Audra McDonald has joined the stellar cast of "Beauty and the Beast," the upcoming Disney live-action movie.
McDonald will play Garderobe, the lady-in-waiting that turned into wardrobe when an enchantress came to the castle and placed a curse on the Prince. Her curse turned the Prince into a Beast and the servants into various objects like candlesticks and teapots.
The word "garderobe" means wardrobe in French.
The six-time Tony award-winning actress joins an ever-expanding cast including Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as Beast/Prince, Luke Evans as the villainous Gaston and Josh Gad as Gaston's sidekick, Lefou. "Beauty" also recently added Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts and Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle's father.
Garderobe appeared in the popular "Be Our Guest" from the 1991 animated feature. She also has a small solo in "Human Again," a song cut from the original Disney movie, but put back later in a special edition release.
Bill Condon will direct the film, a re-telling of Disney's Oscar-nominated animated feature. The studio hired Stephen Chbosky, who directed Watson in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," to write a new script. Evan Spiliotopoulos turned in the original draft.
The "Beauty and the Beast" story comes from a French fairy tale about a young woman who agrees to live with the Beast in his palace in exchange for her father's release. She eventually falls in love with him and breaks the curse put upon him by a wicked fairy.
Production on "Beauty and the Beast" will start later this year. The film is slated to premiere in 2016.
