Kyra Belle Johnson and Fergie L. Philippe to Play Title Roles in Disney’s North American Tour of Beauty and the Beast
Additional Casting to be Announced
New York, NY (Thursday, February 13) – Disney Theatrical Group, under the direction of Andrew Flatt, Anne Quart and Thomas Schumacher, is proud to announce that Kyra Belle Johnson will play Belle and Fergie L. Philippe will play the Beast in the eagerly-anticipated tour of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, the first North American production of the musical presented by Disney in over 25 years. The tour will begin at Proctors in Schenectady June 25 through July 3.
Johnson made her national tour debut playing Sophie in Mamma Mia! and has appeared in film and television in Damned If You Do, Role Play and “FBI.”
Philippe previously played Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in both the Broadway and touring productions of Hamilton, Sir Sagramore in Camelot on Broadway, and his television credits include “The Good Fight,” “The Gilded Age,” and “Law and Order: SVU.”
The new tour will launch in Schenectady, NY at Proctors in June 2025, prior to the official opening in Chicago, IL at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in July. Additional casting and the anticipated two-year tour route will be announced at a later date.
Based on the 1991 Academy Award®-winning animated feature film, Beauty and the Beast premiered on Broadway in 1994 and still ranks as the 10th longest-running show in the industry’s history. Nominated for nine Tony® Awards, winning for Best Costume Design, Beauty remains one of the highest-grossing Broadway shows of all time. The title’s visibility and success have expanded globally with productions of the stage show and the smash Oscar®-nominated 2017 live-action film, which grossed over $1B worldwide.
Reuniting to create this new production are members of the original Tony Award®-winning artistic team, including composer Alan Menken (who wrote the film’s beloved score with the late lyricist Howard Ashman), Tim Rice, who wrote lyrics for the stage adaptation, book writer Linda Woolverton, director and choreographer Matt West, scenic designer Stanley A. Meyer, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward and lighting designer Natasha Katz.
Previous Disney-produced North American Tours of Beauty and the Beast played for almost eight years from November 1995 through August 2003, for a combined total of 2,893 performances to nearly six million audience members.
About Disney’s Beauty & the Beast
Critics have raved about the show throughout its history, from its 1994 Broadway premiere through the recent smash U.K. and Australian productions: “A delight! The astonishments rarely cease,” declared The New York Times in reviewing the original Broadway production.“A tale as old as time, but as exhilarating as ever,” raved the London Evening Standard. “Witty and exuberant with breathtaking choreography,” wrote the Sydney Morning Herald.
The structure and tone of the story and score made Disney history. Only once before – in Menken and Ashman’s previous film musical The Little Mermaid – had a Disney film been structured as a stage musical where the songs are integral to plot and characterization. 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.
Beauty and the Beast, directed & choreographed by Matt West, features Alan Menken’s Academy Award®-winning score, songs by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman (including the Academy Award®-winning title song and the show-stopping “Be Our Guest”), plus songs written especially for the stage by Alan Menken and Tim Rice (including “If I Can’t Love Her” and “A Change In Me”). The production features a book by Linda Woolverton, author of the original screenplay. Sets are by Stanley A. Meyer, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward (Tony Award® winner for Beauty and the Beast) and lighting by Natasha Katz.
Longtime Menken collaborators Michael Kosarin and Danny Troob are music supervisor/arranger and orchestrator, respectively. New dance music arrangements are by David Chase.
Completing the design team, John Shivers is sound designer, Darrel Maloney is projection & video designer, and David H. Lawrence is hair & make-up designer. Jim Steinmeyer is the illusion designer, as he was on the original 1994 production. Jason Trubitt is the production supervisor and Myriah Bash is the general manager. Anne Quart serves as executive producer.
For more information, visit beautyandthebeastthemusical.com, Instagram and Facebook.
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