Disney is continuing its tradition of porting it’s classics over to live theatre shows. Beauty and the Beast opened on Broadway in 1994, and ran over 5,000 performances between 1994 and 2007 and is now being performed all over the country. The Lion King has probably been their biggest hit, playing on Broadway for 10 years, performing for 45 million people in 63 different countries, and winning 10 awards. Aladdin has a 45 minute Broadway-caliber show at Disney’s Great Adventure in California. We can’t forget the High School Musical phenomenon that has taken over the country. Finally, Mary Poppins opened on Broadway last year, and we actually got to see it on our trip at the end of last year. It was amazing!

So, now Disney has announced that the Little Mermaid is coming to Broadway, set to open in January 10, 2008. In the article, Alan Menken (Little Mermaid Composer) states:

“Once we brought BEAUTY AND THE BEAST to Broadway there was an open question about what (show) might be next,” Menken explains. “THE LITTLE MERMAID always seemed like a natural except for under the sea. How in the world do you deal with that? Nobody could quite figure it out.” Once Director Francesca Zambello entered the scene, “She and George Tsypin (scenic designer) had a wonderful concept for how to do the under the sea aspect,” Menken says. He describes the underwater portion of the set as “very open, very translucent. It really deals well with under the sea and then shifting to above the sea. I won’t give away how any of those things are done and in fact, in some cases I barely understand how they’re done. But they are beautiful.”

This is a pretty cool opening, and they are trying something new. PlaybillRadio.com is hosting a “Virtual Opening Night” for the Little Mermaid. At 9PM EST, they will be broadcasting the opening of the Little Mermaid on their website, along with backstage interviews with some of the cast and with Alan Menken.

If you’re available at 9PM EST (8PM CST), this would probably be pretty cool to listen to (unless you’re extremely lucky and have tickets to the Little Mermaid’s Opening Night). If I didn’t have Little Women practice, I’d definitely be tuning in.

Check out the article about the Virtual Opening Night.

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