Beauty and the Beast was an amazing musical, many say it was much better than the movie. Just like the movie. It starts off in a faraway land, with the Young Prince who lived in a shining castled. The prince was spoiled, selfish and unkind. An old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the Prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away. The old woman warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is to be found within.
And when he sent her away again, the old woman’s ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The Prince tried to apologise, but it was too late. As punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there. The Rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose. If he could learn to love another and earn their love in return before the last petal fell, the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a Beast for all time.
In a little town, a young girl by the name of belle arrives. The Towns people despite their admiration for Belle’s beauties think of Belle as odd and peculiar because of her favourite thing to do is to read. Gaston, a handsome, skilful hunter who has fallen in love with Belle. Gaston is obsessed with belle marrying him and will not give up. Meanwhile, Belle slips away and goes home to her father, Maurice, an inventor. Maurice is putting the final touches on an invention that he thinks will make him rich
Maurice is on his way to a competition where he believes he will win first prize, but he gets lost in the woods, his invention breaks down and wolves begin to chase him. He stumbles upon a castle and pounds on the door. Inside he finds himself confronted by once human creatures that were turned into household items by the beggar woman. Lumiere, a candelabra, Cogsworth, a mantle clock, and Mrs. Potts, a teapot, proceed to make Maurice feel welcome and comfortable while at the same time attempting to keep his presence hidden from the the prince or the Beast.
The Beast becomes angered when he sees Maurice’s presence and throws him into the dungeon. Belle finds her father missing and goes to find him , she comes up to the Beast’s castle and lets herself in. Belle finds Maurice locked up in a cell. He urges her to leave just as the Beast appears. Belle begs the Beast to let her father go, finally offering to become the Beast’s prisoner in exchange for her elderly father’s freedom. The Beast accepts her offer and promises to stay there forever. Meanwhile, at the tavern in town, Gaston is pouting about Belle’s rejection.
Lefou and some of the villagers remind him how admired he is. Maurice arrives frantic and begging for help to rescue Belle from the Beast. No one takes him seriously and Gaston has him thrown out. Back at the castle, the Beast realises that he truly loves Belle, but is afraid to tell her. Lumiere and Cogsworth encourage him to take the chance. Mrs. Potts encourages further with a love song, Beauty and the Beast during their romantic dinner, and the couple dances to the music in the Ballroom, and later sit in the garden.
The Beast, instead of declaring his love for Belle, he gives her the magic mirror. When Belle asks the mirror to show her Maurice, she discovers that he is alone in the woods and in danger. The Beast tells her she must go to . When Belle reached home with her father she finds the whole town waiting outside her door and everyone is calling her father mad. So belle shows them the beast in the mirror. Gaston starts a frenzy and rounds up the village people to the castle to kill the beast The Enchanted Objects drive away the invaders but Gaston finds the heartbroken Beast and attacks him.
The Beast doesn’t have the heart to fight back until he sees that Belle has returned to him. On the verge of killing Gaston and the Beast’s human side fight. The beast wins the fight, sets the cowering bully free, and climbs towards Belle. Gaston stabs the beast in his back right before he reaches belle. The beast in pain throws Gaston to his own death. The Beast, dying from his wounds, tells the weeping Belle that he is happy that he at least got to see her one last time. Belle tells him that she has fallen in love with him just as the last petal of the Rose falls.
A strange light fills the stage and the Beast’s body magically rises and spins in the air. As he twirls around, we witness his transformation into the handsome Prince. The spell has been broken! All of the servants are now human again and, as in all good fairy tales, the Prince and his Beauty live happily ever after This play had excellent characters the parts were played by people with a lot of experience and skill. The charters always seemed to be working together. They never looked like there was a disagreement or anything. My favourite actor was Leumex, he was the candle stick with the French accent.
I liked him so much because he was just like me. Leumex was a big flirt with all the ladies in the play, every time that a lady would walk in the door Leumex would get excited and start to flirt with them. Without Leumex the play would not be the same. He brought a quality of humour that none of the other characters had. He interacted with the audience and always had something to say. The audience was amused by almost everything that he did. I could tell because whenever he said anything he would get the whole audience attention and he always made them all laugh.