In honor of the acclaimed actress Angela Lansbury, who died Tuesday at the age of 96, fans are sharing a 2016 live performance of the titular song from Disney's animated Beauty and the Beast.
The video resurfaced on Twitter, shared by actor Rob Madge. They wrote, "I always think of this performance by Angela Lansbury. Sublime in its simplicity. She provided the soundtrack to so many childhoods. Her storytelling was incomparable. Rest well, Mrs Potts."
I always think of this performance by Angela Lansbury. Sublime in its simplicity. She provided the soundtrack to so many childhoods. Her storytelling was incomparable. Rest well, Mrs Potts. pic.twitter.com/8eE8b7zUAg
— Rob Madge (@Rob_Madge_02) October 11, 2022
The clip is taken from the 25th anniversary screening of the film at New York City's Lincoln Center. Lansbury is flanked by actors dressed as the film's protagonists Belle and the Beast, and backed by composer Alan Menken on piano.
Lansbury played the fan-favorite character Mrs. Potts in the film, the head of the kitchen who had been turned into a teapot by the curse levied on the Beast's castle by an enchantress. Lansbury referenced Mrs. Potts' son, Chip, at the end of the performance. Chip was turned into a teacup in the film.
"Run along and get in the cupboard, Chip," she says in the clip, echoing her lines in the film to cheers. "Time you was in bed; goodnight, love."
In a 2007 interview with the American Film Institute, Lansbury said that Mrs. Potts changed how children saw her.
"You can imagine what a thrill it was for me to be hailed as a lovable little singing teapot after years of playing some pretty despicable characters," she said at the time. "I mean, children no longer hid behind their mothers' skirts when I came around and they approached me in the aisles of supermarkets. Whispering, 'Mom, it's Mrs. Potts!' You know, I was suddenly a heroine!"
In the same interview, Lansbury mentioned that the song "Beauty and the Beast" was the reason she got the role.
"That song is very very dear to my heart as you can possibly imagine. The first time that I heard this song, it came as a demo tape—I'm sure you know what that is—from the composers, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. It was accompanied with a charming little note and the query, would I like to sing this song and play the character of the little teapot in this movie.
"But I wasn't sure that I could really kind of do it justice. It wasn't kind of written in the style that I was used to, coming from Broadway. But they persisted and said, 'Well, you you just sing it as you would imagine this little person would sound, and then we'll we'll decide on the basis of that,' so I did just that. And I I sent back my demo of the of the song and that was it. Mrs. Potts was born," she said.
And seeing Lansbury's performance again delighted many on Twitter.
"It made me cry then. And now," composer Leighton James House wrote.
"Thank you for sharing this - such a beautiful and outstanding performance that always brings a tear to my eye. Such an outstanding and amazing person," Marc McKenna-Coles, head of inclusion and diversity at EasyJet, wrote.
"I cry every time I see this performance... it's like my Nan coming back to visit me," Twitter user N. J. Kerley wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Madge for additional comment.
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Matt Keeley is a Newsweek editor based in Seattle. His focus is reporting on trends and internet culture. He has ... Read more
