Beauty and the Beast: Glitzy, Brash and Bubbly!
When a stage musical begins as a movie, it is often a challenge to match audience expectations in the new format. This is even more so when the original version was an award-winning animated feature film. Yet, despite the restrictions that transferring the 1991 movie to the stage imposes, the 1994 stage version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast remains popular with audiences.
The touring production now in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre is glitzy, brash and bubbly. Complete with a mass of curlicues and 3-D effects, the set pieces evoke a children’s storybook—appropriately, as Beauty and the Beast began as a fairy tale.
The music — apparently a combination of live musicians and electronic enhancements — is often so loud that it overwhelms the singers, but it is a good fit with the mass of colour and movement on stage. Act II is much easier on the ear and the eye and considerably more appealing, partly because it has so much more heart than Act I and partly because Darick Pead as the Beast delivers a strong and nuanced characterization.
The high energy of such production numbers as Be Our Guest or Human Again showcases the lively cast that delighted the younger members of the audience.
I have some quibbles with the styling of a few of the costumes. For example, the high cut of one set of outfits makes even the slimmest members of the chorus look as though they have massive thighs and over-generous buttocks. Makeup is also an issue in some cases. For instance, Gaston (well played by Jeff Brooks on opening night) appeared to be wearing either too heavy white pancake-type paste or a Disney-style mask.
In general, however, this production maintained the Disney family-style and emphasis on the morals of the fairy tale.
Beauty and the Beast
Book by Linda Woolverton
Music by Alan Menken
Lyrics by Howard Ashman & Tim Rice
Originally produced by Disney Theatrical Productions
NETworks Presentations, LLC Broadway Across Canada
Director: Rob Roth
Musical director: Carolyn Violi
Choreographer: Matt West
Set: Stanley A. Meyer
Lighting: Natasha Katz
Sopund: John Petrafesa Jr.
Costumes: Ann Hould-Ward
Cast:
Belle……………………………………………………Hilary Maiberger
Beast…………………………………………………….Darick pead
Gaston…………………………………………………Jeff Brooks
Lefou…………………………………………………..Jimmy Larkin
Mrs. Potts………………………………………………Erin Edelle
Lumiere…………………………………………………Hassan Nazari-Robati
Cogsworth………………………………………………James May
Babette………………………………………………….Jessica Lorion
Maurice…………………………………………………William A. Martin
Mme. de la Grande Bouche…………………………….Shani Hadjian
Chip……………………………………………………..Sean Reda
M. d’Arque ……………………………………………..Kieron Cindric
Young prince……………………………………………Jason Wise
Carpet……………………………………………………Tony d’Alelio
Chorus: Chris Brand, Skye Bronfenbrenner, Kieron Cindric, Taylor D. Colleton, Laura Douciere, Kyle Dupree, Amanda Grace Holt, Stacey Jackson, Kevin Kelly, Brian Krinsky, Brian Martin, Stephanie Moskal, Stephen Petrovich, Srah primmer, Andrea Rouch, Jason Wise
Prologue narrator (voice)……………………………….Logan Denninghoff