by Michael P Coleman
I don’t care how old you are, or what gender, race, or sexual orientation you are: when a Disney Princess calls you, you have at least a mini freak out moment.
Or at least I did, when I heard the words “Hi, Michael! This is Jodi!” on the other end of the line this morning.
The “Jodi” in question was Jodi Benson — Broadway star, actress, singer and the original voice of Ariel from the Disney classic The Little Mermaid.
My eldest daughter Janet and I have watched that movie more times than I can count. It was the first movie I took her to see as a child, and we’ve gone thru VHS, DVD, and Blu Ray copies before watching now on our digital downloads. A beautiful young woman now, Janet and I went to a “Sing A Long” viewing of The Little Mermaid at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre just last summer.
Benson called me to express her excitement about coming to San Francisco this week to perform holiday favorites and a special hit of her own (“Part Of Your World”, anyone?) during “A Charlie Brown Christmas Live” with the San Francisco Symphony. The show runs December 18-24. Neither Janet nor I would dream of missing that show.
“The conductor, Randall Fleischer, and I are old friends,” Benson, 51 told me by phone in her distinctive, still-girlish voice. “We have worked together for almost two decades, and I have sung with the San Francisco Symphony I believe three times, but it’s been several years since I’ve been there! I love to do Christmas performances, so when Randall got this particular gig, and he told me he would love for me to come celebrate the holidays with him and the San Francisco Symphony, of course I said ‘yes’.”
“They’re one of the top orchestras in the nation,” Benson reflected of the San Francisco Symphony, “so whenever you get a chance to sing with one of the top five, you run with that opportunity! I’m no dummy! I know the people who know what they’re doing, and San Fran has one of the greatest.”
A Charlie Brown Christmas and Disney’s Little Mermaid? THAT’s a ticket that’ll be hard to beat this holiday season!
“A Christmas concert is one of my favorite things to do,” Benson shared. “I love the holiday season, I love when we do the big extravaganzas, with all the kids and everything — it’s right up my alley!”
Tickets for A Charlie Brown Christmas Live are available at sfsymphony.org.
Look for more of our EXCLUSIVE conversation with Jodi Benson at sacculturalhub.com in the coming weeks!
Michael P Coleman is a Sacramento-based freelance writer. You, too can be a part of his world at michaelpcoleman.com, or connect with him on Twitter: @ColemanMichaelP
