Sara Bareilles blames Broadway surprise on 'gremlins'

Singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles was happy to show off her Little Mermaid singing skills when technical issues halted her Broadway show last month (Mar16).

The 36-year-old, who wrote the score for new musical Waitress, was in the audience for a preview on 30 March (16), when the show came to a halt following a succession of technical mishaps.

And she took the stage to randomly sing her rendition of Part of Your World, a classic tune from Disney's animated musical The Little Mermaid, while crew members fixed the glitch.

Sara's impromptu performance was so impressive she grabbed international headlines and now the musician admits she is grateful the technical hiccups allowed her to show off her stage skills.

"For some reason there were gremlins in the building that night," she tells People.

"Me, being a total ham, I said, 'I'll sing for the audience'. It's a slightly cheap trick on my part - if something goes wrong in a show of mine, I have found that singing The Little Mermaid is a go-to to get everybody on board and keep them entertained.

"You hope that the technical difficulties are resolved by the time you're done. It's not the first time I've done it but I think that was my favourite time I've done it."

Sara will be singing Part of Your World on stage again this summer after signing on to play Ariel in a live rendition of Disney's The Little Mermaid. The show will also star Rebel Wilson as evil sea witch Ursula, John Stamos, Tituss Burgess, and former Glee star Darren Criss. It runs at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on 3 and 4 June (16).