<P> On Monday, April 18, 1994, Beauty and the Beast premiered on Broadway at the Palace Theatre in New York City to mixed reviews . The show transferred to the Lunt - Fontanne Theatre on November 11, 1999 . The commercial (though not critical) success of the show led to productions in the West End, Toronto, and all over the world . The Broadway version, which ran for over a decade, received a Tony Award, and became the first of a whole line of Disney stage productions . The original Broadway cast included Terrence Mann as the Beast, Susan Egan as Belle, Burke Moses as Gaston, Gary Beach as Lumière, Heath Lamberts as Cogsworth, Tom Bosley as Maurice, Beth Fowler as Mrs. Potts, and Stacey Logan as Babette the feather duster . Many well - known actors and singers also starred in the Broadway production during its thirteen - year run, including Kerry Butler, Debbie Gibson, Toni Braxton, Andrea McArdle, Jamie - Lynn Sigler, Christy Carlson Romano, Ashley Brown, and Anneliese van der Pol as Belle; Chuck Wagner, James Barbour, and Jeff McCarthy as the Beast; Meshach Taylor, Patrick Page, Bryan Batt, Jacob Young, and John Tartaglia as Lumière; and Marc Kudisch, Christopher Sieber, and Donny Osmond as Gaston . The show ended its Broadway run on July 29, 2007 after 46 previews and 5,461 performances . As of 2017, it is Broadway's tenth longest - running show in history . </P> <P> In June 2014, Walt Disney Pictures announced that a live - action film adaptation of the original film was in the works, with Bill Condon directing and Evan Spiliotopoulos writing the script . Condon originally planned on not only drawing inspiration from the original film, but also to include most, if not all, of the Menken / Rice songs from the Broadway musical, with the intention of making the film as a "straight - forward, live - action, large - budget movie musical". In September 2014, it was announced that Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) would re-write the script . In January 2015, Emma Watson announced on her Facebook page that she would portray Belle in the new live action remake film . In March 2015, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Emma Thompson, Josh Gad, Audra McDonald, and Kevin Kline joined the film as the Beast, Gaston, Mrs. Potts, LeFou, Garderobe, and Maurice, respectively . The following month, Ian McKellen, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, and Gugu Mbatha - Raw joined the cast, as Cogsworth, Lumière, Cadenza, and Plumette, respectively . Composer Alan Menken returned to score the film's music, with new material written by Menken and Tim Rice . In June 2015, Menken said the film would not include the songs that were written for the Broadway musical . Filming began on May 18, 2015 in London, and production officially wrapped in August 2015 . The film was released on March 17, 2017 . </P> <P> Beauty and the Beast merchandise cover a wide variety of products, among them storybook versions of the film's story, a comic book based on the film published by Disney Comics, toys, children's costumes, and other items . In addition, the character of Belle has been integrated into the "Disney Princess" line of Disney's Consumer Products division, and appears on merchandise related to that franchise . In 1995, a live - action children's series entitled Sing Me a Story with Belle began running in syndication, remaining on the air through 1999 . Two direct - to - video followups (which take place during the timeline depicted in the original film) were produced by Walt Disney Television Animation: Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas in 1997 and Belle's Magical World in 1998; in contrast to the universal acclaim of the original, reception to the sequels was extremely negative . Disney on Ice produced an ice version of the movie that opened in 1992 in Lakeland, Florida . The show was such a huge commercial and critical success, touring around the world to sell - out crowds, that a television special was made when it toured Spain in 1994 . The show ended its run in 2006, after 14 years . </P> <P> There are several video games that are loosely based on the film: The first video game based on the film was titled Beauty and the Beast and is an action platformer developed by Probe Software and published by Hudson Soft for the NES . It was released in Europe in 1994 . Gaston is the final boss of the game because he wants to kill the Beast and marry Belle . </P>

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