BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

So that he will learn not to judge others by their appearance, an Enchantress conjures a powerful curse, transforming Prince Adam into a hideous beast, his servants into anthropomorphic household items, and the entire castle and all its surroundings into a dark, forbidding place. The curse can only be broken if the Beast learns to love another and receives the other's love in return before the last petal from his enchanted rose withers and falls on his twenty-first birthday. Ten years later, Maurice, an inventor from a nearby village, becomes lost in the woods and seeks shelter in the Beast's castle. The Beast imprisons him for trespassing. Belle, Maurice’s daughter, a bookworm, who is dissatisfied with life in a small provincial French town and who is constantly trying to fend off the misplaced "affections" of the conceited Gaston, goes to find her father. On finding him trapped in the castle she offers herself in her father’s place. The Beast accepts only on her promise that she'll remain in the castle forever. Belle forms friendships with the enchanted household items - Lumière the candelabra, Mrs. Potts the teapot and her son Chip the tea cup and Cogsworth the clock and head of the household – and begins to explore the castle, going to the forbidden West Wing, where the Beast finds and frightens her with a terrifying display of temper. Belle flees the castle and, in the dark forest, is attacked by wolves. The Beast fends off the wolves but is injured in the attack. Belle and the Beast return to the castle, and, as Belle tends the Beast’s wounds, they become friends. Belle’s new happiness is tinged with sadness as she cannot be with her father. The Beast gives her a magic mirror and she sees that her father is lost in the woods. The Beast, now in love with Belle, allows her to go to Maurice, giving her the magic mirror so she can look back and remember him. Belle and Maurice return to the town where, on hearing Maurice’s tales of the Beast, the villages, led by Gaston, threaten to have Maurice taken to an insane asylum. Only if Belle agrees to marry Gaston will he convince the villages not to carry out their threat. Belle uses the magic mirror to show the villages that the Beast is real and says that he is a kind and gentle soul. Gaston says Belle is a crazy as her father and Belle turns on Gaston saying that it is he who is the true beast. Enraged, Gaston locks up Maurice and Belle and leads the villagers to the castle to kill the Beast. Gaston finds the Beast who fails to defend himself until he sees Belle. A heated battle ensures with the Beast overpowering Gaston and threatening to throw him from the roof. Gaston begs for mercy and, with his heart softened for his love for Belle, the Beast relents, telling Gaston to leave and never come back. The Beast goes to Belle but Gaston stabs him fatally in the back, losing his footing as he does so and falling to his death. As the Beast is dying, Belle whispers that she loves him, just before the last petal falls from the enchanted rose. The spell is broken, all is returned to normal. Belle and her prince dance, finding that love conquers all. BackgroundBased on a French fairy tale and the 1946 French film of the same name, Walt Disney brought Beauty and the Beast to life as an animated musical feature film in 1991. With screen play by Linda Woolverton, lyrics by Howard Ashman and composition by Alan Menken, Beauty and the Beast won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original song. In 1994, Beauty and the Beast was adapted into a Broadway Musical and won a Tony Award for costume design. Beauty and the Beast was performed on Broadway for a decade and has been performed all over the world for over 20 years. A morality tale where we learn that it is possible to change and that love really can overcome all, Beauty and the Beast will fill Mansfield with its wit and wonder in October 2016.