Anneliese van der Pol Will Be Beauty and the Beast's Final Belle

Anneliese van der Pol, a star of the Disney Channel hit That's So Raven, will make her Broadway debut as Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast beginning April 3 and remaining in the role until the show closes on July 29 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. She will be the 17th actress to play Belle on Broadway.

Van der Pol plays Chelsea Daniels, the title character's best friend and sidekick in That's So Raven. In 1999, she became the youngest actress in history at age 15 to play the title role in Evita in a professional production at Buena Park Civic Theatre. Three years later, she starred as Laurey in Austin Musical Theater's production of Oklahoma!. She is also an accomplished dancer, having performed the role of Clara in The Nutcracker and the title role in Coppelia for the Southern California Dance Theater. In 2004, van der Pol recorded "Over It" for the Disney Channel original movie Stuck in the Suburbs, sang "Circle of Life" for The Lion King: Special Edition DVD and performed "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" for the Cinderella: Special Edition DVD. Her newest solo recording is "A Day in the Sun" for the new soundtrack That's So Raven Too!

As previously announced, Beauty and the Beast, the inaugural Broadway musical from Disney Theatrical Productions, will close at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on July 29 to make way for the company's upcoming production of The Little Mermaid. It opened on April 18, 1994, at the Palace Theatre and transferred to the Lunt-Fontanne on November 11, 1999. The Broadway production will have played 46 previews and 5,464 regular performances upon closing.