A lot can be said about the beauty of a woman and the power she has over the beast in her life

How better to portray this modern idiom than the Disney corporation when they hit upon the idea to create a full length cartoon of the time honoured 'tale as old as time' - Beauty and The Beast?

After Receiving 2 Oscars in 1991-a first in animated history-the Disney machine then turned the cartoon into the first of a long string of stage musicals hits (The Lion King, Mary Poppins and just recently The Little Mermaid).

Disney's "Beauty and The Beast" with music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Time Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton ran on Broadway for 5,464 performances between 1994 and 2007, becoming Broadway's sixthlongest running production. The musical has grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide and played thirteen countries and 115 cities.

Willoughby Theatre Company will embark on this ambitious musical in April this year in the prestigious and comfortable Glen Street Theatre, Belrose with its professional foyer, generous stage, ample parking and raked theatre seating and after 50 years... an orchestra pit!!!

The production team of Tom Sweeney, Mark Pigot, Janina Hamerlock and Joy Sweeney have been fortunate to gather the best of Sydney's talent for the show. The magnificent voice of Stig Bell as The Beast, the talented and beautiful Josie Ison as Belle, the body to die for of Rob Hale as Gaston, the comic genius of Luke Davis as Lefou, together with Craig Donnell as Lumiere (straight from the Sydney professional production where he played Lumiere for a season) Philip Youngman as the pompous Cogsworth and the sexy Morgan Powell as Babette. The talent doesn't stop there. Sarah Hobson as the Scottish Mrs Potts, Warren Blood as the bumbling Maurice (Belle's father), Sara McLean-Jones as the Wagnerian Madam le Grande Bouche (the Wardrobe), young 10yr old Tobias Hannson as Chip and Clive Hobson as the dark and brooding villain Monsieur D'Arque.

Teamed with an all dancing, all singing chorus of 30 we have the ingredients for a magical show.

It is also one of the biggest sets we have built-designed by the genius of Simon Greer which will have Sean Clarke, our lighting designer eager to light the ever changing moods the set will provide.

How can you resist coming to see "Beauty and The Beast" from April 26th till May 3rd? Just 10 performances, so book early, gather the children in your life, together with the young at heart and mind for Belrose...

"A Tale as Old as Time... Beauty and The Beast"

Tom Sweeney