A spokesperson for the musical confirmed to Playbill.com that Osmond — who played an extended engagement as Gaston in the New York company — will again play that character for the July 29 performance at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
In addition to his pop success with the Osmond Family — including the hit TV series "The Donny & Marie Show" — Donny Osmond also starred in the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He was the singing voice of Captain Shang in Disney's "Mulan," and he also recently hosted the game show "Pyramid." Osmond made his Broadway debut in the short-lived Little Johnny Jones. His new Decca CD is titled "Love Songs of the '70s."
Beauty and the Beast officially opened at Broadway's Palace Theatre April 18, 1994. The musical's cast and physical elements were downsized and performances resumed at the Lunt-Fontanne Nov. 11, 1999.
When it closes, Beauty will have played a total of 46 previews and 5,464 regular performances.
The current cast includes Anneliese van der Pol as Belle, Steve Blanchard as the Beast, Stephen Buntrock as Gaston, John Tartaglia as Lumiere, Jeanne Lehman as Mrs. Potts, Jonathan Freeman as Cogsworth, Jamie Ross as Maurice, Meredith Inglesby as Babette, Mary Stout as Madame de la Grande Bouche, Aldrin Gonzalez as Lefou, and Trevor Braun and Marlon Sherman alternating in the role of Chip. Beauty and the Beast, the sixth longest-running show in Broadway history, is "the classic love story of Belle, a young woman in a small, provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a prince trapped in a spell placed on him by an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and to be loved, the spell will be broken and he will be transformed back to his former self. But time is running out, and if the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he will be doomed for all eternity."
Featuring a score by Alan Menken, Tim Rice and the late Howard Ashman, Beauty and the Beast boasts a book by the author of the original screenplay, Linda Woolverton; the musical was directed by Robert Jess Roth.
For more information visit Walt Disney Theatricals online at www.disneyonbroadway.com.
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Disney's The Little Mermaid is scheduled to begin previews at the Lunt-Fontanne Nov. 3 with an official opening Dec. 6.
