It’s often been said that good things come to those who
wait. But no one knows that axiom better than voice actor Jodi Benson. Who had
to wait a full year after handing in her “Little Mermaid
” audition
tape before Jodi then learned that she had won the role of a lifetime.
The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on the Fall of 1986
“Back in the Fall of 1986, I was appearing in ‘Smile
,’
a Broadway musical that Howard Ashman had written with Marvin Hamlisch. Given
that Howard and Marvin were such huge talents, everyone thought that this show
would run forever. But that isn’t what happened with ‘Smile.’ It closed at the
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre after just 48 performances in January of 1987,”
Benson recalled during a recent phone interview.
“Now at this point, Howard had just begun
pre-production on ‘The Little Mermaid’ at Disney. And he genuinely felt bad
that ‘Smile’ had closeed so quickly. Which is why he then invited all of the
girls from that show to come audition for Ariel,” Jodi continued. “So
I — just like everybody else in ‘Smile’ — laid down my audition on an old-fashioned,
reel-to-reel tape. And this tape was then sent into the powers-that-be at
Disney with no names or pictures attached. They were just listening to voices,
trying to find just the right actress to sing & to speak for this character
in that movie.”
“And me? After I sent in my tape, I did what other actresses do in New
York. I went out on auditions. I tried out for a lot
of other parts. I went on with my life. It wasn’t ’til early 1988, a full year
later, that I got a call that my tape had been selected. So it’s quite
miraculous, really,” Benson said.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
And the next thing Jodi knew, she was in a recording booth
with Howard, as she then tried to deliver the very specific vocal performance
that Ashman wanted for Ariel.
“Now normally when you record a voice for an animated feature, the
performer’s in the booth in front of the mic and the director is behind the
glass. But because I had never done anything like this before, Howard was in
the booth with me the whole time as I was recording Ariel. In fact, even now,
if you listen carefully to the voice tracks & songs that I recorded for
this Disney film, you can actually hear Howard breathing in the background
sometimes,” Benson stated.
Now some performers might have been put off by Ashman’s very in-your-face
directing style. But not Jodi.
Jodi Benson bookended by her two “Little Mermaid” directors, Ron Clements (L)
and John Musker (R). Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
“You have to understand that — by this point — what with first the
“Smile” workshop, then that show’s out-of-town try-out in Washington
D.C., followed by our short run of Broadway, I had been working with Howard for
three years at this point. So I was already very aware of how intense he could
get sometimes,” Benson explained. “But you also have to understand
that — at this point in my career — I had never voiced an animated character
before. So to have Howard there in the recording booth right beside me, helping
me shape my performance of Ariel, sometimes spoon-feeding me specific line
readings, was really quite helpful. And very generous of Howard, I might
add.”
So Jodi recorded all of Ariel’s songs & dialogue and then returned to
Broadway, little knowing what was going to happen once “The Little
Mermaid” opened in theaters nationwide in November of 1989.
“It was great to see this new Disney animated feature
get such great reviews. I was proud of my work on this project. And because
people seemed to genuinely love the music from ‘The Little Mermaid,’ I was —
of course — happy for Howard & Alan Menken. Especially after this film
took home that year’s Oscars for Best Song & Best Score,” Benson
enthused. “But if you had told me back in late 1989 / early 1990, that —
over 20 years later — Ariel would still be going strong, that they’re be these
direct-to-video sequels & theme park attractions & TV shows, or that
I’d still be providing the voice for this character on all of these projects … Well, I’d have told you that you were
nuts.”
Pat Carroll and Jodi Benson at the June 2011 grand opening of the Disney California
Adventure version of “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure” ride.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
Mind you, the reason that Jodi has hung on so long as
Ariel’s official voice is the Disney Character Voice Department. Which is all
about maintaining the vocal integrity of
the Company’s stable of animated characters.
“At Disney, whenever possible, they always try and use the original voice
of a specific animated character. So that — when a child is playing with a
talking Ariel doll or watching as the Little Mermaid makes an appearance on a
TV show like ‘Sofia the First’ — this character always sounds the same,
maintains a certain level of vocal integrity & consistency,” Benson
continued.
And speaking of “Sofia the First,” this hit Disney Junior series presents
its first primetime special, “The Floating Palace,” this Sunday
at 7 p.m. ET/PT. And given that this
story is set at sea, it shouldn’t be all that surprising to learn that Disney’s
first little girl princess manages — over the course of this hour-long
undersea adventure — to bump into the Little Mermaid.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
“I was very flattered when Disney Junior reached out and invited me to
come voice Ariel for this special primetime edition of ‘Sofia the First,’
” Jodi stated. “As the parent myself, I really appreciate the
positive messages that this animated series is trying to put out there. Given
how Sofia is always trying to do
what’s right, I think that this character is a great role model for kids
today.”
And speaking of role models, in addition to continually being called upon to
voice Ariel, Benson is also now the official voice of Barbie.
“I remember when John Lasseter called me back in the late 1990s to
personally invite me to come be the voice of Barbie in ‘Toy Story 2
.’ And at
that time … Well, I just didn’t have the heart to tell John that — 10 years
earlier — Mattel had actually already hired me to come be the official voice of
Barbie on this stop-motion work-out tape
that that toy company was producing at
that time. So at this point, I guess that I’ve been voicing Barbie for almost
as long as I’ve been voicing Ariel,” Jodi laughed.
Copyright Mattel. All rights reserved
And given that Disney Character Voice department has been so loyal to Benson,
making sure that — as soon as a new “Little Mermaid” project gets
announced — Jodi then gets a phone call to come record Ariel’s voice for that
production … Well, Ms. Benson does what she can to help return that favor.
“This is why I offered to step in and record the voice of Lady on ‘Scamp’s
Great Adventure
.’ Barbara Luddy — the actress who originally recorded the
voice of Lady for Disney’s first ‘Lady and the Tramp
‘ back in 1955 — is no
longer with us. And I wanted to do what I could to help the Disney Company
maintain the vocal integrity of that character,” Jodi said. “I did
the same sort of thing on ‘101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure
.’
Voicing the role of Anita when the actress who originally played that part
wasn’t available.”
And speaking of playing a part … After all these years of voicing Ariel, is
there some other part in the “Little Mermaid” universe that Benson
has dreamed of someday playing?
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
“Well, people often forget that — in addition to voicing Ariel in
“The Little Mermaid” — I also voiced Vanessa. Which is the human disguise
that Ursula used to trick Prince Eric into marrying her. And given that The
Walt Disney Company now has a stage version of ‘The Little Mermaid,’ it might
be fun someday to get up onstage and then play the Sea Witch,” Jodi
concluded. “I mean, after all these years of voicing a Disney Princess, it
might be fun to see what it’s like being a Disney Villain.”