Beauty and the Beast - Memory Lane

Awards, Fun Facts and Trivia

Tony Award
Costume Design, Ann Hould-Ward

American Theater Wing Design Award
Costumes, Ann Hould-Ward

Olivier Award
Best Musical

Dora Award (Toronto)
Best Music, Best Lighting, Best Supporting Actor

Image Award (Stuttgart)
Best Director, Robert Jess Roth

Ovation Award (Los Angeles)
Best Musical, Best Supporting Actress

Jefferson Award (Chicago)
Best Musical and Best Supporting Actor,
Patrick Page

Seen by over 15 million people worldwide, Beauty and the Beast can be seen currently in New York, London, Buenos Aires, and Stuttgart.
Productions have been mounted in: Tokyo, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Temple and East Lansing, Los Angeles, Melbourne,Sydney, Toronto, Vienna, Osaka, Mexico City, Nagoya, Minneapolis, St. Louis, NewOrleans, Washington D.C., Detroit, Atlanta, Tampa, Seattle, Portland, San Diego,Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Boston, Hartford, Ft.Lauderdale, and Louisville.
During 10,549 performances, audiences have seen 18 'Belles' and 15 'Beasts.'

Over 140 wigs are worn on stage each night, only 3 performers use their own hair on stage.
4 character’s wigs are made of yak hair: Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Madame de la Grande Bouche, and the Sugar Bowl from "Be Our Guest."
248 pieces of hair are used on stage each night -- including wigs, moustaches, and bangs.
The average number of wig changes for each ensemble member is 8 per show.
The 30-inch length human hair needed to build Belle’s wig was specially imported from India.
It took 20 pounds of human hair and 400 man hours to create the first Beast.
The Beast’s tail is made up of 7 yards of human hair.
There are 50 pounds of hairpins backstage ready to go at all times.

There are a total of 1358 lighting instruments, using 1,200,00 watts of light -- enough to light up a football stadium.
4 spot lights are used from the back of the house with over 400 cues.
There are 59 vari lights with over 350 cues. Each vari light has a Mac computer within and has 256 color choices and 12 pattern choices.
There are over 1,120 lamps on the "Be Our Guest" portals alone; 600 feet of neon are also used on these same portals.
Over 339 Strobe lights are used in the show.
There are 3 miles of lighting cables running through the theater.
Twenty feet above the Stage Right Wing are two electricians who run the light boards that control all the lights for the show.
There are 120 gobos (cut metal pieces that make lighting effects and patterns on the set) used in the design.
There are over 350 lighting cues called by the stage manager per performance.

The prosthetic make-up was designed by John Dods.
Over 80 prosthetic make-up pieces are used in the show.
The Beast has used 2080 latex noses and 40 sets of feet and hands. These face pieces are thrown away each evening after the hair is removed from them. The hair is reused after it is cleaned.
The prosthetics are made of latex with soft poly foam.

Gaston has punched Lefou 18,819 times.
The Beast has roared 20,910 times.
Every cast member has a microphone, all operated on a different radio frequency.
The sound you hear in the house goes from the stage to the basement to the main mixer back of house to the speakers in the audience
There are speakers mounted in the castle for localized sound effects.

There are 37 special effects in the show.
11 magic tricks are used.
The Enchantress’ Fireball is the first known throwable hand-held device of its kind. She can hold the ball of fire in her hand until it burns out without any physical damage. It was a year and a half in development.
Lumiere’s hands are made of flame proof plastic surrounding a flame device that uses one ounce of liquid butane per hand per show. This translated to 4 pounds of butane per month. In the last five years, Lumiere has burned 180 pounds of butane.
In the last five years, ½ ton of butane liquid has been used. Over one ton (2,112 pounds) of solid explosives have also been used.
Sparkle plumes produced by the Champagne bottles during "Be Our Guest" have shot 23.5 miles in five years. If placed end to end, the plume would almost be the length of Manhattan.

The scenery, which was designed by Stanley Meyer, took four months to build and 8 weeks to load into the Palace Theatre.
The show deck is one foot above the original Palace Theatre stage, with its tracks cut in for set pieces to run by cables in the floor.
There are 12 miles of Automation Cable.
The Castle is constructed of wood and steel covered in Styrofoam with a sealer and then painted.
The Pop-Up candles during "Be Our Guest" number are all controlled by computer.
Over the last five years 480,930 automated deck and fly cues have been called.
73,185 tons of counter weight has been used to balance the weight of all the flying pieces.
85 winches are used to move all the automated scenery in the show.

Costume designer Ann Hould-Ward won a Tony Award for her designs.
The costumes are made of many different materials such as fabric, vacuform plastic (vinyl and mylar), latex, and spring materials.
The Beast needs three people to help him into make-up, prosthetics, hair and finally wardrobe in order to transform him into character. Originally, this process took over three hours before each performance. It now only takes one hour.
Over the last five years 44,000 quick changes have been performed in the wings; 402,000 total costume changes; 24,000 top hats and 10,000 plates have been caught during "Be Our Guest."