Beauty In The Beast Chicago

Who could ever love a beast? Apparently many people. A little more than a year after Disney's stage musical version of Beauty and the Beast played to sold-out Chicago crowds, the show is back for a six-week return engagement at the Ford Oriental Theatre June 29 through August 7, 2011, produced by NETworks Presentations.

Closely based on Disney's hit film of the same name, the first animated film ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, Disney's Beauty and the Beast retains the movie's Oscar-winning score by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, and includes additional songs composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Tim Rice. The book is written by Linda Woolverton.

Also unchanged for this touring production is the original Broadway creative team, including director Rob Roth. "It has been wonderful to bring the entire original design team back together to work on this new production of Beauty and the Beast," Roth says. "As a director, it is rare to have the opportunity to revisit your work fifteen years later. Hopefully I've grown and developed as an artist, along with my collaborators, and we can bring fifteen years of experience to this new production." The rest of the creative team credits include choreography by Matt West, set design by Stanley A. Meyer, lighting design by Natasha Katz, costume design by Ann Hould-Ward, sound design by John Petrafesa Jr., and music supervision by Michael Kosarin.

Beauty and the Beast first opened on Broadway in April 1994 and ran for 5,461 performances before closing in July 2007, becoming the eighth longest-running show in Broadway history. It was nominated for nine Tony Awards, and won for Ann Hould-Ward's costume design. Since then it has played to more than 35 million people in 21 countries, including sit-down productions in London, Los Angeles, and Toronto, and three national tours. It is also a popular choice for student productions, and Music Theater International publishes a "junior" version for use by high school theatres.

For those not included in the above statistics (or who somehow missed the movie), Beauty and the Beast is the story of Belle, a young woman eager to escape her provincial French town, where she's looked upon with suspicion for liking to read, and the Beast, formerly a dashing but cold-hearted prince who has been transformed into a hideous, well, beast by an enchantress after refusing her lodging. The Beast must learn to love another, and win her love in return, before the last petal on his magical rose falls or else be doomed to remain a beast forever. All the well-known characters from the movie version are featured as well, including Gaston, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast runs June 29 through August 7 at the Ford Oriental Theatre, 24 West Randolph, Chicago. Tickets are on sale now at all Broadway in Chicago box offices, and at ticketmaster.com.

Luke Heiden
Contributing Writer