Tale as old as time: 'Beauty and the Beast' comes to Albuquerquerque Little Theatre

This beauty tames her beast.

The Albuquerque Little Theatre is staging “Beauty and the Beast” for the first time since the pandemic, beginning on Friday, Dec. 6. Performances run through Dec. 24.

“It was set to run in 2020,” said manager Brian Clifton. “We got three performances and then the pandemic shut us down.”

Much of the cast and crew is returning from that short-lived run, he said.

Bookworm Belle lives in France. She dreams of adventure while rejecting the advances of Gaston, an arrogant hunter.

“He’s the local meathead,” Clifton said. “He’s a chauvinist.”

Belle has little interest in finding a husband; she’s more interested in reading and learning.

When wolves attack Belle’s widowed father Maurice, he seeks refuge in the prince’s castle. The Beast imprisons Maurice after catching him stealing a rose from the garden for Belle. Belle offers to take her father’s place as prisoner; the Beast agrees.

“It’s like this tug of war between Belle and the Beast,” Clifton said.

The Beast is really a selfish and cruel prince placed under a spell by an enchantress disguised as an old beggar woman. She offers him a rose in exchange for shelter from a storm.

When he rebuffs her, she reveals her true form and transforms him into a beast and his servants into a candelabra, a mantle clock and a wardrobe, among other household objects. To break the curse, the prince must learn to love someone and be loved before the rose sheds its last petal; otherwise, he will remain a beast forever.

But time is running out. If the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he and his household will be doomed for all eternity.

“It’s the classic ‘Beauty and the Beast’ that we all know and love,” Clifton said.

Eighteenth century French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve is the author of the oldest known version of “Beauty and the Beast.” Disney turned the fairy tale into an animated feature in 1991 and a live-action movie in 2017 with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. The musical spent 13 years on Broadway. Original songwriter Menken composed six new songs for the production alongside lyricist Rice, replacing Ashman, who died during the production of the 1991 film. The show’s popularity resulted in 37 productions world-wide.