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Beauty Fades: Disney's First Broadway Musical Closes July 29
By Andrew Gans
29 Jul 2007
After a 13-year run, the first Disney musical to arrive on Broadway, Beauty and the Beast, plays its final performance July 29. The closure will allow the latest Disney offering, The Little Mermaid, to make its home at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre this fall.
When it closes, Beauty and the Beast will have played 46 previews and 5,464 regular performances. The musical opened at the Palace Theatre April 18, 1994, and transferred to the Lunt-Fontanne Nov. 11, 1999.
The original Broadway company featured Susan Egan as Belle, Terrence Mann as the Beast, Gary Beach as Lumiere, Beth Fowler as Mrs. Potts, Heath Lamberts as Cogsworth and Burke Moses as Gaston. The final company includes Steve Blanchard as the Beast, Anneliese Van Der Pol as Belle, Aldrin Gonzalez as Lefou, Glenn Rainey as Cogsworth, David deVries as Lumiere, Ann Mandrella as Babette, Jeanne Lehman as Mrs. Potts and Donny Osmond as Gaston.
In a previous statement, Disney Theatrical producer Thomas Schumacher said, "For many theatergoers, Beauty and the Beast has been their first introduction to the magic of Broadway musicals. That's a wonderful legacy for all of us at Disney Theatrical Productions, and we're so proud of the show's record-breaking run on Broadway, throughout the country and around the world. Though the Broadway production is coming to a close, through our relationship with Music Theatre International (MTI), Beauty and the Beast will continue to live on in regional and high school productions around the world."
Composer Alan Menken added, "Beauty and the Beast has meant so much to me, both in remembering the joy of creating the animated film and seeing how audiences have embraced it on Broadway for all of these years. I have had the pleasure of watching so many diverse and talented performers sing these roles in the past 13 years. While it saddens me to say goodbye to Beauty and the Beast, I am excited to watch The Little Mermaid take shape as a Broadway musical, and to be a part of its exciting journey to the stage."
Beauty and the Beast, the sixth longest-running show in Broadway history, is "the classic love story of Belle, a young woman in a small, provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a prince trapped in a spell placed on him by an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and to be loved, the spell will be broken and he will be transformed back to his former self. But time is running out, and if the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he will be doomed for all eternity."
Featuring a score by Alan Menken, Tim Rice and the late Howard Ashman, Beauty and the Beast boasts a book by the author of the original screenplay, Linda Woolverton; the musical was directed by Robert Jess Roth with choreography by Matt West.
The design team comprised Stanley A. Meyer (scenic design), Ann Hould-Ward (costume design), Natasha Katz (lighting design), Jonathan Deans (sound design), David H. Lawrence (hair design) and Jim Steinmeyer and John Gaughan (illusion design).
The musical was nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning one for Hould-Ward's costumes.
The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is located at 205 West 46th Street.
For more information visit Walt Disney Theatricals on-line at www.disneyonbroadway.com.
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The Little Mermaid is currently playing a pre-Broadway engagement at Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver. The musical will arrive at the Lunt-Fontanne Nov. 3 with an official opening Dec. 6.
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Steve Blanchard and Anneliese Van Der Pol in Beauty and the Beast, closing July 29.
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| photo by George Holz |
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