Beauty and the Beast - 2025 Panto Tour

A Prince changed into a hideous Beast by a curse.

A beautiful girl who holds within her heart the key that will free the Beast from his terrible fate.

A spooky castle.

A dark, scary forest where ferocious wolves roam.

And a fairy with the power to change Man into Beast.

These are just some of the magical ingredients that’s made Beauty And The Beast an eternal favourite with readers and audiences since the tale was told for the first time around 1740.  

Which as you know is about twenty minutes to six!

Oh the jokes in this panto don’t get much wittier than that!

Rainbow Valley Productions version of Beauty and The Beast brings you all the story’s thrills, romance and excitement plus sensational singing & dancing.

The cruel, arrogant young Prince Justin lives alone in a castle deep within a dark forest full of ferocious wolves that lay in wait for unwary travellers.

One storm-lashed night he is visited by an old lady who seeksshelter and warmth. After he cruelly mocks her and turns her away, he is shocked to find that the old lady is in fact a fairy. To teach him a lesson she places a curse on him, turning Prince Justin into a Beast.

She presents him with a red rose and tells him that if by the time the last petal falls he’s failed to find true love, he will remain a Beast to the end of his days.

In a village not too far away, the boastful bully Gascoigne pursues Isabelle, the beautiful daughter of Pierre The Tailor, continually telling her he’s going to marry her...soon.

Quite naturally, Isabelle thinks Gascoigne is just a loud-mouthed, big-headed oaf and has no intention of marrying him. But he’s so thick-skinned (and thick in general!) he won’t take ‘Go away, you loud-mouthed, big-headed oaf!’ for an answer, unable to comprehend why Isabelle finds him so resistible.

When Pierre has to visit the next village to purchase new material, he entrusts their friends Lucy Lastic and her son Willy Gettit with looking after his daughter.

Despite their warm and friendly personalities, Lucy and Willy aren’t the brightest buttons in the button box – Willy thinks an I.Q. is a line outside an opticians.

Taking advantage of the situation, the sneaky Gascoigne tells Pierre of a short cut through the forest, which in fact he knows will lead the old tailor right to the Beasts Castle.While he’s picking a rose from the castle gates, Pierre is discovered by the angry Beast who threatens to imprison him.

When Pierre begs to be set free, the Beast agrees - but only if Pierre sends the first person he meets when he returns to his village, back to the castle to take his place.He has no choice, because if he doesn’t, the Beast will destroy the village and everyone in it.

Pierre runs home and just before he reaches the village the first person he meets is....Isabelle!

After he explains the promise he made to the Beast, Isabelle reluctantly agrees to take his place and says a sad farewell to her beloved Father.

When Isabelle arrives at the Beasts castle, at first he is as cold, arrogant and cruel as he ever was.   But ve-ry slowly he starts to look upon her not as a prisoner, but a friend.

But unless this friendship turns into love before the last petal falls from the magic rose, the terrible curse cannot be lifted and the Prince will remain a Beast for ever.

Is it possible for the beautiful Isabelle to see beyond the Beasts monstrous appearance?

Can the Beast make this happen by changing his cruel ways?

The bombastic Gascoigne truly believes he’s destined to marry Isabelle despite the fact she’s locked up inside the Beasts castle.He swears to slay the Beast and free Isabelle, with the help (or is it hindrance ) of Willy and Lucy – but what chance do they have of defeating the all-powerful Beast?

And is there a chance that the curse can be lifted and Beauty and the Beast live happily ever after?

Rainbow Valley’s sparkling, brand-new production of “Beauty and The Beast” will bring you all the answers and much more in an entertaining, fun-packed, joke-crammed, song-filled, fast-moving show that will appeal to the whole family...and the family next door as well!

Make sure you buy your tickets before they sell out – otherwise you could become even more irritable than the Beast!

Alan Wightman:    May 24^th 2016.