From the opening prologue, which has the audience gasping at the dazzling transformations of an old beggar lady into an enchantress and the mean-spirited Prince into a Beast, Disney’s sumptuous staging of Beauty and the Beast is enchanting theatre.

Based on the much-loved 1991 animated film, featuring music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and book by Linda Woolverton, the stage musical premiered on Broadway in 1994, with songs from the movie, alongside several new numbers by Menken and Tim Rice.

Shubshri Kandiah and Brendan Xavier in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Photo © Daniel Boud

The original Australian production opened in Melbourne in 1995. Now comes a refreshed, reimagined version, directed and choreographed by Matt West (the original choreographer), with new costumes, fresh dance arrangements and updated staging using state-of-the-art technology.

The “spectacle” factor is off the Richter scale. The lavish production has stunning sets by Stanley A. Meyer, featuring painted backdrops and three-dimensional set pieces. The staging moves from rustic scenes resembling a storybook for the small provincial French town where Belle lives, to the threatening forest with projections of marauding wolves, to the dark...