Beauty And The Beast
1994 Broadway
1997 West End
Additional lyrics by Tim Rice
Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Music by Alan Menken
Book by Linda Woolverton


"I simply made one
careless, wrong decision."

-- The Beast, How Long
Must This Go On?



Broadway's Lunt Fontanne Theatre   © 2002 JJB.

From Film To Broadway

When Disney decided to bring Beauty And The Beast to the stage, they required more songs to round out the show. Alan Menken was brought back to work on the music, and Tim Rice was asked contribute new lyrics. Only one of the songs seen in the stage show but not from the film has lyrics by Howard Ashman. This is "Human Again" which was written for the film but never used.

Beauty And The Beast premiered at Houston's Theatre Under The Stars in December 1993. The Broadway production opened at the Palace Theatre on 18 April 1994. It starred Tom Bosley as Belle's father Maurice, Terrence Mann as the Beast, and Susan Egan as Belle. It broke all-time single-day ticket sales records. Beauty And The Beast was nominated for 9 Tonys in 1994, including Best Musical, and won the Tony for Costume Design (Ann Hould-Ward).

U.S. Tour & International Productions

A United States touring production began on 15 November 1995 with stops in Minneapolis, St. Louis, Detroit, and Washington. The first non-US show opened in Melbourne (Australia) at the Princess Theater on 8 July 1995, where -- as with New York -- it broke the record for single-day ticket sales. The show has been performed in the US and world-wide in locations such as: Boston (Wang Theatre) -- began 2 July 1998; Chicago (Chicago Theatre) -- 17 October 1997 - 1 March 1998; Cincinnati (Aronoff Center) -- 21 May 1998 - 28 June 1998; Cleveland (State Theatre) -- 2 April 1998 - 17 May 1998; Dallas (Dallas Music Hall) -- 4 September 1997 - 12 October 1997; Denver (Buell Theatre) -- 18 July 1997 - 31 August 1997, previews 18&19 July, with Fred Inkley as the Beast, Kim Huber as Belle, and Tony Lawson as Gaston; Ft. Lauderdale -- 1998; Hartford (The Bushnell) -- began September 1998; Los Angeles (Shubert Theater) -- 12 April 1995 - 29 September 1996 (25 previews & 615 performances); Portland (Portland Civic Auditorium) -- 15 May 1997 - 15 June 1997; San Diego (San Diego Civic Theatre) -- 20 June 1997 - 13 July 1997; Seattle (The 5th Avenue Theatre) -- 9 February 1997 - 6 April 1997; Washington D.C. (Kennedy Center) -- 1 June - 1 September 1996; Fukuoka (Fukuoka City Theatre) -- 1998; Hong Kong; Sydney (Her Majesty's Theatre) with Michael Cormick as the Beast, Sharon Millerchip as Belle, Scott Irwin as Gaston, and Robyn Arthur as Mrs. Potts; Mexico City (Teatro Orfeon) -- previews began 28 April 1997, opened 8 May 1997; Nagoya (Nagoya Musical Theatre) -- opened 28 April 1998; Stuttgart -- 1998; Toronto (Princess of Wales Theatre) -- opened 8 August 1995; Toyko (Akasaka Musical Theater) -- opened 24 November 1995; Osaka (MBS Theater); Vienna (Raimund Theater) -- opened in September 1995, conitnued playing after celebrating its first anniversary; a Latin America tour; and a German production in November 1997.

The touring production of Beauty And The Beast set many records, breaking sales records in Seattle, Los Angeles, and St. Louis. On 2 June 1997, the first day of ticket sales in Dallas, it broke the record for single-day sales with $328,999 -- beating The Phantom Of The Opera's record set in 1992. In London, there was a £5.5 advance -- the highest ever for a show.

In Los Angeles, Beauty and the Beast won three 1995 Ovation Awards and eleven Drama-Logue Awards.

Beauty In The West End

The London production premiered at the Dominion Theatre on 13 May 1997, with previews having begun 29 April (there were no Wednesday matinees during previews). Tickets went on sale 29 October. The 200 costume, 45 member cast production, featured Alasdair Harvey as The Beast, Julie-Alanah Brighten as Belle, Burke Moses as Gaston, and Mary Millar as Mrs. Potts. Beauty And The Beast had a budget set for £10,000,000, the highest ever for a London show. The show was created in London with the help of many of those who worked with the Broadway company (and on productions throughout the world) including Robert Jess Roth (director), Matt West (choreographer), Stan Meyer (set design), and Ann Hould-Ward (costume design).

The London production, which had already made a name for itself by being the most technically complex show in the West End, broke records the last week of December 1997 / first week of January 1998 by having the highest grossing box office takings for a show that week. The roughly £575,000 figure was helped by an extra Christmas matinee. On Wednesday, 7 January 1998, the show was viewed by its 500,000th visitor. Beauty And The Beast picked up the Olivier for the Best New Musical on 15 February 1998.

Broadway Milestones & Star Power

On Broadway, Beauty And The Beast played its 1000th performance on 8 September 1996. On Friday, 18 April 1997, to celebrate the production's third anniversary, there was a gathering held in Duffy Square complete with cast, creators, and cake. Also in celebration, half price children's tickets (with the purchase of an adult ticket) were offered for May performances. (The tickets had to be purchased by 11 May 1997, and the offer was not vaild for Saturday performances.) Tuesday, 7 July 1998, marked Beauty And The Beast's 1,762 performance, which broke the previous record making it the longest-running show ever at the Palace Theatre. The 2,000th performance took place at the Saturday matinee on 30 January 1999. The 3,000th performance was on 28 August 2001, shortly after the show became the 10th longest running Broadway musical of all time.

As has happened with Les Miserables and Grease, some traditionally non-musical theater performers used the Broadway production of Beauty And The Beast to venture onto the boards. The first of these was pop singer Deborah (Debbie) Gibson. She was followed by another singer, Toni Braxton, who entered the show in the Summer of 1998 and left 28 February 1999. For Braxton's turn as Belle, her costumes were re-designed and Tim Rice and Alan Menken wrote a new Act Two number for her to debut titled "Change In Me".

More International Productions

The Latin American tour of Beauty And The Beast, performed in Spanish and Portuguese, was presented jointly by Walt Disney Theatrical Worldwide and Rock & Pop Internacionale. Originally scheduled to begin with an opening in Mexico City at the Teatro Orefeon on 15 March 1997, the date was changed to 3 May 1997 (previews began 24 April) so a new theatre for the show to play in could be built by its producers OCESA. Beauty And The Beast actually opened on 8 May 1997 in Mexico, and was sold out until 28 May. It carried the most expensive top ticket price for a musical ever in Mexico with prices close to those of Broadway. A Mexican cast recording was released. The Mexican production starred Roberto Blandon as the Beast, Lolita Cortes as Belle, Sergio Saldivar as Gaston, and Norma Herrera as Mrs. Potts. It won the Mexican Theatre Journalists Association Award for Best Foreign Musical. After closing on 26 April 1998, the tour moved on to an open-ended run in Buenos Aires (Argentina) at the Opera Theatre with an opening date of 26 November 1998. The cast included Juan Rodo as the Beast, and Marisol Otero as Belle. It was directed by Keith Batten, choreographed by Dan Mojica, and the musical direction was by Michael Kosarin. Dates for the rest of the tour were based on the success in Buenos Aires, although stops were previously planned for Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Bogota (Colombia). The show continued to play at the Teatro Abril in Sau Paulo into 2003.

The Tokyo production of Beauty And The Beast achieved recognition for being the longest running production in a single location for it's over two year run at the Akasaka Musical Gekijo. Originally scheduled to close on 31 January 1998, it continued to play until 21 March 1998.

The Move To The Lunt Fontanne & Madrid

Although the rumour was out all during the summer of 1999, it wasn't until the third week of July that Disney confirmed it was going to move Beauty And The Beast from Broadway's Palace Theatre to the Lunt Fontanne Theatre where Titanic had just finished it's run. The move, almost literally across the street, enabled Disney to open Aida at the Palace Theatre. Beauty And The Beast had played almost 2,200 performances at the Palace Theatre. Disney's plans to scale down the production (announced at the end of April 1999) meant that, in order to follow Equity rules, after the show closed at the Palace Theatre on 5 September 1999, it did not reopen until 12 November 1999 -- thus allowing the Beauty And The Beast contracts to expire during the six week interval. Andrea McArdle, who had been playing Belle at the Palace Theatre when the show closed, continued in the role after the move to the Lunt Fontanne Theatre.

Beauty And The Beast was featured in a Bryant Park concert 10 August 2000 as part of a concert series hosted by New York radio station 105 when Steve Blanchard, playing the Beast on Broadway at the time, singing "If I Can't Love Her".

The Madrid productiong of Beauty and the Beast opened on 2 December 2000 at the Teatro Lope de Vega. It played until 3 March 2002.

Disney On Broadway & Even More Tours

To celebrate and capitalise on the success of its three popular musicals (Beauty And The Beast, The Lion King, Aida), Disney vigorously launched an ad campaign in March of 2001 for Disney On Broadway On Tour, prominently evident on its website where information for a touring company is accessed by first chosing a show from the main tour page featuring all three shows rather than from the individual pages on each show's Broadway production. Beauty And The Beast, still touring as strongly as ever, was able to list Baltimore (April 2002, The Mechanic Theater), Boston (March 2001, The Wang Center), Buffalo (April 2002, Shea's Performing Arts Center), Charlotte (July 2002), Cleveland (February 2002), Denver (September 2001), Hartford (27 March - 1 April 2001, The Bushnell), Houston (4-9 June 2002), Milwaukee (June 2001, Marcus Center), Philadelphia (November 2001, The Forrest Theatre), Pittsburgh (3-22 April 2001, Bennedum Center for the Performing Arts), Portland (15-26 August 2001, Keller Civic Auditorium), Rochester (April 2002, Auditorium Center), Seattle (The Paramount), Tampa (March 2002), Tempe (Arizona State University's Gammage Auditorium), Toronto (15 May - 10 June 2001, The Hummingbird Centre), Tucson, and Washington D.C.(24 April - 13 May 2001, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) as its Disney On Broadway on Tour stops.

Further additions were later added to the US tour of Beauty And The Beast, extending the tour until the end of July 2002. The cast of Danyelle Bossardet as Belle, Grant Norman as the Beast, Marc G. Dalio as Gaston, and Anne Kanengeiser as Mrs. Potts then visited: Chicago (28 November 2001 - 6 January 2002 -- Cadillac Palace), Toledo (8-13 January 2002 -- Stranahan Theatre), Grand Rapids (15-20 January 2002 -- DeVos Hall), Richmond (23 January - 3 February 2002, Landmark Theatre), Cleveland (6-17 February 2002 -- Allen Theatre), Greenville (20-24 February 2002 -- Peace Center), Miami Beach (27 February - 3 March 2002 -- Gleason Performing Arts Center), Tampa (5-17 March 2002 -- Tampa Performing Arts Center), Chattanooga (20-24 March 2002 -- Memorial Auditorium), Greensboro (26-31 March 2002 -- War Memorial Auditorium), Syracuse (3-7 April 2002 -- Landmark Theatre), Rochester (9-14 April 2002 -- Auditorium Center), Buffalo (16-21 April 2002 -- Shea's Performing Arts Center), Baltimore (24 April - 5 May 2002 -- Mechanic Theatre), Raleigh (6-12 May 2002 -- Memorial Auditorium), Kansas City (15-19 May 2002 -- Convention Center Concert Hall), Lincoln (28 May - 2 June 2002 -- Lied Center), Houston (5-16 June 2002 -- Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts), San Antonio (11-23 June 2002 -- Majestic Theatre), Memphis (25-30 June 2002 -- Orpheum Theatre), Charlotte (9-14 July 2002 -- North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center), Little Rock (17-21 July 2002 -- Robinson Center), Tulsa (24-28 July 2002 -- Chapman Music Hall).

The Beauty And The Beast US National Tour continued through 2003 with stops in: San Francisco (16 October - 3 November 2002, Orpheum Theatre); Eugene (5-10 November 2002, Hult Center for the Performing Arts); Las Vegas (13-17 November 2002, Aladdin Theatre); Fresno (19-24 November 2002, Saroyan Theatre); Boston (began on 3 December 2002, Colonial Theatre); Saginaw (14-19 January 2003, Heritage Theatre); Cincinnati (7-12 January 2003, Aronoff Center); Kalamazoo (21-26 January 2003, Miller Auditorium); Columbus (28 January - 2 February 2003, The Ohio Theatre); Indianapolis (4-9 February 2003, Murat Theatre); Greenbay (11-16 February 2003, Weidner Center for the Performing Arts); South Bend (18-23 February 2003, Morris Performing Arts Center); Pittsburgh (25 February - 3 March 2003, Bendum Centre for the Performing Arts); Nashville (4-9 March 2003, Tennessee Performing Arts Center); Atlanta (11-16 March 2003, Fox Theatre); Savannah (18-23 March 2003, Johnny Mercer Theatre); Charleston (25-30 March 2003, North Charleston Performing Arts Center); Hartford (2-6 April 2003, Bushnell Theatre); Providence (8-13 April 2003, Providence Performing Arts Center); Roanoke (16-20 April 2003, Roanoke Civic Center); Louisville (22-27 April 2003, Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts); Detroit (29 April - 18 May 2003, Fisher Theatre); Washington D.C. (21 May - 8 June 2003, National Theatre); Jacksonville (17-22 June 2003, Times-Union Center Moran Theater); Dallas (24 June - 6 July 2003, Music Hall at Fair Park).

UK Tour Production

A lengthy UK tour of Beauty And The Beast was launched at the end of 2001 and continued on until Summer of 2003. The tour began in Liverpool at the Liverpool Empire on 2 November 2001 and played until 1 December 2001. The second stop was Bristol (7 December 2001 - 23 March 2002 -- Bristol Hippodrome), followed by Dublin (28 March - 1 June -- The Point), Birmingham (6 June - 10 August -- Birmingham Hippodrome), Southampton (15 August - 19 October -- Mayflower), Manchester (24 October - 8 February 2003 -- Palace), and Edinburgh (13 February - 17 May -- Edinburgh Playhouse). The original cast for the UK Beauty And The Beast tour starred Alistair Robins as the Beast, Annalene Beechey as Belle, Ben Harlow as Gaston, Julia Goss as Mrs. Potts, Barry James as Cogsworth, and Stephen Matthews as Lumiere. During the run, Alex Bourne took over as the Beast, Dianne Pilkington was Belle, Earl Carpenter was Gaston, and Marilyn Cutts was Mrs. Potts.

Even More Broadway Milestones & Licensing Rights

Beauty And The Beast became the 11th longest running show in Broadway history on 3 February 2002 with its 3,183rd performance. Shortly thereafter, just before beginning its ninth year, on 13 March 2002 with its 3,225th performance the show went on to became the 10th longest running show in Broadway history. It gained the title of 8th longest running show on 4 August 2002 with its 3,389th performance. It became the 7th longest running show on 30 October 2002 with its 3,487th performance.

The Broadway production of Beauty And The Beast set even more records at the start of 2004. 18 April 2004 marked its tenth anniversary, and on 21 April 2004 it became the 6th longest running show on Broadway, surpassing Miss Saigon. The show had already beat Miss Saigon by becoming the fourth highest grossest musical of all time. The record was hardly surprising considering the show's international success -- having already played in thirteen countries with attendance figures at 25 million.

In March 2004 it was announced that the performance rights for Beauty And The Beast for professional and amateur theatre companies were available for licensing through Music Theatre International (MTI) for productions for the summer of 2004. Until the Broadway production closes, rights will not be available within 100 miles of Manhattan. Amateur performances wre restricted until after 1 October 2004. Professional productions began in the summer of 2004, with North Shore Music Theatre's production in Boston, playing 6 July - 1 August, directed by Glenn Casale. The production starred Nikki Renee Daniels as Belle, Brad Little as the Beast, Jeanne Lehman as Mrs. Potts and Brian Noonan as Gaston. The licensing agreement stipulates that the theaters create their own costumes and set designs.

Beauty And The Beast Heads East

First Beauty And The Beast opened in Kyoto, Japan at the Kyoto Theater. Then as that production continued to thrive, Disney set its sights on Korea. A production of Beauty and the Beast opened in Seoul, Korea on 8 August 2004 at the LG Arts Center. It starred Hyun Kwang-won as the Beast, Cho Jung-eun as Belle, and Lee Jung-yong as Gaston. The production played until 2005.

The Beast Makes Room For The Mermaid

On 18 January 2007 it was announced that the Broadway production of Beauty And The Beast would close on 29 July 2007. Although attendance figures for the production were still high, Disney Theatricals had decided to close the show so that it could use the Lunt Fontanne Theatre to house its new upcoming theatrical presentation. After several years in development, The Little Mermaid was finally scheduled to come to Broadway with an opening date of 6 December 2007. When it closed, Beauty And The Beast had run for over 13 years, having played for 46 previews and 5,464 performances, making it the 6th longest running show in Broadway history.

For the final performance, the cast included Anneliese van der Pol (That's So Raven television show) as Belle and Steve Blanchard as the Beast. The 17th actress to play Belle in the production, she joined the cast 3 April 2007. On 25 April 2007, it was announced that Donny Osmond would return to the role of Gaston for the final performance. (Osmond had previously portrayed Gaston for a limited engagement from 19 September - 24 December 2006.) The closing night performance was attended by many of the Disney executives and creative team who had guided it over the years including Tom Schaumacher, Michael Eisner, Alan Menken, Robert Jess Roth and Linda Woolverton.

The Beauty And The Beast pages were last updated 31.7.07

All pages © 1996-2008 JJB.