I was doing a Broadway musical called 'Smile' with Howard Ashman and Marvin Hamlisch in 1984/5 when it abruptly closed. Howard was in the middle of pre-production for 'The Little Mermaid,' so he kindly invited all the girls in our cast to audition for the film.

Jodi Benson

Jodi Benson

Audition Broadway Cast Closed Doing Film Girl He Invited Kindly Little Mermaid Middle Musical Our Smile

Related Quotes

'The Little Mermaid' changed my life.

— Jodi Benson

ChangedLifeLittle

I have a lot of mermaid stuff. I did start collecting a lot before I had children because I didn't know if I would have a boy or a girl. So I saved everything.

— Jodi Benson

BecauseBeforeBoy

Doing Broadway was always a dream of mine since I was a little girl.

— Olivia d'Abo

AlwaysBroadwayDoing

I grew up with 'Cinderella.' So that was my go-to Disney film, definitely. It was princess-related, and coming from a smaller area in Illinois and wanting to do something greater than myself in Broadway, that was a film that I could really relate to.

— Jodi Benson

AreaBroadwayCinderella

Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now.

— Lin-Manuel Miranda

broadwaymusical