Convenience Big Store: Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' got its start in Houston

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If you do one beautiful and beastly thing:

Revisit the night Houston helped build a fairy tale.

Vibes: ✨

A talking teapot. A crowd-pleasing Gaston. Disney at its most iconic.

Why you should do this:

When you think classic, signature Disney, it's "Beauty and the Beast." Few shows are as instantly recognizable — the story, the music, the images — all of it lodged deep in pop culture. And all beautifully seamless.

But it wasn't always that way. "Beauty and the Beast" had its world premiere at the now-demolished Music Hall as a joint production of Theatre Under The Stars and Disney Theatrical. And it went up in flames — literally.

During an early Houston preview in 1993, everything went wrong almost immediately. The Enchantress' fireball went off course and struck the actor playing the young prince, whose wig wasn't yet fireproof, sending him running backstage on fire as the prerecorded prologue and live orchestra continued. In the chaos, the Enchantress was left swinging midair, slammed into the castle doors and triggered a chain reaction of flying scenery, shattered glass and a curtain that crept down mid-show.

"It was like a slow train wreck," recalls Matt West, the show's original choreographer, who was in the audience that night. "And the stage manager comes on and says, 'There will be a slight pause.'"

The kinks were worked out, no on was hurt, and the show went on to become a massive success. I remember seeing it on Broadway with Debbie Gibson as Belle. It was standing room only, but you could feel the magic all the way in the back of the room. The current touring production of "Beauty and the Beast" has been reimagined by much of the original team and includes new scenes and reworked moments — including a 10-minute "Be Our Guest" extravaganza that's jaw-dropping in its song-and-dance-and-LED glory. It's Disney at its most lavish and aspirational.

But as you're watching the magic unfold, remember that is all started — and almost crash-landed — here.

📝 Our plan:

Visit the Houston Toy Museum, where objects just might come alive.
Get lost like Belle amid the stacks at Kaboom Books.
Indulge in the quirky treats at The DoughCone.

☑️ Need to know:

Belle now wears glasses anytime she reads a book onstage.
This is Disney, so there's more merch for sale in the lobby than you can shake a candlestick at.
The song "A Change in Me" was written specially for Toni Braxton when she played Belle on Broadway.