Jodi Benson, known by Disney fanatics as Ariel from “The Little Mermaid,” is featured in this behind the scenes video we’ve dug up on YouTube. It’s something that you wouldn’t normally see unless you had a copy of the movie with extensive add-ons and commentary. Even in my Platinum Edition DVD of the movie, they only talked about it. I never saw this video of her learning how to sing the songs before the final production.
Here you can see her speaking with lyricist Howard Ashman as they go over the nuances required to sing the song. A lot of the songs created for “The Little Mermaid” were actually abandoned due to poor test screenings. We’re glad this wasn’t one of them.
Part of this recording does show up in the “Howard” documentary on Disney+, but not this full version.
Watch the video down below.
After checking this video out, further it appears it can be watched in the bonus features of “Waking Sleeping Beauty.” You can watch it on Amazon here. “Waking Sleeping Beauty” is a eye-opening look into Disney’s animation legacy, told by the people who were there. This film is a look at the people and circumstances that changed the face of animation forever.
