Marguerite Willbanks, who captivates our audiences as the "Overstuffed Armoire" in Beauty & The Beast, said: 

I grew up in Parkville, Maryland which is right outside of Baltimore. I am the middle of three girls. My parents were both teachers and performed in community theatre. I spent lots of time in the theatre growing up-first tagging along to rehearsals with my parents and then performing. For 11 years my entire family spent every summer performing at a local summer theatre. My version of summer camp! After graduating high school I went to college for a couple of years and then headed to New York where I attended AMDA.  

 I would have to say my parents have always been my greatest influence and mentors. They showed me from a very early age how much work, discipline, and fun it is to be a part of the theatre world. Although they never worked as "professionals" I consider many of their performances the best I’ve ever seen on a stage.    

I watched the "Wonderful World of Disney" every Sunday night as a child. I think my favorite Disney film as a kid was "Bambi". I have performed this role before with the Broadway company of "Beauty". It was a wonderful advantage to work with the original creators of the show and see what their intentions were for the role. Of course as time has passed I’ve spiced  it up a little. That’s the fun of playing a role more than once-it’s great fun to find new parts to the characters personality.
I rarely think about the animated film in regards to the show. I think the book and music for the stage production stand on their own- separately from the film. One of the wonderful things about the film is that it’s brought so many people to see the stage production. The costumes are definitely helpful in creating this character. As soon as I put the "wardrobe" on I have to move in a totally different way and I immediately feel connected to "Madame".
My nieces and nephews have seen the show and love it! They can’t believe it’s their Aunt Maggie under all that furniture! When I’m not performing I enjoy spending time with my husband and dog. We love to travel- if we ever win the lottery we will be off to see the world!!