Disney Princess Voice Actor's Singing life Post Disney

[aubreysilver]

The Disney Princesses are known for their lovely voices, and I was wondering if there was any other CD's and ways to hear them sing after their movies.

Here's what I know:

Adriana Caselotti- Probally nothing else recorded, she is featured in Wizard of Oz, she's the voice of Juliet in the Tin Man's song (If I only had a Heart). "Oh where for art thou, Romeo?" And I think she had a pretty strict contract with Disney over other apperinces.

Ilene Woods- She released a record called, "It's Late" in 1955. I've hunted all over for this to no luck. I guess it's very uncommon. I've only come across two short clips from this album.

Mary Costa: She continued to act in theater/opera after the movie, but I have no clue if anything was offically recorded, would love to know more if anyone knows.

Jodi Benson: She was a broadway singer before the Little Mermaid, but not sure if there's anything recorded. I know itunes has a CD of her singing on a Religious Children's Album. There's also releases of her singing as Ariel from more than just the movie.

Paige O'Hara: Another Broadway Actress, I know she released a cd with some "bedtime" songs. She also is on the 2001 recording of South Pacific, and that's all I could find.

Lea Salonga: Where to begin, she has a bunch of albums, bunch of stage work, and keeps singing. She also has an song she sings with Brad Kane (the singing voice of Aladdin) "We Could be in Love"

Sorry for all my misspelt words.

[Jim's Jewel]

Jodi Benson was featured on Paige O'Hara's "Dream with Me" cd. She dueted with her in "When You Wish Upon a Star."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU5RsnLFBqQ

Jodi was also in the 1992 Original Broadway Cast of "Crazy for You."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... eimprovemz

Not sure about the others though, with the exception of that Lea Salonga can be heard as Eponine in the 10th Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables (which ironically also features Judy Kuhn, who was the singing voice for Pocahontas, as Cosette):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... eimprovemz

Hope this helps!

[Poody]

ok this thread was so made for me.... LOL

Jodi Benson has a few other CDs. There's "Songs from the beginner's bible" vol.1 and vol.2. There's also a CD only released in Europe where she sings with an African choir. I can't think of the name off hand. She was the voice of Thumbilina and a ton of other voice work. Barbie in Toy Story comes to mind.... haha


Paige O'Hara has another CD that you didn't mention but I don't know the title. She's also performing in a musical "Menopause The Musical" in Las Vegas right now. I plan to go see it!

and Lea well.... yeah, she's a huge star in the Philippines.

Shoot, I know there's more.

[Kram Nebuer]

Wow!! I had no idea that was Snow White in Wizard of Oz! I always thought it was just the scarecrow or Dorothy singing in a falsetto.

Paige O'Hara has another CD that you didn't mention but I don't know the title. She's also performing in a musical "Menopause The Musical" in Las Vegas right now. I plan to go see it!

Don't forget, she also recorded the "Neverland" lost Peter Pan song on the Platinum Edition DVD. It's really good!

Also, we have a DVD about the story of the Candy Cane (It came free with another DVD). I think it's from the early 2000s and it has some really primitive, terrible animation and the songs were also not too good, but Paige O'Hara plays one of the lead female characters and sings in it. I forget what it is called, but I was quite surprised to see her on this production.

Also, Judy Kuhn (Pocahontas singing voice) is Princess Ting-Ting's singing voice in Mulan 2 and could be heard in the song "Like Other Girls."

Jodi Benson also was in the Hercules TV series and in a Dreamworks DTV movie Joseph: King of Dreams.

[CampbellzSoup]

I know you don't count the voice of Meg because she isn't a "princess" but she is in a LOT of things.

[Poody]

Also, we have a DVD about the story of the Candy Cane (It came free with another DVD). I think it's from the early 2000s and it has some really primitive, terrible animation and the songs were also not too good, but Paige O'Hara plays one of the lead female characters and sings in it. I forget what it is called, but I was quite surprised to see her on this production.

You couldn't possibly make mp3s of the songs Paige O'Hara sings could you?

[Stats87]

I know you don't count the voice of Meg because she isn't a "princess" but she is in a LOT of things.

Yup, Susan Egan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Egan

She has even done voices for two Ghibli films, which I knew I recognized when I heard them.

[aubreysilver]

Ok, while searching for Ilene's "It's Late" I found out that she was on a Snow White record as Snow White. This is the write up I found: "WALT DISNEY, AS TOLD & SUNG BY DENNIS DAY, WALT DISNEY'S SNOW WHITE AS TOLD AND SUNG BY DENNIS DAY. WITH ILENE WOODS AS SNOW WHITE, COMPLETELY DRAMATIZED PLUS SIX HAPPY SONGS."

Had anyone heard this and if so, what's Ilene's role?

[UmbrellaFish]

Poody- Wow! I didn't know Paige was still in Menopause: The Musical, I remember first hearing about it some time ago.


Anyway, I think Adrianna went onto to the opera, and I know somewhere on YouTube there's a video of her singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" (I think that's the song) with Julie Andrews.

[Disney Duster]

I'm also shocked Adriana was Juliet in The Wizard of Oz! I swear I would have heard that much earlier...well, Snow White and the Prince and Romeo and Juliet are alike (15th century, love at first sight, a balcony, except the Prince sings to Snow White from under it, a plot to kill, poison, a kiss for the seemingly dead girl). And Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Wizard of Oz are alike, Snow White kind of inspired things for The Wizard of Oz (they once even planned on making the Wicked Witch like The Evil Queen, but decided not to).

Didn't Walt Disney keep Adriana from having a full big opera career, because he wanted to keep her as Snow White and not let her be any one else? And he paid her not to sing for anyone else?

I thought that was kinda terrible when I heard that, so I hope it's not true, OR that Adriana actually liked being Snow White and getting paid to be just her forever.

Hm, one could say her not working a big career, especially if she wanted it badly and a man didn't let her have it, is sexist, but her getting paid a lot of money, even for the little work she did, is actually unsexist.

[UmbrellaFish]

Didn't Walt Disney keep Adriana from having a full big opera career, because he wanted to keep her as Snow White and not let her be any one else? And he paid her to not sing for anyone else?

I thought that was kinda terrible when I heard that, so I hope it's not true, OR that Adriana actually liked being Snow White and getting paid to be just her forever.

Hm, one could say her not working a big career, especially if she wanted it badly and a man didn't let her have it, is sexist, but her getting paid forever, even for the little work she did, is actually unsexist.

I never actually heard that Walt kept Ms. Caselotti from working. I've referenced to this before, but I read an article from a book I found, I think it was Time's Top Greatest Movies or something, and it was published near the early start of the VHS era. It contained a section about children's tapes, and along with the "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" listing, it featured an interview with Adrianna.

Maybe she was sugarcoating it, but she said that it was her decision to not take anymore roles in movies after "Snow". She said she wanted the role to be set apart, unique, or something like that. And I know the article said she went on to have an opera career. The interview also mentioned how Adriana Caselotti (in her later life) actually dressed up as Snow White for the neighborhood children (Melissa Disney, the current voice of Snow White, apparently lived right up the road, too) and sang "Someday My Prince Will Come" at the wishing well in her front yard. So obviously she was very attached to the role.

I'll try to scan the article when I get back home.

[pap64]

I'm also shocked Adriana was Juliet in The Wizard of Oz! I swear I would have heard that much earlier...well, Snow White and the Prince and Romeo and Juliet are alike (15th century, love at first sight, a balcony, except the Prince sings to Snow White from under it, a plot to kill, poison, a kiss for the seemingly dead girl). And Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Wizard of Oz are alike, Snow White kind of inspired things for The Wizard of Oz (they once even planned on making the Wicked Witch like The Evil Queen, but decided not to).

Didn't Walt Disney keep Adriana from having a full big opera career, because he wanted to keep her as Snow White and not let her be any one else? And he paid her to not sing for anyone else?

I thought that was kinda terrible when I heard that, so I hope it's not true, OR that Adriana actually liked being Snow White and getting paid to be just her forever.

Hm, one could say her not working a big career, especially if she wanted it badly and a man didn't let her have it, is sexist, but her getting paid forever, even for the little work she did, is actually unsexist.

This sounds more like a vicious rumor than fact. Disney hired actors that were performing at Vaudeville Acts and Broadway Shows. These actors kept performing after they did their Disney voices.

I want to know more about this.

[aubreysilver]

But with Adriana it was different. Her career started really with Snow White. Her father was a Vocal Coach who was contacted by Disney about looking for Snow White's voice. She listened in on the conversation and asked her father about herself for the role.

I think this is what she said in an interview, but I haven't heard it in years, so I could be incorrect.

Found this on Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt:
In the mid-1930s, Adriana Caselotti was hired by Walt Disney to help cast parts in his new film. She was blacklisted by Disney after the film-he did not want her to appear in any other films following Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Jack Benny specifically mentioned that he had asked Walt Disney for permission to use her on his radio show and was told, "I'm sorry, but that voice can't be used anywhere. I don't want to spoil the illusion of Snow White." The only other work she did following her premiere was an uncredited role in The Wizard of Oz, as the voice of Juliet during the Tin-Man's song, "If I Only had a Heart".

[UmbrellaFish]

Here's that articled entitled- "Not So Happily, After All" written by Steve Daly in "The Entertainment Weekly Guide to the Greatest Movies Ever Made", copyright 1996-

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4997/r ... 001001.jpg

Some of it is a bit blurry, but overall I think it's readable. I'll be very happy to help though, if something is illegible.

BTW, don't you love the picture of her dressed as Snow White? I bet she was a very sweet woman.

[kurtadisneyite]

About a year ago a good friend of mine and former Disney artist told me he had spoken with Ilene, who told him she had decided it was time to hang up the glass slippers and no longer "represent" Disney's Cinderella.

After that, she told him, her phone stopped ringing and things got very quiet.

Ilene had participated at the El Capitan screening of Cinderella a few years back, along with Ollie Johnson who was in very poor shape at that time. I did not get a chance to speak with her as her handler was herding her out the back door by the time I got to the lobby.

Her most recent film appearance was Cassie in Touched By An Angel as a night nurse (sourced from Wikipedia), however, Wikipedia does not list her in their article on Touched By An Angel

Hopefully Ilene's having a happy retirement.

[Disney Duster]

Why was that article called "Not So Happily, After All?" She clearly said she was very happy! Thank you for that article UmbrellaFish. I wish her outfit was a better and more accurate one, but she looks sweet. At first I thought the bird on her finger was a martini glass in her hand...

So Illene Woods only decided to stop representing Cinderella one year ago? Hm...well, I don't mind that after such a long time she did it. I'm glad she can do what she wants to do, move on.

Maybe Walt Disney just paid Adriana not to be in any movie roles, but she had the successful opera career she desired. And she didn't want to be in anymore movies anyway?

[UmbrellaFish]

Just reading my Julie Andrews Google Alerts this morning, and to my surprise this popped up-

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010 ... 010/531271

And this is an older article which is basically the same thing,

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007 ... tml?page=1

Could you imagine being on the receiving end of that interview? How incredibly awesome! I don't know what I would do if I heard that...

[merlinjones]

I have always thought this vocal for an early Barbie commercial sounded alot like Ilene Woods, both in the sweet tone and phrasing/performance - - have no idea if it is, but Mattel seemed to have lots of Disney connections back then - - anyone know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8-avPUxyno

[merlinjones]

I never realized Adriana was in "It's a Wonderful Life" - - as a singer at Martini's! Uncredited. So says her IMBD listing anyway... I'll have to look for her next time.

[merlinjones]

Hey -- Here's a cut from Ilene's LP!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG_uLvc8 ... &index=103