Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration casts award-winning musician Josh Groban to star as the Beast.
Announced during the D23 Expo and reported by Variety, Groban is joining the upcoming ABC special along with Broadway actor Joshua Henry (Hamilton, Waitress) and acting legend Rita Moreno. Henry is joining the special as Beauty and the Beast's main antagonist, Gaston, while Moreno will serve as the special's narrator.
The original animated Beauty and the Beast musical, a Disney classic, was released in 1991 and featured vocal performances by Paige O'Hara and Robby Benson as Belle and the Beast, respectively. The story focuses on Belle becoming the Beast's prisoner to save her father, but the two wind up falling in love over time, which eventually leads to the Beast being free of his curse and turning back into the prince he once was. The story has been adapted for both Broadway and live-action, more recently with the Beauty and the Beast film starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens released in 2017.
H.E.R. and Josh Groban Lead the New Beauty and the Beast Cast
The 2017 adaptation included an original song performed by Stevens in the film, "Evermore," which Groban recorded his own version of to accompany the film. As for the upcoming special, alongside Groban, the project will star Grammy award-winning musician H.E.R. as Belle, who has previously expressed her excitement over the opportunity. "I can't believe I get to be a part of the Beauty and the Beast legacy," she said. "The world will see a Black and Filipino Belle!"
The upcoming special will be a hybrid of live-action performance and animation, with Jon M. Chu serving as executive producer and Hamish Hamilton as director. While the special will premiere on ABC, it will release on Disney+ a day later.
The Beauty and the Beast Special Gets an Update, but a Spinoff Does Not
Aside from Beauty and the Beast, much else was revealed by Disney+ Day and the D23 Expo, such as the first look at the live-action film adaptation of The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey as the singing mermaid Ariel. However, other Beauty and the Beast news has been absent from the weekend as of writing, specifically with regard to the series spinoff of the 2017 film set to focus on Gaston (Luke Evans) and LeFou (Josh Gad). The project has been delayed indefinitely, though Gad has previously said, "I hope we get to do it. I know we're still very interested."
The original Beauty and the Beast animation, the 2017 adaptation and other specials are available to stream now on Disney+. Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration will premiere live Dec. 15 on ABC and arrive on Disney+ the following day.
Source: Variety