San Francisco Ballet has announced that it will record Hamburg Ballet Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid live, during two performances at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House (May 3 and May 5, 2011).

It will be filmed in high definition using eight cameras, and both performances will be edited into a program broadcast to air on PBS’s Great Performances in America and in European and Asian markets this autumn. The ballet will later be available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid, hailed by critics as “mesmerizing” and “moving,” was first performed in the United States by SF Ballet in 2010. The two-act production features choreography, scenic, costume, and lighting design by Neumeier and an evocative score by Lera Auerbach.

We are grateful to our co-partners and sponsors for the opportunity to broadcast this truly unique and dazzling production. San Francisco Ballet was very proud to present the United States premiere of John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid, and we are thrilled that the Company has the opportunity to share it with wider audiences, not only nationally, but worldwide,” said SF Ballet Executive Director Glenn McCoy.

Photo: Yuan Yuan Tan in Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid. © Erik Tomasson