All about attending the D23 Beauty and the Beast panel at the 2026 fan event:
If you didn’t attend the D23 fan event, you probably really only hear about the major news and the big presentations. Things like the theme park announcements and new movie trailers. But one of the highlights, for me, is attending smaller panels with a variety of Disney talent.
They are on all sorts of different topics, but I really enjoy the panels about the films. They typically have a few different people who worked on the movie talk about some backstory and the experience.
This year’s D23 event had a panel called “Beauty and the Beast: A Tale as Old as Time,” in honor of the film’s 35th anniversary. As one of my favorite animated Disney movies, this was a must-attend for me!
The panel was moderated by Ashley Eckstein (voice of Ahsoka in Clone Wars). She started out by introducing Mark Henn (animator of Belle), Don Hahn (producer), Paige O’Hara (voice of Belle), and Alan Menken (composer). Later on in the panel she was also joined by Susan Egan (original Belle on Broadway) and Kyra Belle Johnson (current Belle in North American tour).
The animated film
They began the conversation by discussing the casting process and the research done for the film. They shared so many great stories, and it was just a big feel-good moment to hear them reminisce together. Alan Menken, in particular, spoke a lot and had some interesting (and emotional) things to say. I’ll share some of the stories that stuck out to me! Plus a few other fun facts that I learned.
In particular, I did enjoy hearing some of the discussions about animating the film and bringing it to life. Mark Henn talked about how animation is not just an art job but also an acting job. Paige O’Hara chimed in that “he’s as much Belle as I am.” And it’s true, really – they put so much into those characters to bring them to life.
There’s a lot that goes into the voice work, too! We watched some footage of Paige’s attempts at saying the line “Gaston, you are positively primeval.” There were at least a dozen different versions of it, said in many different ways. When they were recording the song “Something There,” one line wasn’t coming off quite right. It was the part where Belle sings, “new, and a bit alarming.” Howard Ashman was on the phone and said, “tell Paige, on the word alarming, say ‘Streisand.'” And that was it!
Here are a few more fun facts that were discussed:
- Part of the movie was animated at MGM Studios in Orlando (what is now Hollywood Studios), and part was done in California. Mark Henn was in Florida animating Belle, and the animator of Gaston was working in California. And remember, there was no Zoom or video chats back then!
- When casting for the role of Belle, they went to New York because they were looking for a Broadway quality actress.
- During the casting process, Howard Ashman was insistent that “We weren’t looking for singers who could act, but actors who could sing.”
- Paige O’Hara studied comedy, and specifically was inspired by Carol Burnett
- Paige O’Hara’s favorite Disney movie is Mary Poppins (“of course, other than Beauty and the Beast!”)
- Angela Lansbury was initially unsure about taking the role of Mrs. Potts when she first heard the demo of the song “Beauty and the Beast.” Alan Menken claimed that when they initially sent the demo it was his version, but when she heard Howard Ashman singing it (using more of an “old lady” voice), it clicked into place for her.
The Broadway musical
Beauty and the Beast was the first show Disney ever brought to Broadway. They weren’t sure at first if it would be a success. Luckily, it paved the way for many more Disney Broadway shows!
In fact, some of the early reviews were not very good either. Susan Egan was able to look back and laugh at these reviews, even quoting them: “Poor little Susan Egan. Apparently acting wasn’t a prerequisite for the role.”
Alan Menken chimed in to say that this review also ridiculed a lot of the things in the show, and when referring to some of them he stated “astonishments rarely cease.” It was meant in a sarcastic and critical way, but the marketing team ended up insolating that quote and printing it on a huge banner outside of the theater, where it hung for years. It meant something a little different then!
Susan Egan also talked about the song “Human Again,” in the Broadway musical. It’s a number that she was not even in, but it meant a lot to her. “It is the essence of the whole story. What it means to be human, what is it, can I be… can I change, can I become human again, and what does that mean, and the transformative powers of love. We got to listen to that, Terry and I, Beast and I, we would sit up in the library after our scene and just face our stage and listen to our cast sing that song, in ¾ time, and it warmed our heart every single night.”
A few other fun tidbits about the musical:
- One of the main new elements of the play was being able to give the Beast a song.
- “Human Again” was a song that was written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman for the movie originally. Unfortunately, they could never get it to work in the film. They finally were able to bring it to life in the Broadway show.
- Susan Egan shared that Michael Eisner used to call her the “bag lady” because she was the only human on stage, and had a basket. So if a prop or something fell over, she was the only one who could bend over or move enough in her costume to be able to pick it up!
- Kyra Belle Johnson, who is currently playing Belle, said that her middle name is just a coincidence as it’s a family name. Seems like it was meant to be, though!
At one point, Ashley Eckstein mentioned that Beauty and the Beast spent 13 years on Broadway. Alan Menken chimed in by saying, “And it’s coming back, they say. Perhaps.” It would be great to see Beauty and the Beast back on Broadway!
Howard Ashman
A huge part of this panel was about Howard Ashman, the lyricist for Beauty and the Beast. If you don’t know his history, he was incredibly talented, especially when teamed up with Alan Menken writing the music. In addition to Beauty and the Beast, he wrote the lyrics for The Little Mermaid and some of Aladdin (and outside of the Disney realm, Little Shop of Horrors). Ashman unfortunately passed away in 1991 at the age of 40. The release of Beauty and the Beast was just a few months later.
It was clear from the conversations on stage that everyone had a lot of love for Howard Ashman, but especially Alan Menken. So many of the stories they shared came back to Howard. I think it’s important to give Howard his own section in this blog post and share some of the things that they said.
It’s thanks to Howard that Alan Menken started working on these films. Menken said Howard really “twisted his arm” to score the films with him, starting with The Little Mermaid. And Alan Menken had never scored a film before, so he wasn’t sure about doing it, but Howard convinced him.
I enjoyed one story about Howard Ashman’s lyrics from the song Gaston. Alan Menken described receiving the lyrics and having to write the music for them. He had to figure out the best way to do that when the lyrics are things like “I use antlers in all of my decorating” or “every last inch of me is covered with hair.” Menken described Howard as “lyrically slapping Gaston all over the place.”
Alan Menken also described how Howard was able to find the right balance that works so well for Disney movies. He wrote lyrics that made the characters relevant no matter what time period you’re in, but still stayed true to the setting of the film. Whether that was Belle, Ariel, or Jasmine. “Howard had the gift of taking both the iconic and the totally contemporary and combining them in the character in the way that makes them just speak to a modern audience… in a really deeply emotional, and also familiar way.”
I have to just completely quote Alan Menken here to really give you the idea of how emotional this was:
“Can you imagine if you could actually announce, and have walk out… Howie tonight? He’s the star of the whole, I think we all would have to give it up for his brilliance. Every second of Beauty and the Beast has his heart in it, and I hope in some ineffable way, you know, moments like this, his spirit knows that we are here and the effect he’s had.”
The character of Belle
Finally, they spent some time talking to Paige, Susan, and Kyra about the character of Belle. All three of them are Belle, and of course had some great insights on the character. It’s clear that one of the many reasons why Beauty and the Beast is so successful is because Belle resonates with so many people.
Paige O’Hara talked about how Belle was not afraid to be herself, and how inspiring that is. She shared, “I do these events, and constantly I have a lot of women come up to me and start crying and they say ‘I felt like such an idiot when I was growing up, and I was a bookworm and people made fun of me all the time. And I saw your movie and then I realized it was really cool to be different.’ So that part just resonates.”
The others agreed with her and also added in their own interpretations. Susan Egan discussed Belle’s journey, and contrasting it with the Beast’s journey. His is much more straightfoward and obvious, but Belle is going through her own journey, too.
“She has a preconception about the town, she thinks the Beast is going to be one way, and then things even change for her and her own heart opens up. And through the fear, and through the challenge, and through the uncertainty, she just takes it moment by moment and makes a choice. And the choice is always upward aimed. And it tells us that, like, even in the midst of all of the things we might be going through, just breathe, in that moment, and make a choice. And then just make the next choice. And then, and then she got a yellow dress, so they were all the right choice.”
Kyra, the newest Belle, was clearly excited and flattered to be on stage with Paige and Susan. As someone who is currently portraying Belle every night, she has her own connections with the character. What seemed to stick out to Kyra the most about Belle is how strong her beliefs are in what she does and what is right. “She thinks through things very well. She doesn’t do things out of malice. She just knows who she is and believes in herself and knows that there is a greater life for her out there. And it’s just amazing to get to live in this world.”
To end the panel, we got treated to some live music. Susan Egan and Kyra Belle Johnson sang “Beauty and the Beast” together as a duet. They did an amazing job and the song sounded beautiful with their two voices blending.
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What’s your favorite “fun fact” that we learned at D23 Beauty and the Beast: A Tale as Old as Time?
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