A conversation with Bravo Broadway’s Jodi Benson

Jodi Benson’s voice became part of our world nearly twenty years ago when Disney’s animated blockbuster, The Little Mermaid featured her as Ariel and turned thousands of little girls into mermaid fanatics. Benson will join Doug LaBrecque and Anne Runolfsson this month to sing songs from the Great White Way with the Charlotte Symphony in Bravo Broadway!

Benson, who lives an hour north of Atlanta, spoke to the Charlotte Symphony recently by phone, as she dressed her young daughter for ballet lessons.

You have done so much voice work for animated films. You must enjoy it. What was your first experience?

It was actually The Little Mermaid. I had never done any voice work until then. I started it in 1985, and then it came out in 1989. Getting to do stuff for children is what I love the most.

How long does it take to do an animated film like The Little Mermaid or Thumbelina?

For Little Mermaid I worked about fourteen days over the course of about two and a half years. It can be anywhere from five to fifteen days to do a full-length feature, depending on whether there’s singing. One session is generally four hours, and you could do two sessions in one day, although most people don’t do two.

You won a Tony award for the role of Polly in Crazy for You. What was your first Broadway experience?

My first Broadway show was the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, in which I started out in the chorus. My first show in New York was called Marilyn, which was a musical about Marilyn Monroe. It was a pretty short run – about three months. That was in either 1984 or 85.

When did you start singing?

I started singing when I was about five and then started singing through church when I was about nine. I did just a little stuff in school – high school and community theatre. I switched to professional when I was nineteen. It has been a huge part of my life.

Your husband is also an actor. Do you perform together often?

Yes, actually. We get to perform together a few times a year.

Tell us about your children.

I have an eight and a half-year-old son who is in third grade. My daughter is six and she is in first grade. I home school them. And they are the joys of our lives. They go to work with me a fair amount and they’ll be with us there in Charlotte.

What are your current projects?

We’re working on Mermaid III, and it will come out in the summer of ’08. And then we have a live action film for Disney called Enchanted. It’s my first film, actually. I have a small role. And I do a cartoon called “Camp Laszlo” for Cartoon Network. I play three different female characters.

We look forward to your appearance here with the Charlotte Symphony.

I am looking forward to coming to Charlotte again (Benson was last here in 1999). I had such a great time there last time, and it’s really going to be a gift from the Lord to sing with the symphony again. They’re such a wonderful symphony.