ABC’s “Beauty & the Beast: A 30th Celebration” featured opening number cameo appearances by the original voice of Belle, Paige O’Hara, the voice of Gaston, Richard White, and the musical’s composer, Alan Menken.
As the live musical Beauty and the Beast opens to the townspeople singing “Belle”, a few familiar voices and faces join in opening this 30th Anniversary performance. Richard White, who voiced Gaston in the original 1991 film, can be seen first, sharing pleasantries with other townspeople. Paige O’hara, the voice of the original Belle, can be seen next, offering Belle a new book while frequenting a book stand in the village square.
Unsurprisingly, legendary musician Alan Menken, who composed Beauty and the Beast, can be seen behind the piano during the opening number, “Belle”. Menken also wrote the scores and songs for The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), and Pocahontas, as part of a long and successful career working alongside Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Menken’s accolades include eight Academy Awards, a Tony Award, eleven Grammy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Daytime Emmy Award. Menken is one of seventeen people to have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony (“an EGOT”) and the only to have won a Razzie, an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony.
Viewers were also treated to an appearance by country singer-songwriter Shania Twain, who was accompanied by Menken for a rendition of “Beauty and the Beast” in memory of Angela Lansbury, who voiced the original Mrs. Potts. The Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration is streaming now on Disney+. If you’ve already tuned in, let us know what you thought in the comments.
@molexik THESE CAMEOS THOUGH
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The post Alan Menken and Voices of Original Gaston and Belle Make Opening Number Cameos in ‘Beauty and the Beast Live 30th Anniversary Celebration’ appeared first on WDW News Today.