Beauty & the Beast - UK Tour & Palladium

I absolutely loved that tonight. Sat through most of it with a stupid grin on my face. I haven’t seen the original so no complaints about sets from me, I thought he projections were fantastic and the lighting. The whole thing looked big and impressive.

New trailer released. The physical production looks better here than it did in photos.

Still not sold on the leads though, maybe they're better live. I liked them at the bbc musicals concert but in this and the Beasts previously released lip they sound more like they're shouting rather than singing

It looks very very very cheap

Didn’t look cheap in real life! Apart from the village set with the caravan thingy - that was a bit cheap. The castle sets and projections were 😗👌

There has got to be a limit for a tour though surely. They use 23 trucks to transport everything. It’s the most for any current UK theatre tour. It’s not cheap at all - the yellow dress cost over £15k!

There have been changes since the Bristol run with some added pieces and different backdrops.

Performances begin at the London Palladium from Friday 24 June 2022, for a strictly limited season until Saturday 17 September.

Courtney Stapleton and Shaq Taylor will play Belle and her Beast.

Wow. That’s quite a post.
Very damning to Courtney if there’s truth in what he says.

I personally don’t believe a word he says. It’s an incredibly scummy look to name and shame when you’ve been actively fired from a production for making multiple cast and crew (including two people who as leading lady and dresser have to be physically close to him) uncomfortable with inappropriate comments. It’s him trying to have them targeted for harassment online.

(EDIT: Also he’s actively deleting any comments that aren’t completely supportive, so take that how you will).


The fact that he’s denying that none of what they claimed ever happened is suspicious. Also claiming that it was just because he’s a black man, when Courtney herself is black and there are multiple other black cast members (including his replacement) that have had no issues, feels incredibly disengenuous.

I think he THINKS he didn’t do anything wrong, but it IS true that he made multiple women with close contact with him uncomfortable to the degree that reportedly the majority of the cast complained to the production about him.

It’s also incredibly telling that he’s only making posts about this now they’re close to the Palladium, as if he’s trying to sabotage the production’s biggest venue out of spite.

Disney obviously hasn’t revealed the exact details but from what I heard he made a comment about a female crew member being on her knees in front of him that was very very far from appropriate. But I have suspicions that that wasn’t the only incident of him being inappropriate, considering how many cast members complained and how heavy the production came down on it.

I’ve heard from someone who knows a crew member that the majority of the cast complained to the production to have him removed, in support of the women making the accusations.

In light of the friend’s post detailing the alleged real story I’m kind of wondering why they’re complaining that ‘it took so long for Disney to do something’ and why the police weren’t involved instead?

Probably wise to direct people to the relevant social media accounts rather than making statements about what someone has allegedly done here please. 

Surely there is/has been a police investigation if it’s this serious ?