Movie Musings: Disney and More

The Disney Princesses of Les Miserables

“Hollywood Ghost Voices,” or actors who singing voices were dubbed in for actors in movie-musicals who couldn’t sing, has been a favorite topic in this blog. Did you happen to know, however, that the Walt Disney Studios also had to hire a number of “ghost voices” for their animated musicals? The speaking and singing voices of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (1992), Pocahontas in Pocahontas (1995), and Mulan in Mulan (1998) were all voiced by 3 different pairs of actresses.

Linda Larkin provided the speaking voice of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (1992) while Disney hired Lea Salonga to sing the part. Lea Salonga was hired a second time to provide the singing voice of Mulan in Mulan (1998) while Ming-Na Wen spoke that part. Irene Bedard voiced Pocahontas in Pocahontas (1995) while Judy Kuhn was hired by Disney to sing that part. Judy Kuhn reprised her role as the singing voice of Pocahontas for the direct-to-video sequel, Pocahontas 2: Journey to a New World, while Salonga was replaced by Liz Callaway for the singing voice of Princess Jasmine for the direct-to-video sequels, The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996). Salonga did however return to the singing voice of Mulan in the direct-to-video sequel, Mulan 2 (2004), which also featured Kuhn as the singing voice of the character of Princess Ting Ting. Kuhn can also be spotted as the pregnant woman with kids in Enchanted (2007) (when Prince Edward goes in search of Princess Giselle.) Kuhn and Salonga also share another interesting coincidence…

Kuhn and Salonga both starred on Broadway in the Musical Les Miserables at different points in their careers. Kuhn originated the role of Cosette in the original Broadway production, which opened in 1987. She reprised her role in the 10th Anniversary Concert of the musical at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England. That performance also happened to star Salonga as Eponine, who had begun playing that role in 1993 (around the time when Aladdin (1992) was in production at Disney). She began playing the role of Fantine on Broadway in 2007, and starred as Fantine in the 25th Anniversary Concert in London.

I’ll bet you never would have thought that Mulan and Jasmine were voiced by the same person, or that that person would star in the same Broadway musical opposite another Disney princess. Both actresses sang songs in these movie-musicals that won the Oscars for Best Original Song. Salonga sang the duet “A Whole New World,” in Aladdin (1992), with Brad Kane, and Kuhn sang the solo “Colors of the Wind,” in Pocahontas (1995). The songs from Mulan (1998) garnered no Oscars, but the film did receive a nomination for Best Original Score. The singing voices of both of these lovely talents significantly helped make each film the classics that they are.