It has been announced that the current UK touring production of the classic story will play at the London Palladium this Summer.
It has been announced that the Olivier award winning musical, re-imagined and re-designed in a completely new production staged by members of the original award-winning creative team, will play at the London Palladium from the 24th June for a strictly limited season until the 17th September.
The UK tour of this new production opened at the Bristol Hippodrome on 25th August 2021and uses new designs and state-of-the-art technology to bring this timeless story to life.
Casting for the production’s run at the London Palladium will see Courtney Stapleton and Shaq Taylor playing the iconic lead roles. Courtney’s credits include Dear Evan Hansen, Six, Les Misérables and Bat Out of Hell, and Shaq is best known for performing in Girl from the North Country, Hadestown and Hex. They will be joined by Gavin Lee (Mary Poppins, SpongeBob SquarePants, the Broadway Musical, Les Misérables) plays Lumiere , Tom Senior (The Pirates of Penzance, Eugenius!) is Gaston, Sam Bailey (The X-Factor winner 2013, Blood Brothers) plays the legendary role of Mrs Potts, Nigel Richards (The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables) as Cogsworth, Martin Ball (Les Misérables, Wicked, Top Hat) takes the role of Maurice, Samantha Bingley (Martha In The Secret Garden) is Wardrobe, Emma Caffrey (Curtains, 42nd Street, Funny Girl) is Babette and Louis Stockil (Miss Saigon, Mamma Mia!) plays Le Fou.
The full company is completed with Richard Astbury, Sarah Benbelaid, Jake Bishop, Pamela Blair, Liam Buckland, Jasmine Davis, Matthew Dawkins, Autumn Draper, Daisy Edwards, Alyn Hawke, George Hinson, Jennifer Louise Jones, Brontë Lavine, Thomas-Lee Kidd, David McIntosh, Aimee Moore, Sam Murphy, Ashley-Jordon Packer, Emily Squibb, Grace Swaby, India Thornton and Rhys West.
Olivier Award nominee Matt West directs and choreographs this new production, leading a team that includes composer Alan Menken, lyricist Tim Rice, book writer Linda Woolverton, scenic designer Stan Meyer, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward and lighting designer Natasha Katz. Completing the design team, Tony®-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.
The original West End production of Beauty and the Beast opened at the Dominion Theatre in April 1997, playing over 1100 performances to more than two million people. It won the 1998 Olivier Award for Best Musical and enjoyed a hugely successful UK & Ireland tour in 2001.
Tickets will go on-sale for London at 10am on Friday 28 January. Customers can sign up to be amongst the first to access tickets and can find all tour dates and information at BeautyAndTheBeastMusical.co.uk