My first choice for Belle is, as of now, a complete unknown. Though I did interview her once, and I think she’s a very exciting young talent to watch. Her name is English Bernhardt, and she has an extensive list of credits at North Carolina Theatre. Which includes The Music Man (with Tom Wopat as Harold Hill), Annie Get Your Gun, The Sound of Music, Annie (with Andrea McArdle as Miss Hannigan), Cinderella, Evita, Hairspray (with a younger Ariana DeBose as Little Inez), Legally Blonde, Les Misérables, The Little Mermaid, and Next to Normal. In 2014, she became a recipient of the Durham Performing Arts Center's Triangle Rising Star Award, which led to her competing at the Jimmy Awards in New York City. It was during English's performance there that she caught the attention of a casting director in the audience, who would later cast her in a workshop/lab of this new musical that was at the time in the works called Dear Evan Hansen​. Through that experience, director Michael Greif went on to cast English in the ensemble of the If/Then​ national tour. I interviewed her as the tour was coming through my area in May of 2016, which you can find here.

​Here she is at the age of 18 performing at the Jimmy Awards @1:53:

For The Beast, I was thinking that the performer should be more equal in age to whoever is playing Belle. Usually (at least in the original Broadway production), there's a bit of an age gap between the two leads, which is also common for The Phantom of the Opera. Not only was Susan Egan 24 years old when she starred as Belle, but she was playing opposite a then 42-year-old Terrence Mann as The Beast. If you ask me, whoever the creative team Disney ends up assembling should take a page out of Lincoln Center Theater's current Broadway revival of ​My Fair Lady by having both leads more equal in age.

As for my choice, this performer may only be 25 years old, but he's already accomplished a lot within the past three years. In 2016, Jordan Donica made his Broadway debut as a former Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera​. Then he left to launch the first national tour of Hamilton in the roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson. Most recently, he was seen as Freddy Eynsford-Hill in LCT's aforementioned revival of My Fair Lady​. If you watch (or listen to) his rendition of 'On the Street Where You Live' below, you can hear his rich baritone voice working for The Beast's big number, 'If I Can't Love Her'.

For Gaston, I think the performer should be more equal in age to Belle as well. Burke Moses was 34 at the time when he originated the role on Broadway, just 10 years older than Susan Egan. My choice for the role is 27-year-old Derek Klena. After having made two Off-Broadway appearances in 2012 with Carrie and Dogfight, he made his Broadway debut the following year as a former Fiyero in Wicked. Since then, Derek went on to originate the roles of Michael Johnson in The Bridges of Madison County and Dmitry in Anastasia​. Most recently, he was seen in the world premiere stage adaptation of Alanis Morissette's 1995 studio album, Jagged Little Pill, in Boston last year. It's currently unknown whether or not he'll be reprising his role in the upcoming Broadway production this fall.

In any case, here is a clip of him performing 'My Petersburg' from Anastasia at Feinstein's 54 Below.

For Lumière, I think the perfect choice for that role is Gavin Creel. Over the years, he has proven to be quite triple threat on the Broadway stage with his performances as Jimmy Smith in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Steven Kodaly in She Loves Me, and his recent Tony-winning turn as Cornelius Hackl in Hello, Dolly!. Not to mention that he's also a former Elder Price in The Book of Mormon and a former Bert in the West End production of Mary Poppins​.

​Here is a video of him performing 'Ilona' in Roundabout Theatre Company's recent revival of She Loves Me, where you can see his skills as a song-and-dance man (and comedian) on display.

For Cogsworth, I think the perfect choice for that role is Michael McGrath. Over the years, he has proven to be quite a comedic highlight on the boards with his performances in Wonderful Town, Monty Python's Spamalot, Nice Work If You Can Get It (which won him a Tony Award), On the Twentieth Century, and She Loves Me (also with Gavin Creel). McGrath can currently be seen as Stan Fields in the stage musical adaptation of Tootsie​.

Here is a video of him performing 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' as Patsy opposite Tim Curry as King Arthur in the Broadway production of Spamalot​.

For Mrs. Potts, I think there's a number of different directions they could take this. They could do it the usual way by having Mrs. Potts as a middle aged lady with a 10 or something year old son or they could do something different. They can keep Mrs. Potts a middle aged lady, but maybe cast a slightly older kid to play Chip in order to make that mother-son relationship a little more believable. Or they can cast a slightly younger than usual Mrs. Potts with a 40-something year old woman. Then again, they can always reinterpret it by having Chip be her grandson, making Mrs. Potts a grandmother.

As for my first choice, how can you possibly go wrong with Victoria Clark? After having started out in smaller roles on Broadway in Sunday in the Park with George, Guys & Dolls, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Titanic, Cabaret, and Urinetown, she got her first starring role at the age of 45 as Margaret Johnson in The Light in the Piazza. That performance not only won Vicki the 2005 Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical, but that led to her getting more legit supporting roles in subsequent shows such as Sister Act, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, and Gigi. I think her rich soprano voice would be a perfect match for Mrs. Potts, especially on the famous title number.

Here is a clip of her performing 'Losing My Mind' from the 2012 Los Angeles run of the Kennedy Center's production of Follies.

While I wouldn't expect this revival to take place anytime (at least not too) soon, I may post some updates here or there if any exciting news gets revealed. I'll probably also offer up some more casting ideas in the future. In the meantime, let's hope they can get some legit vocalists who won't be autotuned.