Original Ariel Jodi Benson 'Wept' Watching Her Daughter Play the Little Mermaid in New Production (Exclusive)

The actress who voiced the mermaid princess was swept away with emotion after her daughter took on the role in a Miami production

After voicing the character of Ariel in 1989, Jodi Benson is now welcoming home another princess of the sea.

The actress's daughter, Delaney Benson, recently starred in a 90-minute immersive Miami production of The Little Mermaid, 34 years after her mother first voiced the beloved Disney princess.

Delaney has been working in acting and musicals for years, even more since attending the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, where she earned the opportunity to perform in a production of Gypsy alongside her mother.

When Delaney received the news of the Ariel role, the stars truly were aligned as she sat in a New York City hotel room alongside her mother.

“It's very surreal,” Jodi, 62, told PEOPLE exclusively at a recent Disney Princess 'Create Your World' event at Disneyland in California. “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?!' "

Related: Daughter of Jodi Benson, Original Voice of Ariel, Is Portraying the Little Mermaid in New Production

Delaney spent the beginning of the summer preparing and eventually performing for Area Stage from July 11 to Aug. 4 as the character she has known all her life.

Jodi recalled that throughout her time as Ariel, she attended Disney events, brought her young daughter around, and watched Delaney fall in love with both Ariel and the spotlight.

“She used to come on stage with me when she was 3 and 4 and grab the mic from the symphony and take it and start singing the song and not give me the mic back,” Jodi recalled.

She commended her daughter’s work on the character and her overall performance, noting that Delaney clearly absorbed what she had learned at a young age from her mother as well as Disney musical legend Howard Ashman.

“My husband and I just wept the whole time,” Jodi shared of watching her daughter as Ariel. “I saw the show nine times, opening weekend and closing weekend. But she made Ariel her own, but obviously, she grew up with the sound. She knows everything that Howard taught me because the song is Howard. I'm just imitating it. So she knows Howard, she knows everything that Howard taught me, and she does it, but she makes Ariel her own. It was breathtaking and ... we were beside ourselves. It was really magical.”

Related: Original 'Little Mermaid' Star Jodi Benson on 'Huge Thrill' Making a Cameo in Live-Action Movie

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Jodi wasn’t the only former Disney Princess who was proud of Delaney, as the voice Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Paige O’Hara, had her own thoughts, too.

“I'm going to say something about her daughter,” O'Hara, 68, said in the same chat with PEOPLE. “She's the real deal. She will be a Broadway star. She will. That means she's an amazing actress. You can't just be a great singer in the world, you have to be an actress. She's a really good actress."

Delaney has grown her career over the past couple of years with some major performances and opportunities, but her mother wants everyone to know that all of that is second to who her daughter is, rather than what she has done.

“The most important thing about her is her heart," Jodi shared. "She's a good human. I love hanging out with her. She makes me a better person."

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