The Little Mermaid

At first glance, Francesca Zambello—who will make her Broadway directorial debut in November at the helm of Disney’s latest musical, The Little Mermaid—may seem like a fish out of water. After all, Zambello has made her international reputation as a director of serious operas: helming such new pieces as Philip Glass’s Orphee and Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy, as well as reinventing Wagner’s Ring Cycle. With a résumé like that, she might not appear to be the most natural choice for a family-friendly spectacular about a seagirl who gives up her voice for a pair of legs so she can run after the first charming prince who comes along.

But Zambello is actually no stranger to musical theater. On the opera circuit, she has directed crossover productions of Show Boat and Porgy and Bess; she has also steered several new musicals in Europe (including an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca). She’s even worked with Disney before, as director of the live stage version of Aladdin at Disneyland. “In opera, I’ve always pursued a kind of populist aspect: trying to make it as accessible as possible,” Zambello says by telephone from Denver, where The Little Mermaid is currently wrapping up a trial run before sailing into New York.

Zambello aims to reproduce the animated film’s undersea world without putting any water onstage. “I want to create a sculptural and architectural universe by using glass and fiberglass and translucent materials,” she notes. “We’ve collaborated with 3M on a special material that refracts light beautifully, and gives you that incandescent quality that you feel when you’re underwater.”

But spectacular visual design is only part of what Zambello hopes to achieve in The Little Mermaid. “We’re blessed with a fairy tale that comes with an incredible, iconic archetypal tradition,” she says. “My God, it’s primal. Freud said the voice is a mother—and Disney usually doesn’t have any mothers. So if you don’t have that powerful, rich, deep passion and story, then you don’t have anything. I hope we won’t disappoint.”

The Little Mermaid is in previews at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre starting Nov 3.