QPAC

Brisbane audiences will experience the romance of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast when the much-anticipated season of the hit musical opens in Brisbane in February 2024. This will be the first time the show has ever played in Brisbane.

A waitlist to be first in line for tickets is now open at www.beautyandthebeastmusical.com.au.
Those who sign up prior to Friday 13 October 2023 will get priority access to tickets with pre-sales beginning on Monday 16 October 2023.

This enchanting and timeless tale has been brought to life in a reimagined production boasting all the spectacle and grandeur audiences know and love. The incredible new production from the producers of The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Aladdin and Frozen will play at Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC).

Receiving five stars from The Daily Telegraph, Guardian Australia and Time Out Sydney, reviews have remarked on the cutting edge technology, fabulous costumes and big Broadway-style dance numbers paired with the incredible music by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice brought to life by a live orchestra.

President & Producer, Disney Theatrical Productions, Thomas Schumacher said, “We are thrilled to return to Brisbane with Beauty and the Beast, as re-imagined by members of the brilliant original creative team. This beloved show – and Belle herself – are somehow as contemporary today as when the film premiered in 1991, even more meaningful to those who first discovered them decades ago and to new generations. Each time we’ve returned to Australia over the last quarter century we see audiences grow larger and more appreciative and the deep pool of extraordinary home-grown musical theatre talent grow even deeper. We cannot wait to bring this cherished story to one of our favourite Australian cities once more.”

Beauty and the Beast is a much-loved classic that will fill the hearts of a new generation. Based on the 1991 animated film, the original production of Beauty and the Beast played for more than 13 years on Broadway, remaining to this day one of the top 10 longest running shows in Broadway history, and touring to 37 countries worldwide. Queensland audiences will rejoice in the nostalgic and spellbinding songs of Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice including Belle, Gaston, Human Again and Be Our Guest.

With spectacular new sets, costume designs and state-of-the-art technology fused with this beloved, classic story, the timeless romance of Belle and her Beast will be brought to life on stage by a stellar all - Australian cast, starring Brisbane’s Shubshri Kandiah as Belle, Brendan Xavier as Beast and Rohan Browne in the role of Lumiere.

Brisbane’s Jackson Head will step into the role of Gaston, Cogsworth will be played by Gareth Jacobs and Gold Coast’s Jayde Westaby will play Mrs Potts.

Nick Cox joins as Le Fou and Rodney Dobson will play Belle’s father, Maurice. The role of Babette will be played by Mackay’s Hayley Martin and Alana Tranter will play Madame.

Members of the creative team from the original, ground-breaking Broadway musical have returned to reimagine this classic tale. Olivier Award nominee Matt West directs and choreographs, leading a team that includes original composer Alan Menken, lyricist Tim Rice, book writer Linda Woolverton, scenic designer Stan Meyer, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward and lighting designer Natasha Katz. The team collectively received five Tony® nominations and a win for Hould-Ward’s costume design, when Disney first debuted Beauty and the Beast on Broadway 28 years ago.

About Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Based on the 1991 film – the first animated feature ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture - Beauty and the Beast opened on Broadway in April 1994 and garnered nine Tony nominations and one win. It played for more than 13 years on Broadway (before closing in 2007) and remains to this day one of the top 10 longest running shows in Broadway history. The 2017 live-action retelling of the animated classic starring Emma Watson quickly became the highest grossing live action film musical of all time, a record beaten only by The Lion King live-action release in 2019.

The original Australian production of Beauty and the Beast opened in Melbourne at the Princess Theatre in 1995 starring Rachel Beck in the role of Belle, Michael Cormick as the Beast, a young Hugh Jackman as Gaston, and the late Bert Newton as Cogsworth. The production played for over two years across Melbourne and Sydney and won the 1996 ARIA Award for Best Australian Soundtrack/Cast/Show Release.

The structure and tone of the story and score – as conceived for the 1991 film by its executive producer and lyricist Howard Ashman with a continued evolution for the Broadway adaptation three years later – made Disney history. Only once before – in Menken and Ashman’s previous film musical The Little Mermaid – had a Disney film been structured like a stage musical where the songs are integral to plot and characterisation rather than only ornamental or digressions. This Menken/Ashman innovation is credited with the 1990’s Disney animation renaissance that went on to create such film classics as Aladdin, The Lion King and Hunchback of Notre Dame and helped re-introduce the book musical form to popular culture.

This new stage production of Beauty retains the lush period sound of the Oscar-winning and Tony® award nominated score - which brought classics including Be Our Guest and Beauty and the Beast, as well as Change in Me, added to the musical production in 1998 and retained thereafter. New dance arrangements by David Chase, have allowed original choreographer Matt West to re-visit his work. Long-time Menken collaborators Michael Kosarin and Danny Troob are musical supervisor/vocal arranger and orchestrator, respectively.

Completing the design team, Tony® award winner John Shivers is sound designer, Darryl Maloney is the video and projections designer, and David H. Lawrence is hair designer. Jim Steinmeyer is the illusions designer, as he was on the original 1994 production.

Beauty and the Beast is produced in Australia by The Walt Disney Company and Disney Theatrical Productions, under the supervision of Thomas Schumacher.

About Disney Theatrical Production
DISNEY THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS, a division of The Walt Disney Studios, was formed in 1994 and operates under the direction of Thomas Schumacher. Worldwide, its 10 Broadway titles have been seen by more than 200 million theatregoers and have been nominated for 62 Tony® Awards, winning Broadway’s highest honour 20 times. With 24 productions currently produced or licensed, a Disney musical is being performed professionally somewhere on the planet virtually every hour of the day.

DTP proudly returns to Australia with Beauty and the Beast, its seventh presentation following The Lion King (2003 and 2013) Mary Poppins (2010 and 2022), Aladdin (2016) and Frozen (2020). Those 6 seasons have played over 12 years and have been seen by more than 7.5 million people. Prior to that, Beauty and the Beast was presented here in 1995 in partnership with Kevin Jacobson and Michael Edgely.

The company’s inaugural production, Beauty and the Beast, opened in 1994. It played a remarkable 13-year run on Broadway and has been produced in 37 countries worldwide. Members of the original Broadway creative team, led by Matt West, have come together once again to reimagine the brand-new production of Beauty and the Beast that you see on stage today.

In November 1997, Disney opened The Lion King, which received six 1998 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Director, Julie Taymor, who became the first woman in Broadway history to the win the award. With 25 landmark years on Broadway, it has welcomed 112 million visitors worldwide to date and has 10 productions currently running worldwide. The Lion King has played over 100 cities in 21 countries on every continent except Antarctica. Its worldwide gross exceeds that of any film, Broadway show or other entertainment title in box office history.

Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida opened on Broadway next, winning four 2000 Tony Awards. Aida was followed by Mary Poppins, a co-production with Cameron Mackintosh, which opened in London in 2004 and went on to enjoy a six-year Tony-winning Broadway run and a West End revival; Mary Poppins returned to Australia in May last year.

Tarzan®, which opened on Broadway in 2006, went on to become an international hit with an award-winning production enjoying a 10-year run in Germany. In January 2008, The Little Mermaid opened on Broadway and was the best-selling new musical of that year. DTP opened two critically acclaimed productions on Broadway in 2012, receiving seven Tony Awards between them: Peter and the Starcatcher and Newsies, each of which enjoyed a two-year run and launched North American tours, with Newsies playing a record-breaking Fathom Events in-cinema release.

Aladdin, Disney Theatrical’s 2014 hit, continues its smash Broadway run. It has launched eight productions around the globe and been seen by more than 14 million guests.

Its newest hit, the 2018 Tony-nominated Best Musical Frozen, completed its record-breaking Broadway run in March 2020, and has toured five productions around the world: the North American tour, Australia and Singapore, Japan, London, and Hamburg.

Other successful stage ventures have included the Olivier-nominated London hit Shakespeare in Love, stage productions of Disney’s High School Musical, Der Glöckner Von Notre Dame in Berlin, and King David in concert. DTP has collaborated with the nation’s preeminent theatres to develop new stage musicals including The Jungle Book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Freaky Friday and Hercules.

As a part of the recent acquisition of 21st Century Fox, DTP also heads the Buena Vista Theatrical banner, which licenses Fox titles for stage adaptations including Anastasia, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Mrs. Doubtfire, and The Devil Wears Prada.