Passion Piece - The Beauty and the Beast

Ever since I was little I wanted to see “Beauty and the Beast”. The Disney movie of it came out when I was about four years old and it quickly became my favorite cartoon. I had everything imaginable that had to do with it like a toy magic mirror, clothes with Beauty and the Beast on them, bedding with the characters on them and the matching curtains, the Barbie and Ken doll or Belle and the Beast , etc. Affectionately my parents call the year 1993, The Year of the Beast. That Christmas I even insisted that The Beast was bringing my Christmas presents and not Santa Clause. As you can figure all these events have helped me decide to do my passion piece on “Beauty and the Beast”.

During my high school career my drama director choose to perform “Beauty and the Beast” as our Spring musical. Unfortunately I had to have my wisdom teeth out the same week as show week so I was unable to be part of the production or to even go see it. This past summer though the local summer drama group performed it though. The cast was made up of students from about four of the neighboring school districts. I was not able to be part of the cast since I had already graduated from high school and because of my job, but I was able to go see the production. I can honestly say it was the best production I have ever seen. Each and every one of the cast members were on mark and fit their characters perfect. Although I was able to see a local performance of “Beauty and the Beast”, I was not able to see it on Broadway before it closed up. I have a lot of fond memories that go hand in hand with this story line, but it also seems that I suffer some bad luck whenever it actually comes to seeing it performed on stage.

The musical “Beauty and the Beast” was based off of the Disney movie “Beauty and the Beast”. “Beauty and the Beast” was one of Broadway’s longest running productions. It use to be the sixth longest running production, but it recently got bumped to the seventh longest running production. It ran for thirteen years between 1994 and 2007. It started its Broadway run at the Palace Theatre and was later transferred to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. It was both theatre’s longest running production. It was directed by Robert Jess Roth and its choreography was done by Matt West. Seven additional songs were written just for the stage production. The music was done by Alan Menken with lyrics done by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. The original Broadway cast was made up of Susan Egan as Belle, Terrence Mann as the Beast, Burke Moses as Gaston, Gary Beach as Lumiere and Beth Fowler as Mrs Potts.

The musical has had a hit run since its release. It had four national tours and has played in thirteen countries and one hundred and fifteen cities. In addition to its touring success it has grossed nearly one and a half billion dollars worldwide. Although being a giant financial success for Disney they decided to end the run of “Beauty and the Beast” on Broadway in the Summer of 2007. The opening of “The Little Mermaid” was scheduled for later on that year and they thought two princess themed productions at the same time would cause audiences to be split and in turn cause the financial failure of both projects. Originally it was rumored that Disney planned to reopen “Beauty and the Beast” on Broadway for the Holiday 2008 season, but nothing ever came of that.

Although “Beauty and the Beast” is no longer playing on Broadway it still remains an icon for it and musicals in general. It has also become a popular choice for community and high school productions. As of right now Disney has two productions on Broadway, “Mary Poppins” and “The Lion King” and is planning a national tour of “The Little Mermaid” later on this year. Although it has not been mentioned, I would not be surprised if Disney decided to bring “Beauty and the Beast” back to Broadway because of its past financial success, and iconic status for Disney and Broadway in general. If nothing else considing its history of national tours maybe it will be coming to a city near you and me. Maybe I will finally get to see “Beauty and the Beast” performed by Disney. =)