Sara Bareilles, Rebel Wilson to lead THE LITTLE MERMAID at Hollywood Bowl

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:21am

The Hollywood Bowl will go under the sea this summer! According to Billboard, Sara Bareilles and Rebel Wilson will lead The Little Mermaid as Ariel and Ursula respectively. Other cast members will include John Stamos as Chef Louis,Tituss Burgess as Sebastian and Darren Criss as Prince Eric.

Additionally, composer Alan Menken is set to open the show with a medley of his work- from shows such as Aladdin, Newsies, and Beauty and the Beast.

Bareilles told Billboard: "I've been pretending I was Ariel in swimming pools since I was a little girl, and now I get to pretend on a bigger stage. This is just fantastic."

The Little Mermaid will open on June 4, 2016. Tickets will go on sale on April 9 1PM EST.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Hollywood-Bowl-Will-Go-Under-the-Sea-This-Summer-with-THE-LITTLE-MERMAID-Sara-Bareilles-Rebel-Wilson-Will-Lead-20160406

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:24am

Weird.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:24am

This is unbelievable casting.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:25am

Rebel Wilson as Ursula is inspired, ridiculous casting. I love it.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:25am

This is some genius casting. Rebel Wilson as Ursula is the dream casting I never knew I needed.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:25am

This sounds ridiculously awful. 

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:26am

I'm more excited for THIS than A Chorus Line now. I'm buying my ticket in those first 5 minutes. I'm excited to see Titus & Darren most of all.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:27am

Ummmmmmmm...........

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:31am

I'm not even really a Darren Criss fan, but Prince Eric sounds perfect for him.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:32am

What happened to Chorus Line? Sarah is a cute/great choice for Ariel, but isn't she an alto? I can picture Rebel as Ursula, but I have some doubts. John Stamos is random for Chef Louise, but yay Darren and Tituss! Wish I can see this

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:35am

It will be interesting to see Barielles act. She'll sound fabulous. Criss looks the most like the animated Prince Eric compared to others who have played the part.

 

REBEL. WILSON. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:37am

I've never seen a Hollywood Bowl production, but I always eagerly wait to hear about casting. There are always hilarious surprises like this. I kind of love this casting! 

[Valentina3]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:43am

This is so absurd, I love the entire cast except Darren Criss. While I think he's almost custom made for Eric, he will look and feel embarrassingly young next to Sara :O

 

Rebel Wilson is so perfect for this!

 

Also explains why Sara was teasing her Ariel at the "impromptu concert" during Waitress' tech failure instead of jumping into one of her own songs, lol.

[Broadway kid 2]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:44am

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:45am

IdinaBellFoster said: "Criss looks the most like the animated Prince Eric compared to others who have played the part."

 

Is that how we should cast parts? Based on who looks like animated characters?

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:57am

neonlightsxo said: "IdinaBellFoster said: "Criss looks the most like the animated Prince Eric compared to others who have played the part."

 

Is that how we should cast parts? Based on who looks like animated characters?"

 

...just an observation. Nothing more.

[ChildofEarth]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:01am

This is perfect casting all the way around. Criss looks like a modern day Disney Prince and Sara is so sweet.

Rebel's voice doesn't impress me but she's great acting wise.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:02am

Wow this is weird news but also kind of exciting. the ages for basically all of them make no sense, but hey who cares, it's a fantasy! thank god Eric will be a baritone, he sounded ridiculous as a high tenor on Broadway. I think Rebel Wilson is actually perfect for Ursula (why didn't they have a large woman play her on Broadway?). Sara is wonderful. Titus is wonderful. John Stamos as the chef is kind of odd, but he's gorgeous.

[ChildofEarth]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:03am

I'm confused about the ages thing - aren't Darren and Sara both mid 30s? They won't look too different? Both old to be the characters, but whatever.

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:12am

guys guys guys,  relax... people are confused as to what is happening here.

This is NOT a staging of the Broadway Musical THE LITTLE MERMAID.....

In terms of the 2016 Hollywood Bowl Musical, ther are still doing the announced production of A CHORUS LINE directed and staged by Bayork Lee (sp?)...  as far as I know that show is the first weekend in August?  Thats the usual timeslot.

This will be a screening of the ANIMATED MOVIE, The Little Mermaid, featuring a Live Orchestra playing all of the music of the score.

The stars announced are special guests who are going to be singing the songs of the score.  So Age and visual looks of the characters REALLY doesnt matter.  I highly doubt there will be any costumes, scenery, etc.  They will all be wearing evening wear, singing the hits of THE LITTLE MERMAID, while the film plays in the background.

I would guess that the stars ONLY perform the musical numbers...  I doubt they will be up there reading the text of the film....

Updated On: 4/6/16 at 11:12 AM

[gypsy101]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:13am

she's about 7 years older than him but I think he just reads as younger than he is (29 I believe) so the gap appears larger to me. but the whole cast is the wrong age really

[ChildofEarth]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:16am

gypsy101 said: "she's about 7 years older than him but I think he just reads as younger than he is (29 I believe) so the gap appears larger to me. but the whole cast is the wrong age really

 

"

Oh. I didn't realize he was that young. I always thought he was older....eh.

Who can we petition to get a New York performance?

 

[hork]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:22am

Well, the movie is 80 minutes long and has five songs. It doesn't even seem worth it. And plus Rebel Wilson, so I'm out.

 

EDIT: Ah, I see, they're adding more songs.

Updated On: 4/6/16 at 11:22 AM

[gypsy101]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:27am

lightguy06222 said: "guys guys guys,  relax... people are confused as to what is happening here.

This is NOT a staging of the Broadway Musical THE LITTLE MERMAID.....

In terms of the 2016 Hollywood Bowl Musical, ther are still doing the announced production of A CHORUS LINE directed and staged by Bayork Lee (sp?)...  as far as I know that show is the first weekend in August?  Thats the usual timeslot.

This will be a screening of the ANIMATED MOVIE, The Little Mermaid, featuring a Live Orchestra playing all of the music of the score.

The stars announced are special guests who are going to be singing the songs of the score.  So Age and visual looks of the characters REALLY doesnt matter.  I highly doubt there will be any costumes, scenery, etc.  They will all be wearing evening wear, singing the hits of THE LITTLE MERMAID, while the film plays in the background.

I would guess that the stars ONLY perform the musical numbers...  I doubt they will be up there reading the text of the film...."

 

the article on BWW did not convey that it was this cast singing the songs in front of the film, but I now see the article from billboard does say that. I wonder why they cast a Prince Eric then? considering the character doesn't sing in the film, I find that odd. maybe he will be there as a set piece with Sara as Titus sings Kiss the Girl?

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:30am

Because Darren Criss is amazing, and Menken mentioned in the original Billboard article that they will be incorportating some of the new music from the musical, including the song for Prince Eric.

 

I imagine they pause the film and insert new material where they see fit