Actor Becomes An Icon In Calypso Crab Role

How often do you get the opportunity to interview a crab?

Very seldom, especially when you're a music critic. So when Sam Wright rolls into town, under the wing of Walt Disney Records, it's time to seize the opportunity. Wright is better known to legions of kids, and the long-suffering adults in whose homes the video of "The Little Mermaid" is continuously replayed, as Sebastian the Crab.

Sebastian looks at the restaurant menu and shudders. Crab is garnishing the bisque of the day and lurking in the fettuccine.

"I'm declaring an official moratorium on crab in Seattle today," jokes the singer. "Nobody had better eat these guys."

It's hard to tell, when you chat with Sam Wright, that he's really Sebastian's alter ego, and the singer on two post-"Mermaid" albums (his newest is the brand-new "Sebastian's Party Gras"). His speech rolls out in the normal cadences of America, with maybe a little New York overlay; he could be reading the news on some TV station.

And then a waiter drifts by, and the Disney publicist urges Wright to say something as Sebastian. He does.

The waiter's jaw drops. As a "Little Mermaid" fan, he knows that voice. Heads turn around the restaurant. Wright's transformation into the calypso crab is almost comical. In one sentence, he changes from a singing actor into an icon to the millions who've heard him sing "Under the Sea" in the double-platinum soundtrack, winning the Oscar, Golden Globe and

Grammy Award.

Wright learned his Sebastian accent in college, when he turned out for track and roomed with two guys from Trinidad.

"I used to walk around with Ron and Ken and imitate the way they talked," says Wright. "Everybody thought all three of us were from Trinidad."

He went on to work for about 20 years in TV, stage and screen. You might have seen Wright as the great jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in the film "Bird," or starring with Sidney Poitier in the TV miniseries "Separate But Equal." He had a Tony nomination for "The Tap Dance Kid."

And for 20 years he's been the purple "Fruit of the Loom" grape in TV and print ads.

While portraying jazz trumpeters and grapes, Wright more or less forgot about Trinidad until his agent told him the Disney people were looking for a calypso voice for "The Little Mermaid." He auditioned before two exhausted, bored-looking guys who turned out to be Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, the award-winning composer and lyricist.

"I wanted to wake them up," remembers Wright. "I jumped around the room, leaped on top of the piano, slid from side to side and sang my heart out. Afterwards I thought, `Boy, I blew that one.' "

Not exactly. Instead, the animators modeled Sebastian after Wright, right down to the little bags under the eyes. Meanwhile, Wright was absorbing advice about characterization from his three youngsters. ("Don't make him stupid or childish! Don't talk down to kids!")

Creating Sebastian has been a rewarding process, and Wright says the most fun is hearing from fans. One memorable letter told Wright of an autistic 5-year-old who never spoke until he heard the "Little Mermaid" song in which Sebastian and his undersea buddies urge the prince to kiss the mermaid and break the evil spell.

The child turned to her astonished parents and said, "Kiss de girl."

Wright shakes his head, telling that story: "Now that's rewarding."