Becoming part of her world – Interview with Jodi Benson, the voice of Disney’s The Little Mermaid! #LittleMermaidEvent

I received an all expenses paid trip to from Disney to Los Angeles, CA to attend the Planes Red Carpet Premiere, an event for The Little Mermaid diamond edition DVD release and to meet Disney’s Super Buddies.  I was also provided a sample of the film to review. All opinions expressed are my own. 

 

When I was a little girl my ONLY aspiration was to grow up to be a mermaid, quite specifically, Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid! I remember swimming in my grandpa’s pool with my legs pressed together pretending to have a tail. Diving into the deep end just to blast out of the water and whoosh my hair back like Ariel does when she rises out of the sea! The Little Mermaid has been my all time favorite Disney film ever since I first saw it in 1989, so Imagine how insanely excited I was to find out I’d been invited to MEET Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel herself!!!

Early last month I was given the opportunity to be whisked away by Disney to attend a Little Mermaid event in LA. The event was in celebration of the October 1st release of Disney’s The Little Mermaid Diamond Edition 2-Disc Combo Pack! The new DVD will feature loads of behind the scenes footage as well as never before seen characters and more! While in LA were taken to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, CA where we met Jodi Benson (Ariel) John Musker (Co-Writer & Director) and Ron Clements (Co-Writer & Director) from the film.  We were given the chance to interview the film makers, Ron and John ( check out my interview with them as well!) and Jodi! Get a glimpse at the voice behind the Disney Princess, Ariel and see what we were able to learn about Jodi!

 

A lot of us grew up watching this, and I am one of the older Ariel fans and I put out to my readers, what would you ask?  And some said, was there any part of the scene or any part of the movie that you would have liked to have changed?  That maybe you said, how about we do this instead?  Or were you in a situation where you kind of followed through?

Jodi Benson : Well I was in situation where it was the first time I’d ever done anything like this.  And so, you just trust the geniuses you’re working with.  And with Howard Ashman, and Ron, and John, and, oh my gosh, Helen, I mean, all of these geniuses you-you know you’re in good hands.  So no, I wouldn’t change a thing.  There’s certain passes and takes of lines that they would take that I’d kind of look at Howard afterwards like, why did you take that?  You know, and that was kind of pitchy or that was kind of, he’d say because, you know, not looking for a perfect scene performance. I was really looking for the part of the particular versus of the song or the phrase.  And so, I really, I-I trusted them.

 

Would you give up your voice for love and elaborate?

Jodi Benson: Yes, I-I would, it would be really hard, because singing is such a huge part of my life and the way that I communicate that, yes, for my husband I would.

 

Do you always sing for your children?  Did you sing any of the Ariel songs?

Jodi Benson: Yes, it would just, I would sing them to sleep most-mostly with praise songs from church.  And, um, but my-My son didn’t really want me to sing Ariel because that meant that mommy was working and he had just wanted, you know, mommy for mommy.  Thank you so much.  But, yeah, I, we do sing, there’s-there’s lot of music.  My daughter is a nonstop singer.  She’s taken my place now.

See Jodi serenade us with the reprise of Part of Your World!

I have a little girl and she likes singing, what would you recommend for getting her started just professionally with singing?

Jodi Benson : I would say for every child that has, ah, a passion for singing, to do it in any way shape or form they can.  Whether it’s at home, whether it’s at church, whether it’s in your community, ah, choir.  I mean, the more you do it, the more you can figure out if this is what you really love to do.  And you just don’t want to have any regrets when you’re older, you know, regretting the fact that you may have not pursed something that it was right for you.  So I think for me, coming from a small town, with-without thinking, oh my goodness, I’d never be able to do this. But in my heart it just felt like I needed to give it a try.  So I would encourage yours to sing in every way shape and form.  And I like your necklace.  And your shirts are all so cute.  Everybody’s got their Ariel stuff on.

I think we all have movies that define our childhoods.  When The Little Mermaid came out a week after my first birthday, so it was my movie.  What was yours?

Jodi Benson : Cinderella.  Yeah, Cinderella was my movie.  And, um, I just loved everything about it.  Exactly the fact that, you know, she-she comes from one area and she wishes for something more.  And-and I think every little girl, you know, and even a young boy as well, which is for that next step or the dream or whatever that may look like.  Um, so that was, that was my movie, yeah.  Loved it, loved my Barbie’s and loved all that.

 

What’s been some of the most amazing things you’ve gotten to do?

Jodi Benson : I love, I just, well I-I-I love getting to share my story, you know, I love getting to talk about it and, um, I love getting in front of a huge group of kids and singing the songs and just watching their reactions and their faces and their parents and their grandparents, who are going through all their emotions with it as well.  And I never get tired of singing the song, um, I sing it all the time.  And it’s always fresh and new, you know, it’s-it’s like the day I recorded it. It really is.  And I go back in time.  So it’s like a-a wonderful moment of memory for me when I sing it, because it makes me just remember recording it.  And it make me think of Howard and how grateful I am and, you know, just so thankful, just really thankful.

Can you imagine if Howard (Ashman) was still around and what more would have came from him?

Jodi Benson : Yes.  There would have been no end to his genius, there’d be no end.  Because he would just be, ah, topping himself, you know.  He, it, there wasn’t like an end of perfection, there was always making something better and improving on something.  So I could see him if he were with us today just trying to improve, in fact, he would be fairly uncomfortable with all the focus on Little Mermaid and he’d want to find the new project, you know. He wasn’t very like reminiscing kind of memory sort of person, he didn’t really like attention at all.  Um, he didn’t like focus, he didn’t really like people looking at him.  So it’s kind of like this silent genius and is really amazing, amazing person.

What are the benefits of being one of the Disney Princesses?

Jodi Benson: Oh goodness.  It’s amazing.  Amazing.  Again, it’s, you know, it’s-it’s kind of hard for me to, um, to grasp the impact of portraying a character that’s going to live long past you.  It’s kind of overwhelming, not in a bad way.  So when I really stop and focus on it, it’s, you know, it’s like, oh gosh, it takes my breath away to think the experiences I’ve had and just this amazing opportunity, you know, so grateful is the word that I pretty much come up with whenever I stop to contemplate it. Um, it just, you know, walking through an airport and seeing a little girl in a t-shirt and seeing the dolls in someone’s hand, or going to the pool and seeing a little girl in her Ariel swimsuit and swimming with her doll, and, you know, I get just caught up in, wow, wow, what an amazing heavenly gift that I’m able to be apart of it.

What are some of the most impactful fan stories that you’ve heard about how Little Mermaid has change their lives?

Jodi Benson : I think that, um, dealing with, well of course, it’s usually dealing with children.  I’ve made unfortunately several calls to children before they pass away.  Um, those are hard, especially when the parent puts you on the phone and goes, you know, they won’t be able to speak, but they can hear you.  Ah, those are heart wrenching, you know, and then when you follow up with them and they say, yes, you know, she-she died peacefully.  And you’re like, wow, oh my gosh.  Working with kids in hospitals, kids that are burn victims, burning, grafting is a really painful process for a child.

And, um, you’ll find that certain songs and certain characters sooth children to get through painful procedures.  So I had a lot kids that have been, um, battling burn cancer.  And deal with very painful, ah, symptoms.  And they use the song and the character to calm them, you know, those are overwhelming.  I’ve had children that have learned how to speak, who have never spoken, have never spoken a word, having, um, low functioning, severe autism.   So I’ve got several kids through the years that I’ve met face to face, who actually speak now.  And will tell, or their parent will tell me that they learned how to speak from your film.

 And, you know, those are the stories that you-you kind of wish that people knew more about then this just an animated film and, you know, they’re doing a re-release and…  But when you get behind the scenes and you start to hear the impact of that, that really blows your mind.  And that, those are the ones that you just, wow, you take a deep breath and-and again so grateful, so thankful that you can be part of a child’s healing process.

 

I can’t describe the feeling of being in the presence of someone I’ve revered for so many years. It truly took my breath away having the chance to meet the voice of my childhood idol. Hearing Jodi serenade us with her beautiful voice is an experience I’ll never forget and I can’t wait to hear the original version in The Little Mermaid Diamond Edition Blu-Ray!

Be sure to pre-order your copy of The Little Mermaid- Diamond Edition on Amazon.com! The Blu-Ray releases on October 1st!

 

I received an all expenses paid trip to from Disney to Los Angeles, CA to attend the Planes Red Carpet Premiere, an event for The Little Mermaid diamond edition DVD release and to meet Disney’s Super Buddies.  I was also provided a sample of the film to review. All opinions expressed are my own.