It’s Episode 30, and we at Art of the Score are finally tackling two genres we’ve so far overlooked – animation and the musical, combined in the form of the great Disney revival musical, The Little Mermaid. Join us as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of this wonderful film and explore the cabaret roots of Ursula, the perfect pop song for Ariel, and the debatable reggae of Under The Sea in Alan Menken’s joyous and groundbreaking score.

Episode notes:

4:10 – The Art of the Mailbag?5:12 – The Disney Dark Ages8:15 – Alan Menken: the secret to Disney’s revival12:52 – Ariel’s theme: Part of Your World15:33 – “I want”19:26 – Ariel’s verse25:01 – Ariel’s verse (Hoarders edition)28:41 – Creative voicing32:47 – A pre-chorus?35:33 – Recorders on the beach38:44 – Ariel’s musical maturity42:17 – Ursula’s theme: Poor Unfortunate Souls 45:03 – Craberet50:40 – Fortunate Souls54:35 – Poggo’s Unfortunate Lyrics56:44 – Scheming eels1:00:49 – Prince Eric’s Roadshow1:06:02 – Eric’s Organ Announcement1:09:48 – Triton’s Fanfare1:13:04 – Triton’s Minor Fanfare1:15:53 – Scuttle’s scuttlebutt1:24:11 – Mickey Mouse-ing1:34:26 – Le Chef, and Nick’s waltzing tangent1:42:04 – Andrew’s Chef genocide tangent1:44:51 – Under the C1:49:45 – Dan’s reggae tangent1:59:37 – Fathoms Below and the opening song

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