Beauty and the Beast
OPENING: April 18th, 1994
CLOSING: July 29th, 2007
Seen: May 2000
LOCATION: Lunt Fontaine Theater
My parents were never what you’d call “Hardcore” theater goers. They enjoyed going, certainly, but they had no idea what they were creating with me. Therefore, my early theater viewing days were dependent on three things: 1. If the show was age appropriate for me (Or over my head), 2. If it was something they actually wanted to see, or 3. There was a headliner that they absolutely HAD to see.
And for my 11th birthday, they decided that Beauty and the Beast checked 2 out of the three boxes.
I’m guessing that you’re assuming that boxes 1 and 2 were the boxes that were checked with this one. Honestly, I would assume that if I were reading this. But No! No, my darling Theater Kids! It was actually boxes 1 and 3 – because Andrea McArdle, the original Annie who my father had been listening to on vinyl and then CD (This was the year 2000, people!) for years, was playing Belle. Well, as far as he was concerned, this was a no brainer! Who cares if he had to sit through a Disney show!
And clearly this was a big deal, because I remember exactly where we were sitting – and it was near the front of the orchestra. As a kid, I had no idea what those seats meant. As an adult – I’ve only managed to sit in the orchestra of the Lunt Fontaine once, the tickets were a gift, it was Row S off to the side, and I know what my friend paid for that ticket and it was the low triple-digits. To be near the front – he must have really wanted to see Andrea.
I think this may have been the show where started to drive my parents nuts. In my teen years, there was a running joke in my family that I needed to be in the theater early to admire the curtain. I mean, seriously, you can learn a lot about the show you’re about to see from the curtain. Being that close to the stage, I remember noticing that there was something different about this one. I had seen school plays so I knew what a curtain looked like, but this one was…shiny. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to study the shiny curtain or absorb my playbill.
There was one problem: the little brat behind me kept kicking my seat. Apparently his mom had dragged him there against his will. The nerve, kid! You’re about to see Andrea McArdle! And also, Mrs. Brat’s Mom, I’m short, not stupid. I can hear you when you say you’re sitting him behind me because he’ll be able to see over me. Watch me, I WILL sit on my knees if he starts whining.
Anyway, as soon as the show started, I figured out why the curtain was shiny – it was actually a screen! And you could see the prince and the enchantress through it!
Adult me know that this is called a scrim. Preteen me was enthralled and completely blown away.
Disney truly knew what they were doing with this one. The film, released in 1991, was the first (And I think maybe only?) animated film in history to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. Realizing they there were sitting on a gold mine – they set their sights on Broadway.
What made Beauty and the Beast more successful than it’s predecessors? The jury will forever be out on that one. But if I had to guess – it had a little bit of everything in it. You had the princess story for the standard little girl. For the more adventurous little girls, the princess in question was intelligent and made her own choices instead of letting the men around her make them for her. And the boys had every single archtype to choose from – and for a majority of the film, the leading man was NOT the traditional handsome hero. In fact, the stunningly beautiful man in the film was the bad guy!
Whatever the reason, it was the film that Disney decided needed to make the leap to Broadway. So leap they did. With a shocking budget – 10% of which went to the sound design alone – Disney workshopped Beauty and the Beast at Houston’s Theatre Under The Stars and in 1994, a mere three years after the raging success of the film, opened on Broadway at The Palace Theatre. It transferred to the Lunt Fontaine in November of 1999 to make room for Disney’s second Broadway venture, Aida.
After it opened, the response was immediate. It didn’t hurt that Les Miz’s first American Javert, Terrence Mann, was playing Beast. It didn’t hurt that it kept the opening narration by David Odgen Stiers from the movie. And it certainly didn’t hurt that the special effects were unlike anything Broadway had ever seen.
Preteen me was in love. In love with the spectacle, in love with the story, and in love with Andrea. And that love continued for many, many years. Over a decade later, when I first got my Twitter account (RIP), two cast members ended up following me and one of my good friends now actually worked on the Broadway run as a costume assistant. To say the show has stuck with me is an understatement – it holds a special place in my heart.
Disney showed us the magic. It’s up to us to keep creating it.
CAST: REPLACEMENT
ENCHANTRESS: Angela Piccini
YOUNG PRINCE: Michael Lang
BEAST: Steve Blanchard
BELLE: Andrea McArdle
BOOKSELLER: Glenn Rainey
LEFOU: Jay Brian Winnick
GASTON: Patrick Ryan Sullivan
THREE SILLY GIRLS: Lauren Goler-Kosarin, Jennifer Marcum, Linda Talcot Lee
Maurice: J.B. Adams
WOLVES: Robert H. Fowler, Michael Lang, Michelle Mallardi, Angela Piccini
COGSWORTH: Jeff Brooks
LUMIERE: Patrick Page
BABETTE: Pam Klinger
MRS. POTTS: Barbara Marineau
CHIP: Ricky Ashley (Wed. Evening, Friday, Saturday Matinee, Sunday Evening); Nicholas King (Wed. Matinee, Thursday, Saturday Evening, Sunday Matinee)
MADAME DE LA GRANDE BOUCHE: Judith Moore
SALT AND PEPPER: Robert H. Fowler, Joseph Savant
DOORMAT: Michael Lang
CHEESEGRATER: Kevin M. Burrows
MONSIEUR D’ARQUE: Glenn Rainey
TOWNSPEOPLE, ENCHANTED OBJECTS: Kevin Berdini, Kevin M. Burrows, Karl Christian, Kate Dowe, Barbara Folts, Robert H. Fowler, Lauren Goler-Kosarin, Michael Lang, Robin Lewis, Sarah Litzinger, Michelle Mallardi, Jennifer Marcum, Anna McNeely, Christopher Monteleone, Bill Nabel, Angela Piccinni, Glenn Rainey, Joseph Savant, Marguerite Shannon, Linda Talcott Lee,
VOICE OF PROLOGUE NARRATOR: David Ogden Stiers
SWINGS AND UNDERSTUDIES: Kate Dowe (Enchantress, Silly Girl, Wolf, Doormat, Swing); Barbara Folts (Enchantress, Belle, Silly Girl, Wolf, Swing); Karl Christian (Young Prince, Bookseller, Lefou, Wolf, Salt and Pepper, Doormat, Cheesegrater, Swing); Robin Lewis (Young Prince, Bookseller, Wolf, Salt and Pepper, Cheesegrater, Swing); Christopher Monteleon (Beast, Gaston); Joseph Savant (Beast, Gaston); Sarah Litzinger (Belle); Michelle Mallardi (Belle); Michael Lang (Bookseller); Glenn Rainey (Maurice); Bill Nabel (Maurice, Lumiere, Monsieur D’Arque); Robert H. Fowler (Lumiere); Lauren Goler-Kosarin (Babette); Jennifer Marcum (Babette); Anna McNeely (Madame La Grande Bouche); Marguerite Shannon (Madame La Grande Bouche); and Kevin Berdini (Monsieur D’Arque).
“Beauty and the Beast.” Internet Movie Database. Accessed January 2025. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/beauty-and-the-beast-4602
Rauzi, Robin. “’Beast’ on Stage: Will It Work? Theater: Some Are Wondering if Disney’s Saturation With The Hit Movie Will Prevent Its Resale As A Live Musical”. Los Angeles Times, May 8th, 1993. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-05-08-ca-32857-story.html
