Deborah Lew

Hometown: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Currently: Charming audiences as Belle in Disney's long-running musical hit Beauty and the Beast.

Big Dreams & Belly Dancing: Lew felt the urge to perform from an early age—and laughingly admits that she shared her aspirations with anyone in sight. "I would run around my house in front of company screaming that I was gonna be a belly dancer," she remembers. "My parents were like, 'No, honey, you're going to be a ballet dancer. Ballet.'" Frequent visits in New York, including a childhood outing to see her first Broadway show, Les Miserables, only increased Lew's love of the city and the spotlight. "We were here once or twice a year visiting family when I was growing up," she says, "and I was totally smitten with New York from very early on."

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? At 16, Lew landed the role of Maria in a high school production of The Sound of Music, holding her own against "taller and blonder" co-stars. "All of the Von Trapp children were taller than me, and I'm standing on the end like, 'Come on kids!'" she quips. "They all looked much more Austrian than I did." After pursuing a double major in English and Theater at Michigan's Calvin College, she spent two years working and studying overseas. "I lived in England as part of a very small theater company," she explains. "We traveled a lot in Central and Eastern Europe, performing plays and studying theater history." When she returned home, Lew felt ready to tackle New York and re-enter the world of musical theater.

A Penny for Your Thoughts: Lew made her Broadway debut last season in the Roundabout Theatre Company's controversial production of The Threepenny Opera. As ensemble member Vixen, she played a variety of raunchy roles, from a streetwalker in a brothel to one of Mack the Knife's gang members, alongside Alan Cumming, Cyndi Lauper, Jim Dale and Nellie McKay. "The music was so amazing to sing," she says of the Brecht/Weill songs, "and to work with these people who come from such different backgrounds—it was like I was in class." Threepenny inspired particularly vitriolic responses from some Broadway critics, but the negativity didn't faze the young actress. "I didn't read [the reviews]," she says. "People had strong opinions about it on both sides. I felt like this was the type of thing people would riot in the streets over back in the day. This is theater to me. This is what it's all about."

From Broom to Belle: Lew joined the Beauty company in October, covering the role of Belle while playing a Broom in the ensemble before graduating to leading lady this past December. "Belle is very much the 'straight man' of the show," she observes. "She's a human being surrounded by these larger-than-life objects and this magical story, and the audience is seeing everything through her eyes. It's really fun to come in and see the magic of it every night with the audience. It calls you to experience that wonder and amazement along with them."

Tale as Old as Time: As Beauty and the Beast winds down its 13-year Broadway run and heads toward a July 29 closing date, Lew expresses amazement at the spell the show continues to cast over audience members young and old—including herself. "I'd never seen any production of it until I was in rehearsal for it, and I was surprised at how much it still touched me," she says. "I hear audience members say that, too, because they feel like they know the story so well, and yet it still touches them. It's such a beautiful story everyone can relate to and embrace. With anything I do in the future, I hope I can give people that kind of experience!"