Brooke Tansley plays 'Belle' from 14 Sep in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"

Fri 10 Sep 2004 Brooke Tansley plays 'Belle' from 14 Sep in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" Brooke Tansley will play the role of 'Belle' in Disney's Beauty and the Beast at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, from 14 Sep 2004, assuming the role from Christy Carlson Romano Brooke Tansley will be the 14th actress to play the role of Belle on Broadway. Tansley was last seen on Broadway as Penny Pingleton in 'Hairspray'. Disneys Beauty and the Beast, which is now in its 11th year, recently passed the run of Miss Saigon to become the sixth longest running show in Broadway history. The musical also holds the record as the longest running tenant at both the Palace Theatre, where it originally opened, and the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, where it currently plays. The show has music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, Book by Linda Woolverton. It is directed by Robert Jess Ross, designed by Stanley A Meyer, lighting by Natasha Katz, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward, and choreography by Matt West. The current cast includes: Steve Blanchard as the Beast, Grant Norman as Gaston, Peter Flynn as Lumiere, Alma Cuervo as Mrs. Potts, Jeff Brooks as Cogsworth, Jamie Ross as Maurice, Pam Klinger as Babette, Marguerite Willbanks as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Aldrin Gonzalez as Lefou. Matthew Gumley and Alex Rutherford alternate the role of Chip. The classic love story of Belle, a young woman in a small, provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a prince trapped in a spell placed on him by an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and to be loved, the spell will be broken and he will be transformed back to his former self. But time is running out, and if the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he will be doomed for all eternity.