Uploaded April 2018 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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The Little Mermaid Orchestral Medley
Music by Alan Menken
Arr. Harry Kane BR'18

Released in 1989, The Little Mermaid tells the story of a young mermaid princess Ariel with a beautiful singing voice, who yearns to know what life outside of the ocean is like. After developing a crush on a human prince named Eric, Ariel makes a deal with the evil sea witch Ursula in which she trades her voice for three days with legs to attempt to fall in love with Eric on land. The deal goes awry and Ursula kidnaps Ariel, only to be defeated by Eric who ends up marrying Ariel. The two live happily ever after.

With its vibrant and vocally-oriented soundtrack, this musical film is credited for restarting the Disney Renaissance and serves as the first of the ten films produced between 1989 and 1999 that gained Disney immense fame in the animated world. Composer Alan Menken collaborated with lyricist Howard Ashman to create the music for many of these movies, and following production of The Little Mermaid earned both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Score. This arrangement opens with a selection of cheerful, short pieces about Ariel’s peaceful underwater kingdom, before launching into popular and recognizable songs such as Ariel’s aria Part of Your World, Ursula’s evil mantra Poor Unfortunate Souls, and the calypso ballad Kiss the Girl originally sung by the lovable Sebastian the Crab. Following a dramatic nautical face-off between Prince Eric and Ursula that is heavy on brass and percussion, we hear a relaxing reprise of the Part of Your World melody before finishing with the jovial classic Under the Sea.

Program Notes by Harry Kane