Queen Latifah Talks Becoming Ursula For Disney’s “The Little Mermaid Live!”

Grammy winner and Oscar nominee Queen Latifah has practically done it all, from starring in a number of shows and movies like ‘Set if Off, ‘Chicago’ and ‘Hairspray,’ to releasing her debut album ‘All Hail the Queen’ 30 years ago. Now, she’s taking on the infamous role of Ursula in ’The Little Mermaid Live!,’ and she sat down with ’Good Morning America’ to share details on the live musical event.

Queen Latifah is set to star in Disney’s first-ever television musical production, alongside a star-studded cast that includes reggae phenom Shaggy, who will play Sebastian, and actress Auli’i Cravalho, who will play Ariel.

This moment comes full circle for the 49-year-old superstar, as she tells ‘GMA’ that she did a photoshoot for Disney years ago where they shot her as Ursula, “So when this popped up, it was like, okay, a TV production.” 

However, ‘The Little Mermaid Live!’ won’t be just any type of TV production, she says, “They’re going to literally show the movie in front of a live audience of at least 500 people. And that when it comes to musical performances, it’s going to cut to the live performance of those songs, and then it’ll go back into the movie, and the audience will take part in it and be participants in the actual performance of it… They’ll be under the sea with us.”

As for her role as Ursula, she’s preparing for her big number from the film, ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls.’ Latifa commented on Carroll’s iconic version of the song and says she’s got her work cut out for her, “This person went every possible direction that you could go with a song. I mean, the diction, you know, the notes that she hit, just being a bad villain… So I got my hands full.”

‘The Wonderful World of Disney presents The Little Mermaid Live!’ will air live on ABC at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXOGh450-7U