Review: Beauty and the Beast by Magnolia Musical Theatre

by David Glen Robinson
Published on August 15, 2023

What surly soul could possibly gainsay a story in which a crippling enchantment is lifted only by the simple words “I love you”?

  Of course it's a fairy tale. Apparently it was first penned by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, in 1740. Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont wrote the 1756  abridged follow-on version (source: Wikipedia). Edits, abridgements, and add-ons have appeared ever since. The tale's origins in European mythology aren't clear, and the obsession with castles, kings, the nobility and the peasantry indicate that the core concepts of Beauty and the Beast cannot extend much further back than medieval times. …

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