Wishing a fantastic opening night to ANDREW WHITEHEAD in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at Chelmsford Civic Theatre from this Friday 26 November – 3 January 2022.

t has been almost ten years that an enchantress cast a spell on a selfish Prince when he didn’t show her kindness, transforming him into a terrifying Beast. All that can reverse the spell is for the Beast to find love and have his love returned by another. If he can’t achieve this by the time the decade has passed, the Beast will die. Feeling helpless with the deadline fast approaching and only his magic mirror to keep him company, the Beast fears he won’t make it.

In a nearby village, the kind and spirited Belle spends her days dreaming of an adventurous new life. Her loving father, the inventor Monsieur Labonté, would do anything to make his daughter happy but is struggling to pay the bills. Seeing both father and daughter suffering, their wicked landlord Lapiscine offers to solve all their money woes for Belle’s hand in marriage. Determined to make enough money to free them from Lapiscine’s evil plan, Monsieur Labonté is tricked into going into the haunted forest to make his fortune.

When he doesn’t return, a worried but brave Belle heads into the forest to investigate and stumbles across an enchanted castle, a figure who hides in the shadows, and an adventure beyond her wildest dreams.

This amazing story of love and transformation will have absolutely everything you’ve come to expect from a traditional Civic pantomime including fantastic sets, bewitching costumes, roof-raising songs and heaps of magic.