Striking the right 'Tangled' pose

Donna Murphy, a two-time Tony winner and first-time voice actor, called on her theater training to create the voice of the wicked Mother Gothel in the new animated feature "Tangled," a new take on the fairy tale of the long-haired Rapunzel.

"I really didn't know how to just do a voice. It's not how I work," Murphy says. "The minute I was encouraged to be flamboyant and theatrical and a real showman, I needed my body to do that. While I couldn't run up the stairs of the tower. I would do things to suggest that to put me in the right state."

The biggest help in finding the right voice was when she gave Mother Gothel an ex-showgirl sensibility.

"She has these moments where she imagines that a spotlight has just hit her," Murphy says. "I thought about how showgirls look when they do certain things. Gothel, always thinking of the kind of affect she wants to have on Rapunzel, would strike a certain pose."

Murphy's been in plenty of spotlights through her years on Broadway. The actress also has a long list of TV and film credits that include the NBC series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and the blockbuster "Spider-Man 2."

– Rick Bentley, MCT