Lyrics by Frank DiGiacomo and Julian R. Pace.
Photography by Sherry Eckstein.
As Beauty is welcomed to her new home, her new animal companions dress her before the large mirror in her bedchamber. As they finish dressing her and draw back from her, she looks up and sees herself in the mirror. She stands as if transfixed; the animals freeze.
At the same time the Beast appears in the main hall. As she begins to sing, he slowly mounts the stairs to the chamber door, attended by two reindeer holding candelabras, and contemplates her, but is unseen by her.
LYRICS
Beauty:
Ah! Beauty, is this you?
Can this be the girl who smiled back at me
from the mountain spring I knew so well?
Ah, where are the days of your childhood flown,
the laughing days, all butterflies and daisies?
What great happiness do you see before you
that you abandon carefree youth so freely,
and face what is to come with such joyful expectation?
You do not know, you cannot see, what perils may beset your path,
what sadness, what bitter suffering:
why then that air of radiant hope, that light burning in your heart
that sets your face aglow and dispells every shadow?
Is it bright enough to guide you through the dark unknown time
that lies before you?
Ah, can this be you?
Sweet princess, dream of my own childhood,
why do you gaze at me?
Why do you gaze at me?
Why do you say to me,
“Ah, Beauty, is this you?
Beauty, is this you?”
Beast: (Clutching his heart as he gazes at her:)
Can this be she? Can this be she?
This flow’r? this jewel?
Can this be she?
No! No, no!
I cannot face her!
I cannot let this lovely creature see such horror, know such fear.
If only she could see me as I am,
know me for what there is beneath this mask!
No! I cannot face her!
No! I cannot face her!
I cannot face her!
I place my hope in you;
I place my hope, my life, in you, in your gentle heart,
your gentle eyes.
Only there will I find my happiness.
Only there!
Only there...only there!
Photography by John Dowling.