It鈥檚 not uncommon for people to just look at Jodi Benson and burst into tears.
Sometimes they hyperventilate or scream. But mostly they break down and start sobbing. Benson will hold them, heaving in her arms, and pat their back gently.
Benson isn鈥檛 a household name but for many she鈥檚 an intimate part of their childhood. She supplied the singing and speaking voice of Ariel, the heroine of the 1989 animated Disney hit 鈥淭he Little Mermaid,鈥� which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
Benson says she will sometimes watch as the stunned movie鈥檚 fans virtually go back in time in front of her. 鈥淚t triggers a memory for them,鈥� she says.
鈥淭hey remember who they were with when they saw the movie the first time. Maybe that sibling is no longer with them, that grandparent is no longer with them. It reminds them of a relationship that had been broken with a parent. So they have all sorts of emotions that go on.鈥�
鈥淭he Little Mermaid 鈥� has changed a lot of lives, not least of which is Benson鈥檚, who has continued to perform Ariel virtually every weekend in concerts as well as on film in the 鈥淲reck-It Ralph鈥� franchise.
鈥淭he Little Mermaid鈥� also had a big role in making Disney into an animation juggernaut and reviving the art form. Many believe we鈥檇 never have Anna and Elsa from 鈥淔rozen鈥� without first having Ariel.
鈥淒isney was starting to get into a groove that would continue, but I feel like a lot of that started with 鈥楢 Little Mermaid,鈥欌�� says Ron Clements, who co-wrote and co-directed the film.
Benson was a rising Broadway star when Ariel came into her orbit. She had been in a short-lived musical 鈥淪mile鈥� when Howard Ashman, the musical鈥檚 lyricist and story writer, invited the out-of-work cast to audition for his next project, an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen鈥檚 鈥淭he Little Mermaid.鈥�
Producers wanted the singing and speaking voice to be supplied by the same actress. So Benson, a lyric soprano, sang the signature 鈥淧art of Your World鈥� on a reel-to-reel tape and was handed a few of pages of dialogue.
鈥淚 ran into the ladies鈥� room,鈥� she recalls 鈥渁nd waited for everybody to get out of the stalls and started talking to the mirror, sort of trying to come up with what would she sound like at 16.鈥�
Benson, it turned out, was a master mimic. She had spent countless hours in her room as a child with her guitar, singing along to records by Barbra Streisand, Carole King, James Taylor as well as Marvin Hamlisch鈥檚 鈥淎 Chorus Line.鈥�
鈥淚 would start to just sing like them. But it wasn鈥檛 like I was trying to be them. It鈥檚 just that鈥檚 what I heard. And so that鈥檚 just what you do. You just sound like what you been listening to,鈥� she says.
A year or so after auditioning for Ariel, she got the call that she鈥檇 won the role. 鈥淚 completely forgot that I had auditioned,鈥� she says. Back then, voiceover work wasn鈥檛 very glamorous and big celebrities wouldn鈥檛 consider it.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a good job. Doing voiceovers was what you would do when your career was on the back half, when it was tanking,鈥� says Benson. She thought Ariel would be just another notch on her resume. It was not.
鈥淭hings just changed overnight,鈥� she says.
Propelled by such Alan Menken songs as 鈥淯nder the Sea鈥� and 鈥淜iss the Girl,鈥� the film won two Grammys and earned three Academy Award nominations. It was critically acclaimed, with Roger Ebert calling it a 鈥渏olly and inventive animated fantasy,鈥� and would go to earn $211 million worldwide. Parents of children with learning disabilities have told Benson their child鈥檚 first words were from the film.
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A live-action remake is in the works, featuring new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who created 鈥淗amilton.鈥� He loved the 1989 animated film so much its partly the reason he named his first child Sebastian 鈥� the mermaid鈥檚 crab friend.
It was the kind of hit that Clements and his animators at Disney had long been hoping for. He had started at Disney in 1974 and was part of a new generation of artists trying to change the notion that animation was just for kids.
Clements had pitched a two-page treatment of the musical to then-studio head Michael Eisner and was given the green light. For Clements and his partner, John Musker, the stakes were high: It was the first fairy tale Disney had done for some three decades.
鈥淭here was a feeling 鈥� all through 鈥楲ittle Mermaid鈥� 鈥� that this film had potential to be the film that could break through and work the way we were all hungry for and hoping for,鈥� recalls Clements, who went on to co-direct 鈥淎laddin鈥� and 鈥淗ercules.鈥�
鈥淚t was really, really gratifying that it did break through. It broke through the stigma that animated films were just for kids. It became a date movie. People started taking Disney animation seriously again.鈥�
Over the past 30 years, Ariel has become the bridge between classic princesses like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and modern ones like Mulan and Merida. And Benson has become the official Ariel ambassador, tapped to do sequels, video games and shorts, in addition to voicing other characters like Barbie in the 鈥淭oy Story鈥� franchise.
Her arms are always open to fans and she鈥檚 now welcoming the fourth generation to 鈥淭he Little Mermaid.鈥� So feel free to cry on her shoulder.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 feel like a job. It just feels like a way of life more than more than anything else,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou have this multigenerational moment that families can share together. And I get to be a small piece of the puzzle of their story.鈥�
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
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