Step into the enchanted world of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” when Meridian Community College’s Arts & Letters Series presents this classic performed by Lauderdale County high schools students and presented by the MCC Fine Arts Department.

    The musical, which is based on the Academy-Award winning animated feature, will be staged Thursday through Sunday. Curtain is at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday; the Sunday matinee gets under way at 2 p.m.

    Tickets are $10 for adults, $5, for children, and are available by calling (601) 484-8696.

    This stage version includes all of the memorable songs from the animated film, plus a few new songs written especially for the Broadway musical.

    Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” takes place in a small provincial town in France and begins when a prince is transformed into a hideous beast by an enchantress as punishment for his cruel and selfish ways.

    When Maurice, the town’s eccentric inventor, becomes lost in the woods on the way to the fair to show off his latest invention, he seeks shelter in an old castle, only to find its master to be a horrible beast that takes him captive. The inventor’s daughter, an adventurous young woman named Belle, trades herself for her father’s freedom when she finds him in the castle. She soon discovers enchanted objects that serve the beast, and they try to make her new life easier.

     In order to become human again, the Beast must earn Belle’s love before it’s too late. The story ends with her tears falling upon him, breaking the curse and turning him into the handsome prince in her dreams.