Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical. Beauty ran on Broadway for 5,464 performances between 1994 and 2007, becoming Broadway's sixth-longest running production in history.
The musical has grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide and played in thirteen countries and 115 cities. It has also become a very popular choice for high school productions.
Background
According to an article in The Houston Chronicle , "The catalyst for Disney's braving the stage was an article by New York Times theater critic Frank Rich that praised Beauty and the Beast as 1991's best musical.... TUTS executive director Frank Young had been trying to get Disney interested in a stage version of Beauty about the same time Eisner and Katzenberg were mulling over Rich's column. But Young couldn't seem to get in touch with the right person in the Disney empire. Nothing happened till the Disney execs started to pursue the project from their end.... When they asked George Ives, the head of Actors Equity on the West Coast, which Los Angeles theater would be the best venue for launching a new musical, Ives said the best theater for that purpose would be TUTS. Not long after that, Disney's Don Frantz and Bettina Buckley contacted Young, and the partnership was under way."
Productions
Beauty and the Beast premiered in a joint production of Theatre Under The Stars and Disney Theatricals at the Music Hall, Houston, Texas, from November 28, 1993, through December 26, 1993.
The musical opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on April 18, 1994 and ran there until September 5, 1999, transferring to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 11, 1999, with an official opening date of November 16, 1999. The musical closed on July 29, 2007 after 46 previews and 5,464 performances, becoming Broadway's sixth-longest running production in history. The production holds the record of being the longest running production at both the Palace Theatre, where it opened, and the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, where it closed its Broadway run.
Directed by Robert Jess Roth with choreography by Matt West and assisted by Dan Mojica, the original Broadway cast included Susan Egan as Belle, Terrence Mann as the Beast, Burke Moses as Gaston, Gary Beach as Lumiere and Beth Fowler as Mrs Potts. Orchestrations were by Danny Troob (after his score of the film), scenic designer was Stan Meyer, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, lighting designer Natasha Katz, sound was by T. Richard Fitzgerald, hair designer David H. Lawrence, and prosthetics were by John Dods. Illusions were by Jim Steinmeyer and John Gaughan, and pyrotechnic design was by Tyler Wymer.
The Broadway production closed to make way for Disney's next musical venture, The Little Mermaid . With Disney set to release its Broadway version of The Little Mermaid on November 3, 2007 at the time, it was believed that having two Disney film adaptations on Broadway at the same time would divide audiences and cause competition between the two shows. It was reported that Disney Theatrical planned to revive the show on Broadway for the 2008 holiday season, but Disney did not pursue this.
A Los Angeles production opened at the Shubert Theatre on April 12, 1995 and closed on September 29, 1996. Most of the original Broadway cast, including Susan Egan, Terrence Mann, Gary Beach, Beth Fowler, Burke Moses and Tom Bosley reprised their roles. Notable replacements included James Barbour as the Beast. The sets in this production were widely considered to be the largest out of all the musical's productions in the world. After the show closed in Los Angeles, all of the sets were transferred for the production in Mexico City in 1997.
The Toronto production opened at the Princess of Wales Theatre on August 8, 1995 and closed in 1998. The production starred Kerry Butler as Belle and Chuck Wagner as the Beast. Notable replacements included Melissa Thomson as Belle and Steve Blanchard as the Beast.
The West End production opened at London's Dominion Theatre on April 29, 1997 and closed on December 11, 1999. Featured were Julie Alanah Brighton as Belle, Alasdair Harvey as the Beast, Burke Moses reprising his role as Gaston, Derek Griffiths as Lumiere, Mary Millar as Mrs Potts, Norman Rossington as Maurice, Barry James as Cogsworth and Di Botcher as Madame De La Grande Bouche. Notable replacements included Michelle Gayle as Belle and John Barrowman as the Beast. The show won the Olivier Award as Best New Musical for 1998.
The UK National tour (prior to the closure of the West End Production in 1999) began on November 2, 2001 at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool and ended on April 12, 2003 at the Playhouse Theatre in Edinburgh. The tour starred Annalene Beechey (reprising her role from the London Production) as Belle, Alistair Robins as the Beast, Ben Harlow as Gaston, Julia Goss as Mrs Potts, Billy Boyle (reprising his role from the London Production) as Maurice. Notable replacements included Dianne Pilkington as Belle, Alex Bourne as the Beast and Earl Carpenter as Gaston.
In October 2005, UK Productions produced a UK Tour of the show which continues touring throughout the UK as of 2009. The original cast included Katie Rowley Jones as Belle, Nic Greenshields as The Beast and Michael Quinn as Gaston. Notable replacements have included Jo Gibb and Ashley Oliver as Belle, Matthew Cammelle and Shaun Dalton as the Beast and Ben Harlow (reprising his role from the Original Disney UK Tour as Gaston. The tour also visited other countries such as Malaysia and Greece.
The show had three US national tours. The first opened on November 15, 1995 and closed in 1999. It featured Kim Huber as Belle and Fred Inkley as the Beast. The second national tour opened in 1999 with Susan Owen as Belle and Grant Norman as The Beast. This production closed in 2003. The third national tour opened in 2001 and closed in 2003. This production starred Jennifer Shraeder as Belle and Roger Befeler as the Beast. Notable replacements on the tours have included Sarah Litzsinger and Erin Dilly as Belle. The three touring companies visited 137 venues in 90 North American cities. About 5.5 million people in the United States and Canada saw these tours. A fourth national tour of Beauty and the Beast is scheduled to begin in February 2010, opening in Providence, Rhode Island.
According to , Beauty and the Beast has performed around the world in a total of 13 countries in 115 cities including Argentina (1998), Australia (1995), Austria (1995), Brazil (2001 and 2009), Canada (1995), China (1999), Germany (1997), Ireland (2002 as part of the UK National Tour), Japan, (1995), Mexico (1997), South Korea (2004), Spain (1999 and 2007) and the United Kingdom (1997).
In 2005, Disney and Stage Entertainment produced a new version of the show using brand new sets and costumes. After touring Holland and playing in Antwerp, Belgium, Disney and Stage Entertainment brought the show to Berlin, Germany in 2006. This production opened in 2007 in Madrid, Spain with Julia Moller reprising her role as Belle, which she played in Madrid's original production (1999-2002), with Carlos Marín as the Beast; and in 2009 in Milano, Italy, with Arianna as Belle and Michel Altieri as the Beast. The Broadway production played a second time in Mexico City beginning in September 2007 and in Hiroshima, Japan beginning in February 2008. It opened in South Africa in September 2008. In 2004, Disney began to license the show to other companies for touring, and the show has been performed by professional and amateur companies in many countries.
Plot
Act I
On a cold winter night, an old beggar woman comes upon a glorious castle belonging to a young prince. She asks the master of the castle to allow her to stay the night, away from the cold, and in return she would give him a single rose, but the prince was vain and uncaring and turned her away solely for her appearance. As he did this, she warned him not to be fooled by appearances, as true beauty lies within, only to be rejected again. Seeing his horrible heart for what it truly was, she transformed into a beautiful enchantress and turned the prince into a hideous Beast and his servants into different objects. She gave him the rose to use as an hour-glass. The one way he could break the spell was to learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell…
Years later, a beautiful young woman named Belle makes her way into town one morning in order to get a book from the local book keeper. On the way she expresses her wish to live in a world like her books, full of adventure, while the townspeople note her unparalleled beauty but find her love of books odd (“Belle”). Belle has also attracted the attentions of Gaston (the local hunter and town hero) who admires her only for her beauty and not her brains.
Belle, however, is not oblivious to her peers’ views of her. She voices her concerns about it to her father, Maurice, an eccentric inventor, assures his daughter that she is anything but strange and he will always love her (“No Matter What”). The two then put the finishing touches on his invention and Maurice heads off to an invention fair donning a scarf knitted for him by Belle (“No Matter What (Reprise)”).
In the woods, Maurice becomes lost when a pack of wolves attacks him; he finds his way to a mysterious castle on the edge of the Crossroads and enters. The servants (Lumière,
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