Bright, business-minded Belle is separated from her free-spirited dad, Maurice and becomes imprisoned in an enchanted specialty grocery store by a strangely familiar Beast who seems very set in his ways. Time is running out, and Belle must use her smarts alongside her new friends Miso Potts, little Tofu and their Bento Buds to flip the perspective of Belle’s captor and break the curse before the last cherry blossom falls.

Now in its 11th year, East Van Panto has become one of the top holiday season events for East Van and Greater Vancouver audiences. Known for its goofy and irreverent take on everything from politics to pop culture, its super local satire, lovable characters and pop song parodies, each Panto presents a familiar story in a completely original way. This year, a brand new award-winning writing team—Jivesh Parasram and Christine Quintana—reinvent the beloved classic fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast with a decidedly East Van spin.

“An East Van Beauty and the Beast of course demands a different perspective [than the original]. More specifically, the willingness to flip one’s own perspective,” says Parasram and Quintana. “What keeps a neighbourhood healthy is the willingness to hear each other out, be affected by how we see things, and most importantly—to be open to changing our minds… and that is the is the type of neighbourhood we live in [East Van].”

Beauty and the Beast runs from November 22, 2023, until January 7, 2024, at the York Theatre and on-demand online through RE/PLAY, The Cultch’s digital playground from December 18, 2023, until January 7, 2024.