Published: April 27, 2026
Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie. I was even in a production of the show for my senior musical in high school. Therefore, the story, and particularly the musical, holds a very special place in my heart. Because of that, I was very excited to see the Broadway National Tour production of Beauty and the Beast The Musical at the Citizens Bank Opera House in Boston, celebrating the show’s 30th anniversary. Unfortunately, due to my high expectations for this being a Disney-produced, Broadway-level production, I think my high school performance may have been better.
This is the debut of a new version of Beauty and the Beast: The Musical. Mostly to shorten it, for family viewing purposes. Because of that there were quite a few changes from the original 1994 Broadway version. A few songs were cut, which I suppose wasn’t a big deal, some dialogue was changed, and in some places even added. The additional dialogue and changed dialogue honestly felt quite strange, and most of it added absolutely nothing. They also cut the castle battle at the end, which made a really funky and anti-climactic transition from Gaston singing “The Mob Song” straight into him walking into the castle and fighting the Beast.
Speaking of the Beast, Fergie L. Phillippe did a great job, and had a beautiful voice and all that, but I did not like his version of the character. First of all, there was no change in his voice between being the prince and the Beast. Also, I’m unsure if it was a character choice or a directing choice, but they tried to make the Beast extra funny in this version. As a result, he wasn’t really scary or that intimidating in his earlier scenes. Even in the second act, where his humor is part of the script and should work, it still just felt incredibly forced. The rest of the cast was great overall (Although Lefou did sound like Spongebob, but that’s not necessarily a good thing).
“Be Our Guest,” however, did live up to expectations. It’s my favorite part of the show, as I played Lumiere in high school. It was big and flashy, and featured some excellent choreography. So bravo for that number!
My biggest problem with this production is the over-reliance on projections. Projection and video elements are a new design element that’s been added to theatre in recent years, and in some cases, is used really well, often elevating the look of a show. Here it’s used as a crutch and, let’s face it, a money-saver. There was little to no set in this show. The castle, Gaston’s tavern, Belle’s home, etc. was all created with projections on the back wall. There was a set of stairs, a fence, a throne, and maybe a bench or two. That was pretty much it for physical set pieces. It’s an interesting parallel to see an over reliance of projection work in theatre as of late, when film did the same thing with computer generated effects, and even that is now being reverted back into more practical design elements, because it’s what inevitably looks better. The projections used in Beauty and the Beast were cool, I suppose, but they just felt very lifeless, even looking like they were made with AI (I don’t know if they were for a fact, but they just gave off the vibe). It made the stage look very empty, and the production felt cheap because of it. And you know Disney has money!
So overall, I genuinely think that if my high school production had the budget that this show did, ours would be considered the better show. Even with cheaper-looking costumes and sets, I think we captured the magic better and delivered some good entertainment. I definitely don’t regret going to see this in Boston, because I love theatre, and I love Beauty and the Beast, but overall, I have to say it was a disappointing experience.