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- INSIDER spoke with the voice of Princess Ariel, Jodi Benson, before the 30th anniversary of "The Little Mermaid" last year.
- Benson recalled how the iconic song "Part of Your World" could have been cut from the movie.
- According to Benson, Jeffrey Katzenberg, then president of Disney, wanted to cut the song after a first screening of the film.
- The Oscar-winning lyricist, Howard Ashman, has beaten for the song to stay in the movie.
Could you imagine "The Little Mermaid" without the song "Part of Your World"?
That could have happened if Disney's former president, Jeffrey Katzenberg, found himself in his place after a test screening of the 1989 film.
"The song might be cut off because the kids were restless during the testing of the movie and they dropped popcorn into the aisles and so on," Benson told INSIDE the year. last talking about the 30th anniversary of this clbadic. Jeffrey Katzenberg said: "You know, I think we're going to have to cut that song."
Benson said that lyricist Howard Ashman was not very helpful. If you do not recognize his name, you certainly know the songs he's written during his brief stint in the studio. Before his death in 1991, at the age of 40, Ashman wrote the lyrics of songs in "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin".
"Howard was like 'No', sort of on my corpse," Benson continued. "We need to have this song to be able to tell the whole story of what she's trying to accomplish." … I can not imagine. been cut off, I would not be here today. "
"Part of Your World" was considered one of Disney's "I Want" songs, which describes the protagonist's desires and desires to mount the rest of the film. The song takes place at the beginning of the 1989 film, showing that Ariel aspired to something other than her princess life and wanted to wander among humans on earth.
Beneath the surface, the song featured empowering lyrics for girls and women, kept for three decades.
"You bet on earth, they understand, they bet they do not reprimand their daughters, bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to get up."
You can watch it here or below:
According to Time, John Musker and Ron Clements, author-directors of "The Little Mermaid," reminded Katzenberg that Disney's first animated feature film, "Snow White," contained a similar song, "Someday My Prince." Will Come ".
The version of "Part of Your World" that you know today is in its original form in the 1989 clbadic. This is not always the case. When the live version of "Beauty and the Beast" was released in 2017, it contained additional original lyrics, written by Ashman, that did not feature in the 1991 clbadic.
When asked if she knew any words that could have been extracted from the original version of "The Little Mermaid," Benson told INSIDER that she had never sung that version of final film.
"No. In fact, the tape on which I had to learn the song [from] was exactly word for word. Nothing had changed, "Benson said.
When she auditioned for the role of Ariel, directors Ron Clements and John Musker told her that she had been selected from a women's group simply because of her voice. At the time, Benson was part of one of Ashman's Broadway shows, "Smile", which quickly closed after its opening in 1986. Benson said Ashman had invited some of the women in the series to audition for "The Little Mermaid" because they were looking for Broadway singers capable of singing and talking.
"I went in and I recorded an old-fashioned reel in the A90 Broadway Studios, right here in the city, about a year went by and my name was sort of still in the running, I suppose," said Benson. "I received the call a good year later and the powers in place chose my tape.It was unattached, with names and blows in the head.It was strictly to listen to the voices."
"It was an incredible surprise," she continued. "I started working on it for about two and a half years, I've been recording it for about 14 days over a period of two and a half years … It's been 33 amazing years for me."
It is not because she expressed the character several decades ago that the work is done. Benson says she always voices Ariel all the time.
"I make all the ancillary products and toys consistently, every week, I'm re-recording or going out of the original project or other projects I've done," he said. she said.
Benson recently returned to her role as Ariel in "Ralph Breaks the Internet" in a popular scene where all the Disney princesses meet for the first time on screen. At the New York Toy Fair, Hasbro presented a new doll collection "The Little Mermaid" for its 30th anniversary. Among them is a Ariel doll who sings a part of "Part of Your World".
The 30th anniversary of "The Little Mermaid" will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on February 26th.
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