed to PEDESTRIAN.TV that the duo will be writing new songs, too.
When asked if the new ‘Little Mermaid’ would include new musical numbers as well as the originals, Menken replied:
“We haven’t started that yet. I imagine there will be, ’cause I’m going to be collaborating with Lin-Manuel Miranda, I doubt he’s not gonna want new songs.”
That’s not a ‘no’, which at this point, basically means it’s a ‘yes’. #Logic.
It also turns out that Miranda, like the rest of us, grew up with the Disney classics.
“Lin, I knew him when he was a kid,” said Menken. “He was a huge ‘Little Mermaid’ fan. He went to Hunter High with my niece, Jenny, and I hear from my sister” – here Menken puts on a heavy New Yorker accent – “‘Oh there’s this very talented young boy, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and he’s such a fan, would you sign this poster for him’, and I said sure. And here we are, working together.”
Which brings us to a little fan theory. It appears that a Disney reboot (either stage or screen) equals the addition of musical numbers, and usually a combo of songs cut from the original film and completely new material at that.
We’ve seen it in ‘Beauty and the Beast’, the stage production of ‘Aladdin’, and we’ll almost definitely be seeing it in ‘The Little Mermaid’.
So does that mean ‘The Lion King’ reboot – which already has one major musical artist confirmed (
Donald Glover a.k.a.
Childish Gambino as
Simba) and is reportedly wooing another (
Beyoncé as Nala) – will bring us original tunes as well? Possibly by the artist(s) involved?
Possible a Glover / Beyoncé duet??The phrase “literally dead” is too-often used, so we will have to be content with ‘figuratively ceasing to breathe and just getting spiritually fucked up’ instead.
Photo: Disney.
