No witch is about to steal their voices! The Little Mermaid Live! event airs on Tuesday, November 5, and you should be sure to tune in and catch all the familiar celebrity faces making an appearance in the musical. Who’s part of the gang for this fun, two-hour event, anyway? Some of the cast members may surprise you.
Who’s in The Little Mermaid Live! Event?
The musical event actually has a pretty small cast, especially compared to some of the past musical events networks have been attempting as of late. There are only five major players in this version of the musical.
First off, Auli’i Cravalho stars as Ariel in this installment. You may remember her for playing another Disney princess — Moana, back in 2016. She was also briefly in the NBC series Rise. She’s an 18-year-old singer who was born and raised in Hawaii.
So, who plays the incomparable Ursula in the musical event? None other than the fabulous Queen Latifah. The Emmy, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning actress and rapper is going to kill it when she performs “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” we just know it.
The next big name in The Little Mermaid Live! is John Stamos, playing Chef Louis. He’s not exactly the most memorable character in the 1989 animated film but is sure to make the role one you won’t forget during the live event.
Speaking of memorable characters, what about Sebastian the crab? He’s played by Shaggy in the November 5 musical. Yes, the “It Wasn’t Me” and “Angel” Shaggy. We can’t wait to see how the Jamaican-born rapper portrays the crustacean.
Finally, Graham Phillips plays Prince Eric in this version of The Little Mermaid. He’s a bonafide Broadway performer who also has TV credits on shows like The Good Wife, Dynasty and Riverdale.
When is The Little Mermaid Live! on TV?
The musical will air at 8:00 p.m. EST on ABC. It’s a two-hour event and if everything runs smoothly, it should be over around 10:00 p.m.
Is The Little Mermaid Live! Event Live?
Sort of. Director and executive producer Hamish Hamilton told Entertainment Weekly, “essentially it’s 50 percent the original feature and 50 percent live musical performance.” He explained, “Very quickly we’re going to go full-frame into the movie so the audience on television are watching the animated feature as they have done a few times if they’re fans. The point we get to a song, we will transition from the animated feature back into our room where we will reveal our cast performing the songs. At the end of the song, huge applause, and we transition back into full-frame animated feature.” That should be interesting!
See the cast photos for The Little Mermaid Live! in our gallery below!