Anneliese van der Pol Begins as Broadway's Belle, April 3

Anneliese van der Pol, star of the Disney Channel hit "That's So Raven," will be making her Broadway debut as the Belle of Broadway in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.  van der Pol will begin performances as Belle tomorrow, Tuesday, April 3rd at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street).  She will be the 17th actress to play the role on Broadway.

Anneliese van der Pol stars in the popular Disney Channel show "That's So Raven" as Chelsea Daniels, Raven's best friend.  Chelsea's loyalty as Raven's sidekick often draws her into humorous escapades in the Disney Channel original comedy series. 

Beauty and the Beast officially opened on Broadway on April 18, 1994 and played at the Palace Theatre for the first five years of its run. The production transferred to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 11, 1999.  As previously announced, Beauty and the Beast, the inaugural Broadway musical from Disney Theatrical Productions, will take its final bow at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Sunday, July 29th after enchanting audiences for more than 13 years. The Broadway production will have played 46 previews and 5,464 regular performances.

The musical is the 6th longest-running Broadway show of all time, logging in more performances than shows like Miss Saigon, 42nd Street, Fiddler on the Roof, and Hello, Dolly! among others.  The production is the longest-running production at both the Palace Theatre and the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

The show, directed by Robert Jess Roth, features Alan Menken's Academy Award-winning score, with songs by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman (including the Academy Awar-winning title song and the show-stopping "Be Our Guest"), plus songs written especially for the stage by Alan Menken and Tim Rice (including "If I Can't Love Her" and "A Change In Me").   The production also features a book by Linda Woolverton, author of the original screenplay and choreography by Matt West.  Sets are by Stanley A. Meyer, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward (Tony Award-winner for Beauty and the Beast) and lighting by Natasha Katz (Tony Award-winner for Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida). 

The show's performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday – Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm.  There are three easy ways to get tickets to Disney's Beauty and the Beast Broadway – Online at www.disneyonbroadway.com, via Ticketmaster at (212) 307-4747 or www.ticketmaster.com , and in person at the Lunt-Fontanne box office (205 West 46th Street).  Ticket prices range from $40 - $110.  Only 17 weeks remain—that's 136 chances to see 'Beauty' before the final bow.

Photo by George Holz