Lyrics by Frank DiGiacomo and Julian R. Pace. Photography by Thomas Watson.
Beauty’s Father, entranced by the roses in the enchanted garden, picks one for Beauty. Suddenly the Beast and his animal courtiers appear.
LYRICS
Father:
Ah, my Beauty, how you would love to see these roses.
Your request alone can I fulfill;
but you alone at least shall not be disappointed.
(He plucks the rose and begins to tuck it into his travel-robe. As he does so the roses and other flowers recoil violently, and a moan is heard, as if the garden itself were in pain. Suddenly the Beast appears, heralded and surrounded by animals of all sorts, hedgehogs, squirrels, cats, a pony, monkeys, assorted birds, bears, reindeer, etc.; some hide in the shelter of his great cloak, others remain concealed in the garden shrubbery, while still others advance towards their visitor under the protection of the furious Beast, who has not as yet seen the stricken rose, and knows not the cause for the disturbance in his garden.)
Chorus:
Ah! Woe!
Woe to you, traveler! Woe! 
Beast:
Woe to you, traveler!
You have scorned my hospitality
and brought harm to those entrusted to me.
(Suddenly he sees the Rose, lying where the terror-stricken Father has dropped it;
stooping to pick it up, the Beast turns on him in a rage.)
Woe to you, traveler!
I have sheltered, fed and clothed you,
and in payment you have killed my poor Rose!
Wretched man! Your life is forfeit,
for this garden and its denizens are my most sacred trust.
(The Father throws himself to his knees, stammering.)
Father:
Pa-pardon me, noble—noble—sir!
I am truly grateful for your hospitality,
which was so generous I could not have imagined
that to pluck a single rose could cause such great offense.
Beast:
Poor unseeing man, do you not perceive what you have done?
The Rose is…dead!
and your words cannot bring her back.
She is lost, and you must remain.
Your life is mine to command!
Chorus:
Ah! Woe to you!
Woe to you, traveler!
Children’s Chorus: (From the Rosebush.)
Adieu, adieu, adieu,
adieu, sweet friend, adieu;
adieu, forgive us,
for we cannot shed tears for you. Adieu!
Father:
Alas, alas!
A king’s ransom might perchance have satisfied my elder daughters’ wishes,
but—but Beauty’s request has cost me more than wealth,
it has cost me my life! My life!
Beast:
lndeed it has. (Less angrily:)
But there is—
there is one hope for you. (Hesitantly:)
You spoke—you spoke of—daughters...
If one of them would take your place, accept your fate
and give her life in service to me,
then you would be free of this bondage.
Children’S Chorus:
Adieu, adieu, adieu,
adieu, sweet friend, adieu;
adieu, sweet friend, forgive us,
for we cannot shed tears for you.
Father:
(Keening): Ah! Ah! Ah!
lf I were cruel enough to buy my life with one of my daughters,
what trickery—what trickery could persuade her
to undertake so long a journey?
Ah, ah!
And how could I abandon her here?
Beast:
No trickery is needed. (Hesitantly, then warmly:)
If she comes at all, she must come freely,
must enter my gates of her own free will,
and approach my hearth full knowing of her choice,
accepting her fate with open eyes.
On no other terms will I have her.
Let us see if one of them loves you well enough,
and has the courage to come and save your life.
(The father nods his assent.)
Now go!
A horse from my stables will consent to bear you;
on your return your own will be well again.
A month and a day shall you have before you must stand here again,
either with your daughter, or alone.
And if you come alone, bid them goodbye forever:
they will never see you again.
(Menacingly:) And do not think to escape my vengeance
if you break this bargain, then it would fare ill with you indeed!
(Less sternly:) But you seem an honest man.
(He stoops to pick up the plucked flower.)
Go! and take the Rose you plucked.
You have ransomed her life with yours, or with your daughter’s.
(The Father departs.)