LITTLER MERMAID Star’s Daughter Took On Iconic Role. She Couldn’t Be More Proud.
By Movieguide® Contributor
For Jodi Benson and daughter Delaney, playing a Disney princess is now a family tradition.
Benson, who voiced Ariel in Disney’s THE LITTLE MERMAID, recently celebrated her daughter’s own performance as the mermaid princess in a 90-minute Miami stage production of the story.
“It’s very surreal,” Benson told PEOPLE of seeing Delaney take on the role. “That day, when she got the call from her agent, and she got off the phone, she goes, ‘Mom, you’re never going to believe this.’ And I didn’t even know she had auditioned. She goes, ‘I’m going to be Ariel this summer. I’ve got an equity contract. I’m going to be in Miami.’ And I just went, ‘Are you kidding me?!’”
Benson said she and her husband “just wept the whole time” watching Delaney play Ariel
“I saw the show nine times, opening weekend and closing weekend,” she said. “But she made Ariel her own, but obviously, she grew up with the sound…she makes Ariel her own. It was breathtaking and…we were beside ourselves. It was really magical.”
In a statement given to Entertainment Weekly, Benson said, “I was completely blown away by Delaney’s brilliant performance. She was truly born to play Ariel. The whole experience was so surreal. I wept throughout the show. I am so honored to pass on my treasured dinglehopper to my daughter. Delaney has created her character of Ariel with such love, strength, vulnerability, curiosity and honesty. I’m so incredibly proud of my daughter!”
Delaney recently celebrated the end of her time in THE LITTLE MERMAID, writing on Instagram, “I don’t know if i’ll ever have the words to express how meaningful this show has been. As a mere 4 year old, I would tell people, ‘When I grow up, I want to be ariel when my mommy dies.’ Thankfully, there’s a world in which she’s still alive and I get to still be my favorite mermaid.”
“As time went on, I shied away from singing any of her songs or wanting to take on the role, just from the fear of comparison… But, saying yes to this process has truly been life changing and I couldn’t imagine it any other way,” she continued. “These memories will live in my brain + heart till the end of time. Ariel, you have my heart.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Delaney’s performance as Ariel:
Delaney Benson has made THE LITTLE MERMAID a family affair as she takes on the role of Ariel in a stage version of the classic story.
Delaney’s mother, Jodi, was the voice of Ariel in Disney’s original animated movie. She is now stepping into her mother’s shoes in a theater production of the story at Area Stage in Miami.
While Delaney seems like the perfect fit for this role, she admitted that, until recently, she would not have accepted it as she is focused on blazing her own path.
“I try to stray away from ‘the walking in the footsteps’ or ‘she’s just like her mom,’ because I’m not,” Delaney told Mamas Uncut, per The Miami Herald. “We’re kind of a similar age of when [my mom] did the voice of Ariel and I’m doing this, but we’re totally different people and I’m excited to like, bring me.”
“So I’m really, you know, taking some of the isms of and the antics that [Ariel] does, but also like me as a person, like, what would I do in this situation? So that’s what I’m starting to play with. And I’m really having a lot of fun,” she continued.
