It was eight years ago tonight. The Los
Angeles premiere of “Dreamgirls.” And while
it seemed like all of Hollywood had
turned out to catch the West Coast debut of this DreamWorks / Paramount
co-production at Beverly Hills’
Wilshire Theatre, only a select few were then invited back to Eddie Murphy’s
house for the after-premiere party.
“And I was actually invited to that party. But I had to
tell Mr. Eddie Murphy ‘No.’ I couldn’t go to his big fancy Hollywood
party because I had an audition the next morning,” Anika Noni Rose
recalled during a recent phone interview. “And because I really needed to
be in strong voice the following morning, I just went straight home after the
LA premiere, pulled on some pajamas and then — with the help of a few friends
— went over my lines for that audition.”
Anika Noni Rose at the Los Angeles premiere of “Dreamgirls” back
on December 11, 2006. Copyright Dreamworks Pictures /
Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved
Now you’d think — given that this Tony Award-winner (In
2004, Rose had taken home the Antoinette Perry Award for Best Featured Actress
in a Musical for “Caroline, or Change”) was just getting her film
career off the ground — that Anika would be missing out on a primo opportunity
to network with Hollywood’s movers & shakers by blowing off that
after-party. But then again, this was no ordinary project that Rose would be
auditioning for. This was “The Princess and the Frog,” which would be
the first-ever Walt Disney Animation Studios production to have a black female
character as its lead protagonist.
“And you have to understand that I grew up on Disney.
That I knew all the songs from all the movies backwards & forwards,”
Anika explained. “Which is why — when I went in for this audition — I
brought along all of my Disney sheet music. I then turned to Ron (Clements, the
co-director of ‘The Princess and the Frog’) and John (Musker, co-director) and
Peter (Del Vecho, the producer of this WDAS production) and asked them which
song they wanted me to sing.”
And it was really
smart of Rose to do all of this advance prep work. As casting director and
audition coach Jen Rudin recounted in
“Confessions of a Casting Director” (It Books, December 2013), many
famous black stars wanted to voice Tiana. Alicia Keyes came in three separate times
to audition for this role. Tyra Banks also made a run at this role. And Anika’s
“Dreamgirls” co-stars Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé wanted to be the voice of Disney’s first
African-American princess as well (As for Ms. Knowles-Carter, Rudin said that
this actress-singer acted a bit too entitled for her own good. “Beyoncé
expected an offer (from Disney), but wouldn’t audition and so she didn’t get
one”).
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
As to why Ms. Rose finally won out in the end, to hear Jen
talk, she eventually won the opportunity to voice Tiana because she “…
was the most qualified.” Though to hear Anika tell this story, she landed
this part just because she impressed the directors and producer of “The
Princess and the Frog” by the lengths Rose was willing to go to win this
role.
“I auditioned for Tiana three separate times over a
four-month period. And my second audition was just crazy. I had flown out to Australia
to work for one day in early 2007. And in order to be at Disney in time for my
next audition for Tiana, I had to fly back to Los Angeles in a single day,
learn a new song for the film as soon as I landed, and then go in and audition
the very next morning,” Anika remembered. “Which I know sounds kind
of brutal. But I didn’t care. I had wanted to be a voice in a Disney movie my
entire life. I wasn’t even aiming to be a princess. I would have been just as
happy if they’d cast me as the voice of a bunny or a flower. But I was going to
do whatever I had to in order to be part of ‘The Princess and the Frog.’ “
In the end, it was the combination of Rose’s obvious talent and her strong work
ethic that won over Musker, Clements and Del Vecho. And when they told Anika
that she was now officially the voice of Tiana, she remembers bursting into
tears.
Disney Legend Anika Noni Rose gets behind the mic to reprise her vocal
performance as Tiana from “The Princess and the Frog” for Disney’s
“Sofia the First.” Photo by Lou Rocco. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
“I was just so thankful. I mean, getting to voice a
character in a Disney film, this was a life-long dream of mine finally coming
true. And to then have Tiana become this character who means so much to so many
little girls around the world … Well, that’s a responsibility that I don’t
take lightly,” Anika insisted.
Which is why Ms. Rose was thrilled when Disney Television
Animation reached out last year and asked her if she’d be willing to come reprise
her “Princess and the Frog” character for their Emmy Award-winning Disney
Junior show, “Sofia the First.”
“I was — of course — already familiar with ‘Sofia.’
And what I loved about what they did with Tiana’s appearance on this TV show is
that they showed the commonality between these two Disney characters. Sofia and
Tiana both believe that if you’re smart and strong, you can then accomplish
great things in life,” Anika enthused. “It was also nice — after
getting to sing all those great Randy Newman songs in the ‘Princess and the
Frog’ film — that Tiana then got to add a new song to her repertoire by
appearing in this ‘Sofia the First’
episode.”
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
Mind you, this isn’t the first time that Anika has reprised her Tiana vocal
work over the past 8 years. Rose previously voiced her ‘Princess and the Frog’
character for several Disney-produced games, among them Kinect Disneyland
Adventures. More to the point, she’s ready to get behind a microphone whenever
Mickey calls.
“Seriously. I love being part of the Disney family. Did
I mention that I’m the youngest person ever to be inducted as a Disney Legend?
That’s a huge honor that I take very, very seriously,” Anika insisted.
Which isn’t to say that Rose takes herself all that
seriously. Take — for example — this somewhat humbling story about an
encounter that she had with a ‘Princess and the Frog’ fan at Disneyland
back in 2009.
“I was at that theme park one afternoon to see ‘Tiana’s
Showboat Jubilee.’ Which is this show that Disneyland
had built around all of the songs from that film. And as I was exiting New
Orleans Square, I passed by this meet-n-greet area
that they’d set up for the Tiana and Prince Naveen characters at the theme park.
And as it turns out, they had just cut off the line for this meet-n-greet. So
there was this mother there with her two or three year-old daughter. And the
girl was obviously disappointed that she was now not going to get Princess
Tiana. But then her Mom sees me and begins dragging her daughter over in my
direction, loudly saying ‘This is the woman who voiced Tiana. Wouldn’t you like
to meet her?’ And this little girl takes one look at me and then screams ‘NOOOO!,’
” Anika laughed.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
Though she may have been rejected by one pre-schooler, Rose
is hoping that “Winter’s Gift” (i.e., the “Sofia
the First” episode that Princess Tiana appears in) will please lots of
youngsters when it makes its Disney Channel debut tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. ET / PT.