Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When was The Little Mermaid written?
The tale was first published in 1837 and has been adapted to various media, including musical theatre, anime and a Disney animated film.
"Romeo and Juliet" belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity. The plot is based on an Italian tale translated into verse as "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and retold in prose in "Palace of Pleasure" by William Painter in 1567. Shakespeare borrowed heavily from both but expanded the plot by developing a number of supporting characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris. Believed to have been written between 1591 and 1595, the play was first published in a quarto version in 1597. The text of the first quarto version was of poor quality, however, and later editions corrected the text to conform more closely with Shakespeare's original.
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's "Aeneid") with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time.
In 1699, the city of Amsterdam granted Merian permission to travel to Suriname in South America, along with her younger daughter Dorothea Maria. On 10 July, the fifty-two year old Merian and her daughter set sail. The goal of the mission was to spend five years illustrating new species of insects. In order to finance the mission, Maria Sibylla sold 255 of her own paintings. Before departing, she wrote:
Titanic is a four-part television miniseries period drama written by Julian Fellowes based on the sinking of the RMS "Titanic", a passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, United Kingdom, to New York City, United States.
On 14 September 2015, Disney announced a new "Mary Poppins" film was to be made, with a new plot and new songs, although in P. L. Travers' final will, another movie version was not to be made according to her wishes. The film is directed by Rob Marshall and written by David Magee. Songs are composed by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who both received support from Richard Sherman, who, along with his late brother-collaborator Robert Sherman wrote the iconic song score of the original "Mary Poppins" film. The film is not a reboot or remake of the original 1964 film; in this film Mary Poppins revisits the now-adult Banks children from the first film and takes charge of the three children of Michael Banks. It is loosely based on the other seven "Mary Poppins" books by Travers, and expands beyond them. Emily Blunt stars as Mary Poppins, alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda in the role of Jack, a similar character to Dick Van Dyke's "Bert" from the first film. It was announced on 31 May 2016 that the film would be titled "Mary Poppins Returns" and would take place in Depression-era London, 25 years after the events of the original film. Emily Mortimer and Ben Whishaw play grown-up Jane and Michael Banks. The release date was 21 December 2018 in the US and the UK.
In 1969 Rice and Lloyd Webber wrote a song for the Eurovision Song Contest called "Try It and See", which was not selected. With rewritten lyrics it became "King Herod's Song" in their third musical, "Jesus Christ Superstar" (1970).
The musical film adaptation "Mary Poppins" was released by Walt Disney Pictures in 1964. Primarily based on the original 1934 novel of the same name, it also lifted elements from the 1935 sequel "Mary Poppins Comes Back". The novels were loved by Disney's daughters when they were children, and Disney had spent 20 years trying to purchase the film rights to "Mary Poppins", which included visits to Travers at her home in London. In 1961, Travers arrived in Los Angeles on a flight from London, her first-class ticket having been paid for by Disney, and he finally succeeded in purchasing the rights. Travers was an adviser in the production, but she disapproved of the Poppins character in its Disney version, with harsher aspects diluted; she felt ambivalent about the music; and she so hated the use of animation that she ruled out any further adaptations of the series. She received no invitation to the film's star-studded première until she "embarrassed a Disney executive into extending one". At the after-party, she said loudly “Well. The first thing that has to go is the animation sequence.” Disney replied, "Pamela, the ship has sailed", and walked away.
"Beauty and the Beast" is the original film of the franchise. It was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and released in 1991. "Beauty and the Beast" is the 30th Disney animated feature film and belongs to an era known as the Disney Renaissance. The plot of the film is based on the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont.
Fairyland’s Storybook Puppet Theater, which opened in 1956, is the oldest continuously operating puppet theater in the United States. The theater presents three performances a day, year round, from a repertoire of more than 150 puppet shows. Most of the shows are based on classic fairytales and folk tales from around the world, including "The Three Little Pigs," "Pinocchio", and "The Pied Piper". All of the puppets – including bunraku, shadow puppets, hand puppets, rod puppets, and marionettes – are constructed at the theater by the puppet director and apprentices.
The play formed the basis for an opera with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte and music by Mozart, also called "The Marriage of Figaro" (1786). In 1799, another opera based on the same play, "La pazza giornata, ovvero Il matrimonio di Figaro", was produced in Venice with libretto by Gaetano Rossi and music by Marcos Portugal.
Snow White is the first and original Disney Princess. A main character in Walt Disney Animation Studios' 1st animated feature film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), Snow White is a beautiful young princess, described by her evil stepmother's Magic Mirror as having 'hair as black as ebony, lips as red as the rose, skin as white as snow' and also dubbed by the Mirror as the 'Fairest Of Them All'. She is forced to seek refuge in the home of the seven dwarfs where she hides from her evil stepmother, Queen Grimhilde, who got angered by the fact that Snow White's beauty was greater than hers. She asked the Huntsman to kill the princess; however, as an act of pity, he ends up setting her free and telling her the Evil Queen's plan. Snow White is often described as a kind, optimistic, tidy and happy person who sees the good in everyone. Originally voiced by Adriana Caselotti and animated by Marc Davis and Les Clark, she and her movie are based on the heroine and story of the German fairy tale "Snow White" (1812) by the Brothers Grimm. She has also been voiced by Mary Kay Bergman, Carolyn Gardener, Katherine Von Till, and most recently Pamela Ribon. A crisp, blood red apple has become her trademark with years of exposure.
In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a mouse character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California, drawing up a few simple drawings. The mouse was later renamed Mickey Mouse (Disney's wife, Lillian, disliked the sound of 'Mortimer Mouse') and starred in several Disney produced films. Ub Iwerks refined Disney's initial design of Mickey Mouse. Disney's first sound film "Steamboat Willie", a cartoon starring Mickey, was released on November 18, 1928 through Pat Powers' distribution company. It was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho". "Steamboat Willie" was an immediate smash hit, and its initial success was attributed not just to Mickey's appeal as a character, but to the fact that it was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound. Disney used Pat Powers' Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee de Forest's Phonofilm system. "Steamboat Willie" premiered at B. S. Moss's Colony Theater in New York City, now The Broadway Theatre. Disney's "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho" were then retrofitted with synchronized sound tracks and re-released successfully in 1929.
The poems "Venus and Adonis" and "Lucrece", first published in 1593 and 1594 under the name "William Shakespeare", proved highly popular for several decades – with "Venus and Adonis" published six more times before 1616, while "Lucrece" required four additional printings during this same period. By 1598, they were so famous, London poet and sonneteer Richard Barnefield wrote:
The "Little Dancer" wax sculpture we see today is a reworked version of the original sculpture that was shown in 1881. After seeing the wax sculpture in Degas’ living quarters in April 1903, the New York collector Louisine Havemeyer expressed interest in buying the wax. After proposing a bronze or cast wax of the sculpture, which Mrs. Havemeyer refused, Degas took his wax figure upstairs to his working studio and told Vollard he was reworking the sculpture for Havemeyer for 40,000 francs. Degas never sold the sculpture to Mrs. Havemeyer. After Degas died, it was found in a corner of his studio. Paul Lefond, Degas’ biographer, described the "Little Dancer" wax after Degas’ death as "nothing but a ruin;" and Mary Cassatt telegraphed Mrs. Havemeyer "Statue Bad Condition." However, the wax sculpture we know today is not a ruin. It is Degas' reworked second version of his wax figure. At some point before Degas extensively reworked his sculpture, he allowed a plaster to be cast from the wax figure. This recently re-discovered plaster records the "Little Dancer"’s original pose, bodice, and hairdo. The plaster is now in a private collection in the United States.
Pretty Little Liars is the first book in the "Pretty Little Liars" series by Sara Shepard. It tells the story of four girls - Hanna, Aria, Emily and Spencer - after the disappearance of their clique leader, Alison. The book was written for the book packaging company Alloy Entertainment, the idea originally developed as a TV series.
The "Prelude and Liebestod" is a concert version of the overture and Isolde's act 3 aria, "Mild und leise". The arrangement was by Wagner himself, and it was first performed in 1862, several years before the premiere of the complete opera in 1865. The "Liebestod" can be performed either in a purely orchestral version, or with a soprano singing Isolde's vision of Tristan resurrected.
After "The Phantom of the Opera" became a smash hit in London in 1986, Lloyd Webber announced a Broadway production, and Yeston's Broadway investors backed out. Yeston, Kopit and Holder reluctantly shelved their plans for "Phantom" and went their separate ways for a time. When Kopit saw the Lloyd Webber version of "The Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway, he realized that the approach he and Yeston had taken was fundamentally different and that it could still work on the musical stage. A few years later, Kopit wrote the NBC miniseries "Hands of a Stranger", which was successful enough that NBC approached Kopit again. Kopit rewrote the script outline of his unproduced musical "Phantom" into a teleplay for a four-hour two-part miniseries entitled "The Phantom of the Opera" and sold it to NBC, with Yeston's blessing. It was filmed at the "Opera Garnier", and the only music used was opera music. It starred Charles Dance, Teri Polo and Burt Lancaster and premiered on television in 1990. Kopit said, "I told Maury to hold on. Maybe someone would see the miniseries, think it would make a good musical we'd be ready."
Rimsky-Korsakov and Belsky first became interested in writing an opera on the Kitezh legend during the winter of 1898-1899, while they were working on the libretto to "The Tale of Tsar Saltan". The idea of combining the legend of St. Fevroniya into the story was part of the project from the beginning. The project remained in the minds of both composer and the librettist, but would have to wait until 1903 until serious work could begin. During the period between 1898 and the beginning of 1903, the composer was occupied with the composition of the operas "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", "Servilia", "Kashchey the Immortal" and "Pan Voyevoda". In his "My Musical Life", Rimsky-Korsakov mentions "In the midst of work on "Pan Voyevoda" Belsky and I pondered intensively the subject of "The Tale of the Invisible City of Kityezh and of the Maiden Fyevroniya"." Rimsky-Korsakov had written a rough draft of the first act by the end of summer, and Belsky had completed the libretto by spring. By summer of 1904, Rimsky-Korsakov had finished the composition of the second tableau of Act III and was orchestrating the opera. During the summer of 1905, while writing his "Principles of Orchestration", Rimsky-Korsakov also polished the orchestral score to "Kitezh", and made a clean final copy to send to the printers.
Lloyd Webber started writing his own music at a young age, a suite of six pieces at the age of nine. He also put on "productions" with Julian and his Aunt Viola in his toy theatre (which he built at Viola's suggestion). His aunt Viola, an actress, took him to see many of her shows and through the stage door into the world of the theatre. He also had originally set music to "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" at the age of 15.
Works of literature have been adapted for film from the dawn of the industry. Some of the earliest examples come from the work of Georges Méliès, who pioneered many film techniques. In 1899, he released two adaptations — "Cinderella" based on the Brothers Grimm story of the same name and "King John", the first known film to be based on the works of Shakespeare. The 1900 film "Sherlock Holmes Baffled", directed by Arthur Marvin featured Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character Sherlock Holmes intruding upon a pseudo-supernatural burglary. The film, considered the first detective movie, ran for only 30 seconds and was originally intended to be shown in hand-cranked Mutoscope machines.
"The Little Mermaid" premiered in the fall of 1992 with the animated prime time special called "A Whale of a Tale", then moved to Saturday mornings. This series originally appeared on CBS, with an original run from 1992 to 1994 (prior to Disney's purchase of rival ABC). Disney Channel reran the series from October 2nd, 1995 to September 29th, 2002 and again from September 5th, 2006, to July 4th, 2010. Some of the episodes contain musical segments, featuring original songs written for the series. The opening theme to the show is an instrumental combination of the songs "Part of Your World", "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl". The overture for the stage musical of "The Little Mermaid" is similar to this.
In an attempt to replicate the unprecedented success of "The Little Mermaid "(1989), Walt Disney Animation Studios decided to adapt the traditional fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" into an animated feature film. Although originally conceived as an animated film with "no songs in it whatsoever" under the direction of Richard Purdum, Disney CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg was unsatisfied with the dark and somber direction in which the film was headed, and ultimately ordered that it be re-written as a "Broadway-style musical with a strong heroine" instead, similar in concept to "The Little Mermaid". Disney then hired lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken to write the film's songs and assist in the "transform[ing of] "Beauty and the Beast" into a musical", the pair having just recently collaborated on scoring "The Little Mermaid".
The Little Mermaid Jr. is a stage musical produced by Disney Theatrical, based on the animated 1989 Disney film of the same name and the classic story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen about a mermaid who dreams of the world above the sea and gives up her voice to find love. Its book is by Doug Wright, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman (written for the film), with additional lyrics by Glenn Slater. Its underwater setting and story about aquatic characters requires unusual technical designs and strategies to create gliding movements for the actors. "The Little Mermaid Jr." first became available to license by the company Music Theater International and Disney Theatrical Productions
Written in 1986, "Part of Your World" was the first song lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken wrote for "The Little Mermaid", although Menken had not yet been enlisted as Ashman's composer when the song was first conceived. Directly inspired by Broadway's most successful musicals, Ashman believed that "The Little Mermaid"'s story would benefit from at least one song that serves as its heroine's "inner diary of thoughts". Having always intended for Ariel to perform a song in her grotto, directors and screenwriters Ron Clements and John Musker originally asked Ashman to write a song in which Ariel declares her love for Prince Eric by singing to a statue of the character, but Ashman suggested that a song depicting the character's fascination with the human world would be a stronger alternative. Ashman explained to the filmmakers that "Part of Your World" would be Ariel's "I Want" song, likening it to moments in stage musicals during which the heroine sings about her dreams so that the audience can begin to care about the character and her journey. Menken believes that Disney had not yet included explicit "I Want" songs in the studio's films prior to "The Little Mermaid", making "Part of Your World" the first time one had been written intentionally for a Disney film. However, Disney princesses had technically been singing "I Want" songs since "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) and "Cinderella" (1950). Observing structural similarities between the song and "Somewhere That's Green" from their musical "Little Shop of Horrors" (1982), the songwriters nicknamed "Part of Your World" "Somewhere That's Dry" because they believe it resembles an "underwater version" of the "Little Shop of Horrors" song. Additionally, Ashman had written a song entitled "Disneyland" with composer Marvin Hamlisch for their Broadway musical "Smile" (1986) in which a young girl, much like Ariel, sings about regularly watching Disney anthology series as a means of escaping her troubled childhood. Menken identified the musical motif he composed for the beginning of the ballad as his favorite part of the song. Ashman debuted "Part of Your World" for Clements and Musker at his apartment in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Only the directors' second time meeting Ashman and first time meeting Menken, Menken provided the piano accompaniment while Ashman sang Ariel's melody himself, instead of their traditional method of Menken singing lead vocals. Moved by Ashman's demonstration, Musker recalled that the lyricist gazed up towards the ceiling as though it were the human world itself as he "became Ariel before our eyes" and "poured out his heart in song", helping them visualize "this far-off place of wonder that so entranced this little mermaid.”