Fort Worth Opera Presents Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête at Ridglea Theater — Nov 21–22, 2025
Fort Worth Opera continues its 80th Anniversary Season with Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête at Ridglea Theater, Nov 21–22. A live chamber orchestra and singers synchronize with Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film. Pay What You Can tickets are available thanks to the Claytor Family Charitable Foundation.
Fort Worth Opera’s Surreal Fusion of Opera and Film to Cast a Spell on the Ridglea Theater
Pay What You Can Program Launch Adds to the Excitement as Company Presents Philip Glass’s Haunting Take on Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast)
(Fort Worth, Texas) — On Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22, Fort Worth Opera continues its 80th Anniversary Season with a hypnotic experiment in sight and sound: Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast), performed at Fort Worth’s landmark Ridglea Theater. This mesmerizing fusion of opera, concert, and film pairs a live chamber orchestra and singers with Jean Cocteau’s 1946 cinematic masterpiece — an immersive retelling of the classic fairy tale that is romantic, surreal, and wonderfully strange.
This performance also marks the launch of Fort Worth Opera’s Pay What You Can program, made possible through the generous support of the Claytor Family Charitable Foundation. Inspired by a passion for new American work and a belief that opera should be an experience everyone can share, the family’s gift allows audiences to choose their own ticket price — removing cost as a barrier to enjoying this bold and imaginative production.
Angela Turner Wilson, General & Artistic Director
“The last Glass work we performed was Hydrogen Jukebox in 2011, and La Belle et la Bête pushes that spirit even further,” said General & Artistic Director Angela Turner Wilson. “We’re stepping away from the traditional proscenium arch and into something completely different: a fusion of voice, music, and film. It’s opera, it’s cinema, it’s romantic, it’s funky, it’s unique — and it’s wonderful. And now, thanks to the Claytor Family Charitable Foundation, anyone can experience it for the price of an ordinary movie ticket.”
Combining music and libretto by renowned American composer Philip Glass with Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film of the same name, La Belle et la Bête reimagines the fairy tale that inspired generations. Cocteau’s black-and-white classic — one of Roger Ebert’s “Great Movies” — is famed for its inventive effects: human arms emerging from walls, candles lighting themselves, and grand sets filmed in real French palaces. Audiences will recognize details later echoed in Disney’s animated version, though when the enchanted objects have human arms and faces, the effect carries a more unsettling beauty.
In 1994, Glass replaced the film’s original soundtrack with his own score, turning every line of dialogue into sung text precisely synchronized with the movie. The result is a “reverse lip-sync” between live singers and Cocteau’s on-screen cast.
At the Ridglea Theater, the Fort Worth Opera performance of La Belle et la Bête unfolds as a cinematic concert experience, with singers positioned within an 18-piece orchestra from the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, in front of a big screen playing the movie. Glass’s signature blend of synthesizers and winds creates a luminous, layered sound that shimmers and pulses with energy. On the podium, conductor David Bloom brings extensive experience with this complex work, guiding the live performers to perfect synchronization with the eighty-year-old film.
Soprano Véronique Filloux, portraying Belle
Soprano Véronique Filloux makes her Fort Worth Opera debut as Belle. “We heard her in New York for an audition, and we were blown away,” said Turner Wilson. The rising French American artist has been hailed by Opera News for her “dazzling coloratura.” Opposite her, bass-baritone André Courville — praised in Opera News for his “splendid, lush” voice — makes his company debut as La Bête / Le Prince, following noted appearances with Houston Grand Opera, The Dallas Opera, and at Carnegie Hall.
The cast also features David Grogan as Belle’s father and Fort Worth Opera’s 2025–26 Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artists in featured roles — giving audiences another opportunity to experience these young singers-on-the-rise, recently seen at the Opera’s Dinner with the Stars, Opera Shots, ¡Celebramos! at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, and the Art Worth Festival at Clearfork.
“This one is for lovers of classic film, opera, and Philip Glass,” Turner Wilson said. “It’s a perfect date night, a great girls’ night, and — thanks to the generosity of the Claytor Family Charitable Foundation — a wonderful introduction to opera for families with kids who grew up loving the Disney version and are now ready for something a little more sophisticated. And here’s a huge spoiler: it has a happy ending!”
La Belle et la Bête
Hybrid film / opera in one act
90 minutes, no intermission | in French with English subtitles
Music and libretto by Philip Glass
Film by Jean Cocteau
Ridglea Theater
6025 Camp Bowie Blvd.
Friday, November 21, 2025 — 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 22, 2025 — 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Pay What You Can
Sponsored by the Claytor Family Charitable Foundation
Pay What You Can tickets to La Belle et la Bête are available at fwopa.org/pay-what-you-can-2025 or by calling the Fort Worth Opera Box Office at 817-731-0726. Tickets are limited to 100 per performance. Seats will be assigned by the box office based on availability and demand, with a limit of four per household. All Pay What You Can tickets will be emailed prior to the performance dates. Pay What You Can cannot be applied retroactively to past purchases.
For regular-price tickets, season packages, and more information, visit fwopera.org.
About Fort Worth Opera
Founded in 1946 by three visionary women — Eloise MacDonald Snyder, Betty Berry Spain, and Jeanne Axtell Walker — Fort Worth Opera is the oldest opera company in Texas, and one of the oldest opera companies in the United States. The organization has received local and national attention from critics and audiences alike for its artistic excellence, pioneering spirit, and long history of community-based cultural engagement. In addition to producing traditional repertoire with rising stars and inspirational young talents, the company is known throughout the operatic world as a champion of new American works.
With a dedication to the community both on and beyond the operatic stage, Fort Worth Opera proudly supports opera education through the Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artist program and a robust statewide initiative that brings in-school performances and educational programs to 16,000 schoolchildren each year across Texas.
Fort Worth Opera is committed to producing opera of the highest possible artistic quality and integrity; to identifying and training talented young singers; to serving as a crucible for creating new American operas; to joining forces with other arts organizations in significant collaborations; and to enriching the community by stimulating cultural curiosity and creativity in people of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
Visit fwopera.org for more information.
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