--- description: "I’ve never seen or heard anything like it" title: Ian McKellen Makes the First Table Read for 'Beauty and the Beast' Sound Magical image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37f8d2c02a1454bb/6987eb54cd1bba74bf6f8fb9/462999650-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Ian McKellen Makes the First Table Read for _Beauty and the Beast_ Sound Magical by [Jonathon Dornbush / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jonathon Dornbush / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 15, 2015 9:13 PM CUT  Sir Ian Mckellen during a Q&A for the film 'Mr Holmes' at the 65th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany on Feb. 8, 2015. Sir Ian Mckellen during a Q&A for the film 'Mr Holmes' at the 65th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany on Feb. 8, 2015.Gisela Schober—Getty Images by [Jonathon Dornbush / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jonathon Dornbush / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 15, 2015 9:13 PM CUT A classic like _Beauty and the Beast_ needs a bit of magic to succeed, and from the way Sir Ian McKellen describes Disney’s latest take on the tale, there’s more than enough to around. McKellen tweeted a short description/story/ode to the first table read of the live-action _Beast_ film Disney currently has in the works. The actor, who is playing Cogsworth, describes in sheer delight what a table read is, his late arrival to it, and what occurred during the elaborate reading. The cast gathered around four long tables with a clock, feather duster, and candelabra settled in the middle of them. “Elsewhere, everything and everyone was alive and even kicking, high-kicking too,” McKellen wrote. “\[Director\] Bill Condon had decided to put on a show and I’ve never seen or heard anything like it.” The table read, according to McKellen, included no less than live musicians and a 30-person choir to accompany the actors as they ran through the film’s songs, for which composer and lyricist, respectively, Alan Menken and Tim Rice were both in attendance. McKellen notes some singing and dancing rehearsals had already begun, but that he was looking forward to his, remaining humble as he expressed how difficult it will be to “equal what has already been achieved.” And if that doesn’t warm your heart, the simple joy of his final lines likely will. “All the long way home, I hummed ‘Be \[Our\] Guest,’ in which I shall get to sing a line or two,” he wrote. “Aren’t I the lucky one?” Read [McKellen’s full description below](https://twitter.com/IanMcKellen/status/588373607618842625 "undefined") and, combined with [Josh Gad’s cast selfie](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/15/emma-watson-and-beauty-and-beast-cast-take-first-selfie "undefined"), _Beauty and the Beast_ let’s hope the cast continues to give us a look behind the curtain of this production. > [](https://twitter.com/IanMcKellen/status/588373607618842625) _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/15/ian-mckellen-writes-about-beauty-and-beast-first-table-read "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com "undefined")_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3824125/first-table-read-beauty-beast/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3824125/first-table-read-beauty-beast/"},"headline":"Ian McKellen Makes the First Table Read for Beauty and the Beast Sound Magical","datePublished":"2015-04-15T21:13:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:26:00.192Z","description":"\"I’ve never seen or heard anything like it\"","url":"https://time.com/3824125/first-table-read-beauty-beast/","keywords":["movies","Beauty and the Beast"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37f8d2c02a1454bb/6987eb54cd1bba74bf6f8fb9/462999650-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jonathon Dornbush / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37f8d2c02a1454bb/6987eb54cd1bba74bf6f8fb9/462999650-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sir Ian Mckellen during a Q&A for the film 'Mr Holmes' at the 65th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany on Feb. 8, 2015.","caption":"Sir Ian Mckellen during a Q&A for the film 'Mr Holmes' at the 65th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany on Feb. 8, 2015.","creditText":"Gisela Schober—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3824125/first-table-read-beauty-beast/","name":"Ian McKellen Makes the First Table Read for Beauty and the Beast Sound Magical"}}]}] ```