A re-imagined and re-designed production of the Olivier Award-winning stage version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast musical will go on tour later this year.

Beauty and the Beast will open a UK & Ireland Tour at The Bristol Hippodrome on Wednesday 25 August 2021.

Based on the award-winning Disney animated feature of the same name, Beauty and the Beast follows the story of a young prince, imprisoned in the form of a Beast, who can be freed only by true love. What may be his only opportunity arrives when he meets Belle, the only human girl to ever visit the castle since it was enchanted.

Featuring the music of Alan Menken and the lyrics of Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, the stage musical based on the much-loved and Academy Award-winning 1991 animated film debuted on Broadway in 1994. Beauty and the Beast The Musical debuted in the West End at the Dominion Theatre in April 1997 where it played over 1,100 performances.

Based on the 1991 film – the first animated feature ever nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture – Beauty and the Beast opened on Broadway in April 1994 and garnered nine Tony nominations and one win. It played for more than 13 years on Broadway, closing in 2007.

It remains to this day – 26 years after it opened – among the top 10 longest-running shows in Broadway history. The live-action retelling of the animated classic quickly became the highest-grossing live-action film musical of all time in 2017.

Spectacularly reimagined in startling new designs which will use the latest theatrical innovations, this timeless romantic tale will be brought to life on stage like never before, with all the charm and elegance audiences expect from Belle and her Beast.

Among the many new features of this 2021 Beauty and the Beast is an exuberant tap dance within the legendary production number Be Our Guest, created expressly for Gavin Lee, recognised as one of the great tappers on either side of the Atlantic.