Beauty and the Beast is one of Broadway's longest running productions, devised and produced by Disney Theatrical, a fully owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.

The show is the sixth longest running show on Broadway, debuting in 1994, three years after the release of the movie. It is currently the second-longest running show still being shown, after The Phantom of the Opera.

The idea for the show came about from a particularly popular 45 minute-long Broadway-style performance of the film at the Disney-MGM Studios theme park. The Broadway version is simply much longer and contains more songs.