Mother Gothel always about ... who’s best for the part". Film critic James Berardinelli of "ReelViews "observed that this decision echoed "Disney's approach during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when big name stars where often bypassed in favor of lesser known talents." An additional asset was that the actor be able to perform well both independently and collaboratively. Mother Gothel is voiced by American actress and singer Donna Murphy, a Tony Award-winning Broadway actress who was informed about the casting call for "Tangled "by her agent. Having never voiced an animated character before, the actress decided to audition for the role
Mother Gothel idea in "Cinderella "... She proves it's possible to "be" evil without all the theatrics." The author continued, "Gothel is one for the ages with a bit of darkly comedic timing and the overall greed and menace a villain needs to be disdained." The character has received comparisons to the Evil Queen, Snow White's stepmother, from Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "(1937). Donna Murphy believed that Gothel did really love Rapunzel in her own way. Mother Gothel performs two of the film's songs: "Mother Knows Best," described as a "brassy, Broadway-targeted tune" and an "authoritarian anthem" in which