Litzsinger will again assume the role of Belle beginning May 30. The singing actress replaces Ashley Brown, who will play her final performance May 28. Brown has just been cast in the title role of the forthcoming Disney/Cameron Mackintosh musical Mary Poppins.

Sarah Litzsinger has the distinction of being Broadway's longest-running Belle, and her other Broadway credits include Amour, Les Misérables, Oliver! and Marilyn, An American Fable. Her theatrical credits also include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Last Five Years and tick, tick . . . BOOM!. Litzsinger has been seen on screen in "Law and Order Criminal Intent,” "Ed," "Strangers With Candy” and "Knots."

Beauty and the Beast, which plays the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, currently stars Steve Blanchard as the Beast, Ashley Brown as Belle, Grant Norman as Gaston, Jacob Young as Lumiere, Jeanne Lehman as Mrs. Potts, Christopher Duva as Cogsworth, Jamie Ross as Maurice, Meredith Inglesby as Babette, Gina Ferrall as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Aldrin Gonzalez as Lefou. Trevor Braun and Alexander Scheitinger alternate in the role of the young Chip.

The musical, according to press notes, is "the classic love story of Belle, a young woman in a small, provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a prince trapped in a spell placed on him by an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and to be loved, the spell will be broken and he will be transformed back to his former self. But time is running out, and if the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he will be doomed for all eternity."

Featuring a score by Alan Menken, Tim Rice and the late Howard Ashman, Beauty and the Beast boasts a book by the author of the original screenplay, Linda Woolverton; the musical was directed by Robert Jess Roth. Tickets may be purchased at the theatre's box office (205 W. 46th Street) or by calling (212) 307-4747. For more information, visit Walt Disney Theatricals on-line at www.disneyonbroadway.com.