A tale as old as time is getting a fresh new life in Hollywood.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has returned to the stage at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre as part of the first Disney-produced North American tour of the musical in more than 25 years. And while the production delivers plenty of spectacle — enormous sets, dazzling costumes and some truly show-stopping musical numbers — it’s the familiar characters and songs that still give the story its heart.
Among them is Mrs. Potts, played by Christina Rose Hall, who joined me on Entertain Me with Heather Brooker to talk about stepping into one of Disney’s most beloved roles.
For Hall, that also means getting to perform one of the most recognizable songs in Disney history: “Beauty and the Beast.”
The Alan Menken and Howard Ashman ballad won the Academy Award for Best Original Song after appearing in Disney’s 1991 animated film and became a signature moment when Angela Lansbury’s Mrs. Potts sang it as Belle and the Beast danced together in the castle ballroom.
Hall now gets to create that moment for a new generation of theatergoers — while putting her own stamp on a character audiences already know and love.
A massive new production of a Broadway favorite
This Beauty and the Beast isn’t a stripped-down revival.
Directed and choreographed by Matt West, the touring production brings the scale of the enchanted castle to the stage with sets by Stanley A. Meyer, lighting by Natasha Katz and costumes by Ann Hould-Ward, who won the Tony Award for her work on the original Broadway production.
The show also features the songs generations grew up with, including “Be Our Guest,” “Gaston” and the title song, along with numbers Alan Menken and Tim Rice wrote specifically for the stage musical, including “If I Can’t Love Her” and “A Change in Me.”
Kyra Belle Johnson stars as Belle opposite Fergie L. Philippe as the Beast. Stephen Mark Lukas plays Gaston, Danny Gardner is Lumiere, Javier Ignacio plays Cogsworth, Harry Francis is Le Fou, Aaron Kaburick plays Maurice and Cameron Monroe Thomas is Babette.
Hall said being part of a production with this kind of history — and an audience that often knows every song before the curtain even goes up — makes the experience particularly special.
As I told her during our conversation, these are songs many of us have had “stuck in our heads since 1991.” And hearing them performed live with a full company and orchestra is a very different experience from watching the animated movie at home.
More than 30 years of ‘Beauty and the Beast’
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast premiered on Broadway in 1994, becoming Disney’s first Broadway musical. It earned nine Tony Award nominations, winning for Best Costume Design, and went on to become one of Broadway’s longest-running productions.
More than three decades later, the story has become something families can experience across generations. Adults who grew up watching Belle, the Beast, Lumiere and Mrs. Potts are now bringing their own children to see them on stage.
And despite all the spectacle surrounding her, Mrs. Potts still gets one of the show’s simplest and most memorable jobs: reminding us that sometimes the biggest transformation comes from learning to see someone differently.
Hall brings warmth, humor and her own personality to the enchanted teapot while still delivering the moment audiences are waiting for when those familiar opening notes of “Beauty and the Beast” begin.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast plays the Hollywood Pantages Theatre through Sept. 6. The tour then heads to Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County, where performances run Sept. 22 through Oct. 11.
Listen to my full conversation with Christina Rose Hall on Entertain Me with Heather Brooker, available on the iHeartRadio app and wherever you get your podcasts.