ABC is following NBC and Fox in mounting live musical presentations on television. For its very first offering, the network announced it will be doing "The Little Mermaid Live!"
ABC has scheduled the presentation for Tuesday, Oct. 3. The TV event will be a two-hour extravaganza that will include songs from the 1989 Disney movie, along with new original music.
Casting 'The Little Mermaid Live!'
The network has not yet cast the stars of its first live musical. Done + Dusted will produce the presentation along with Hamish Hamilton, Ian Stewart, David Jammy, Katy Mullan and Richard Kraft from Kraft-Engel Productions.
Back in June, a similar live production of "The Little Mermaid" was mounted at the Hollywood Bowl. It featured Sara Bareilles as Ariel, Tituss Burgess as Sebastian, Rebel Wilson as Ursula, Darren Criss as Eric, Joshua Colley as Flounder and John Stamos as Chef Louis. According to Nerdist, any of these stars could become part of the ABC musical.
Watch a part of "The Little Mermaid Live!" from the Hollywood Bowl below.
Live musical vs. live-action movie remake
The planned live musical on ABC is expected to differ from the live-action movie remake of the animation. For now, this project has no cast list as well and Disney has not yet released its targetted theater release.
Back in August, Variety reported that Disney asked "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda to write new music for the live-action movie.
He will be collaborating with Alan Menken, who wrote the songs for the animation.
ABC's other musical
Meanwhile, ABC will also mount another live musical in honor of Rolling Stone magazine. Slated for a Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, airing, the presentation will be staged in New York and it will be a three-hour special.
Done + Dusted will also be in charge of this production along with Wenner Media, the parent company of Rolling Stone.
Its other executive producers include Jann Wenner, Ian Stewart, Gus Wenner, Katy Mullan and David Jammy.
Casting announcements will soon follow. ABC's plan is to pair music artists and celebrities that fans won't likely expect.
NBC started this trend on television three years ago when it staged "The Sound of Music." The network followed it up with "Peter Pan," "The Wiz" and "Hairspray, and it plans on bringing "Jesus Christ Superstar" next.
Fox also got in on the trend by doing "Grease" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." The network recently announced it's working on "Rent" and "A Christmas Story" next.
