Full Australian Cast of Beauty and the Beast

The Walt Disney Company has announced the full cast of Beauty and the Beast, including the roles of Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs Potts. This new production of Beauty and the Beast will have its Australian premiere at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre this June.

Image: Rohan Browne, Jayde Westaby and Gareth Jacobs.

Rohan Browne will step into the role of Lumiere, Cogsworth will be played by Gareth Jacobs and Jayde Westaby will play Mrs Potts.

Rohan Browne has played Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz, Don Lockwood in Singin’ in the Rain and Riff in West Side Story. His screen appearances include Dance Academy, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Hamish & Andy’s True Stories, and he was an original artist in the Academy Award-winning Happy Feet.

Best known as the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin, Gareth Jacobs is currently performing in Disney’s Mary Poppins.

Hailing from the UK, Jayde Westaby’s theatre credits include playing the roles of Magenta in The Rocky Horror Show (UK tour), Rizzo in Grease (West End), Ali in Mamma Mia! (International tour), the original London cast of Thoroughly Modern Millie (West End) and in a full circle moment Jayde played the Enchantress in the original cast of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (UK tour). Jayde is currently playing Madame Giry in Opera Australia’s production of The Phantom of the Opera.

The role of Babette will be played by Hayley Martin and Alana Tranter will play Madame.

Joining the ensemble are Tanika Anderson, Richard Astbury, Sarah Bourke, Cameron Boxall, William Brougham, Virginia Cashmere, Emily Corkeron, Phoebe Coupe, Amba Fewster, Anthony Garcia, Luke Haberecht, Jackson Head, Amy Hopwood, Brady Kitchingham, Chloe Malek, Ryan Ophel, Anthony Sheppard, Thalia Smith, Luke Ward and Grace Williams.

They joins the previously announced cast of Shubshri Kandiah as Belle, Brendan Xavier as Beast, Andy Cook as Gaston, Nick Cox as Le Fou and Rodney Dobson as Maurice.

www.beautyandthebeastmusical.com.au

Beauty and the Beast will be produced in Australia by The Walt Disney Company and Disney Theatrical Productions, under the supervision of Thomas Schumacher.

The Australian premiere of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW.

Ticketing Information

Disney Theatrical Productions offer accessible pricing options, including some tickets available for as low as $50 (with no additional Ticketmaster transaction fee). Those looking for the best value tickets are encouraged to look at mid-week evening performances and during school terms.

Customers who wish to buy 4 tickets at once can access mid-week evening performances and save $20 per ticket in selected price reserves.

Groups of 8 or more are encouraged to contact the Ticketmaster groups department on groups@ticketmaster.com.au for a discount of $30 per ticket on selected seats in all performances.

New tickets are on sale from Thursday 23rd February 2023 from www.beautyandthebeastmusical.com.au

About Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Based on the 1991 film – the first animated feature ever nominated for an Academy Award 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 (before closing in 2007) and remains to this day one of the top 10 longest running shows in Broadway history. The 2017 live-action retelling of the animated classic starring Emma Watson quickly became the highest grossing live action film musical of all time, a record beaten only by The Lion King live-action release in 2019.

The original Australian production of Beauty and the Beast opened in Melbourne at the Princess Theatre in 1995 starring Rachel Beck in the role of Belle, Michael Cormick as the Beast, a young Hugh Jackman as Gaston, and the late Bert Newton as Cogsworth. The production played for over two years across Melbourne and Sydney and won the 1996 ARIA Award for Best Australian Soundtrack/Cast/Show Release.

This new stage production of Beauty features lyrics by Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton. The work retains the lush period sound of the Oscar-winning and Tony® award nominated score - including “Be Our Guest” and “Beauty and the Beast” as well as “Change in Me”, added to the musical production in 1998 and retained thereafter. New dance arrangements by David Chase, have allowed original choreographer Matt West to re-visit his work, this time as director and choreographer. Longtime Menken collaborators Michael Kosarin and Danny Troob are musical supervisor/vocal arranger and orchestrator, respectively.

Completing the design team, Tony® award winner John Shivers is sound designer, Darryl Maloney is the video and projections designer, and David H. Lawrence is hair designer. Jim Steinmeyer is the illusions designer, as he was on the original 1994 production.