Composer Alan Menken says the songs for Disney's The Little Mermaid remake have all been recorded, including four new ones. A live-action retelling of the studio's animated 1989 hit (itself based on Hans Christian Andersen's story), The Little Mermaid was among the films that halted production earlier this month in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Although shooting hadn't started just yet, it was scheduled to begin in April at Pinewood Studios in London for a potential release in 2021. For now, as with life in Hollywood in general, it's not clear when things will begin moving forward again.
In the meantime, the legendary Disney songwriter and music conductor Menken is keeping plenty busy. On top of adapting more of the studio's Disney Renaissance films into Broadway stage musicals, Menken has been collaborating with Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda on brand-new songs for the live-action The Little Mermaid. In fact, according to his latest update, the music for the movie is already done.
During a live stream with Rosie O'Donnell, Menken said he and Miranda have "recorded all the songs" for The Little Mermaid remake, including "four new songs". He also confirmed he's still working on the music for the long-awaited Enchanted sequel, Disenchanted, and briefly mentioned Disney's animated Hercules is being adapted into a Broadway stage show. You can watch the relevant clip from the live stream below (via Brian Saeger).
This isn't the first time Menken has worked on one of Disney's live-action remakes. The eight-time Oscar winner previously helped craft a handful of new songs for the studio's Beauty and the Beast retelling in 2017 and co-wrote the original tune "Speechless" with Pasek & Paul for last year's Aladdin. Many would argue these movies have had mixed success integrating those additional musical numbers into their narratives. That goes double for the remakes and their attempts to "fix" Menken's songs from the original animated films by removing any racist or otherwise insensitive lyrics. Still, those changes are typically for the best and one imagines the live-action The Little Mermaid will make similar tweaks (like cutting the infamous "blackfish" line from "Under the Sea").
The Little Mermaid has already made waves (no pun intended) by casting Halle Bailey as Ariel, resulting in the sadly typical racist backlash. Fortunately, there's also been a whole lot of support for the decision, including from Diana Huey (the first non-white actress to play Ariel in the Broadway version of the animated film). For those who've grown tired of Disney's live-action remake formula, it's surely equally encouraging to hear The Little Mermaid remake is changing things up more, between Bailey playing Ariel, new songs co-written by Miranda, and a promising supporting cast featuring Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem, Awkwafina, and Daveed Diggs. With a little luck, that will be enough to elevate the retelling into a memorable experience in its own right.
Source: Brian Saeger/Twitter