Beauty and the Beast :Review:
Beauty and the Beast
Touring
April 2 2011
Appleton PAC
I was looking forward to this one, as I have never gotten a chance to see it live before. We were sitting up quite high in the balcony, which worked, because it made some of the big musical numbers, like Gason and Be Our Guest look a bit cooler to see the whole picture. I think also, that the transformation sequence looked better from up high.
The set was framed by a "picture frame" that looked sort of like a trellis. It helped add to the whole storybook feel, but I didn't care for it that much, because with where we were sitting, when the characters were up higher on platforms, they were sort of hidden by the frame.
The rest of the set was pretty fun though. The village consisted of three buildings, that looked drawn, if that makes sense. This show was originally a cartoon, and I think that the set reflected that, at least in the town and in Belle's house.
The Beast's castle consisted of a lot of platforms that would be rearranged in various ways to make different rooms. It was pretty neat seeing all of the different ways that they could fit them together. Downside, though, was that when they rolled them around, it was actually pretty noisy.
The West Wing was on a higher platform, and that was one of the areas where I couldn't see it very well because of the "frame."
The best part about it though, was how they did the scene changes. Several people were dressed as gargoyles. It took me a little bit to figure out what they were supposed to be, but once I caught on, it made sense. The gargoyles would sit off to the side. Since they were all in grey, they blended in with the set quite well and were easy to ignore. Then, when it was time for the set pieces to be moved, they would do the moving. It made perfect sense, and I thought it was a very neat idea.
The costumes were also the cartoons come to life. Belle's blue dress, for example, was the dress from the cartoon, but it was a lot more detailed. Gaston was perfect. The actor seemed to be pretty well muscular as well.
I really liked the costumes of the Enchanted Objects. They seemed a bit more like they were very slowly turning into the objects rather than that they already were. The story and the dialogue seemed to suggest that as well, that they would fall more into being the objects and forget that they were once human.
The feather duster had this really poofy short skirt.
Mrs. Pots didn't look overly like a teapot. Her skirt was rather rounded, and she had one white arm that she always held out like the spout, and her other arm she held curved like a handle. The two sleeves were white and pink respectively. Cogsworth looked quite a bit more like a clock, with the pendulum like a tie. He also had numbers on his head, and he wore glasses, which I am always a fan of. Lumiere had a rather spiffy coat, very French courtier like. The only thing, though, that marked him as the candelabra was that he had candles on his wrists/hands that sometimes would glow.
Out of all of the main enchanted characters, I think that Madame de la Grande Bouche had the most elaborate costume. She was also the one that looked the most like the object she was supposed to be: the wardrobe in Belle's room. In the movie, she doesn't have that big of a part, but in the musical, she's got a pretty big role. She had a very big dress, with panniers on the sides. She'd open them up and take things out.
None of the characters sounded exactly like their movie counterparts, which I think was good. However, it wasn't that jarring to hear the differences. Then again, I've hear the Broadway soundtrack many times, so I really am used to two different casts.
Belle was played by Emily Behny and I wasn't quite sold on her at first, but as the song went on, and as the show went on, I liked her a lot more. She was pretty funny when she interacted with Gaston, not only during "Belle" but also during "Me". But I think I really decided that I liked her voice during Belle Reprise. She was also quite pretty in the various different dresses that she wore.
Gaston was played by Logan Denninghoff and he was all kinds of awesome. An absolutely perfect Gaston, not terribly evil at first, but arrogant as all get out. You could tell when he was pushed over the edge towards the end. I loved him during "Me".
The Beast was played by Dane Agostinis and I wasn't a big fan at first, until I realized that he wasn't playing the Beast as a brooding, depressed young man. While he was rather depressed, he came off a bit more like a sulky kid. He really isn't all that old, and Agostinis's interpretation made that pretty clear. Once I accepted that interpretation, I liked him a lot more. I didn't realize that he would get so many funny scenes, so that also helped. I think he did well on "If I Can't Love Her" although that song was a little damaged by the fact that he was standing up in the tower, which made it harder to see him.
As far as the household objects went, we had Cogsworth played by Benjamin Lovell, Lumiere played by Michael Haller, Mrs. Pots played by Julia Louise Hosack, Babette by Erin Elizabeth Coors, and Madame de la Grande Bouche by Jen Bechter. All of them did great jobs, but my favorite one out of all of them had to be Cogsworth, which actually kinda surprised me because I don't like him all that much in the movie.
Chip was interesting. He was played by Noah Jones, who is seven. He mostly just rode around on a cart and all you could see was his head. At the very end though, he came running out as a real boy and was very cute.
Another surprise was who my favorite character ended up being. Lefou, played by Andrew Kruep was pretty fantastic. I'd classify him as the "plucky comic relief character" who sort of outshone everyone else. He did so much acrobatic physical comedy. Gaston would deck him, and he would do a backflip. His costume really helped I think, because he had very long tails on his coat that would flop around all over the place, making him seem like he was even more floppy.
The opening, the prologue with the Enchantress, was well done. They were behind a shear curtain, and the prince and the woman moved very slowly and exaggeratedly. It was definitely pantomime and very well done. I do wish I had been a little closer to see how things were done. I'm not sure if the change would have been more or less impressive up close. The change from the old beggar woman to the Enchantress was pretty nice though. I'm wondering how exactly the costume worked, because she became very tall. This also made her quite scary, I think. It definitely got the point across that the prince was in serious trouble. Since it was behind the curtain like that, it gave the whole scene a definite flashback quality.
The curtain went up and we were transported to Belle's town, which was much more colorful. Although I wouldn't say that it was brightly colorful. The houses and the townspeople, while colorful, were muted tones - all except for Belle and Gaston. I'm pretty sure this was to make them stand out. I liked watching the people in the background, going about their business while Belle was singing about the town. There was some pretty funny things happening as people who didn't have the full attention of the audience on them played around in the background. A guy and a girl appeared to be haggling rather intently about something, and another couple were flirting rather shyly.
I liked the bookseller very much, although I don't know who he was. He had that perfect bookseller air about him. I think that were it not for Belle and her father, he might have been considered a little odd himself. I could see why he and Belle got along.
Difference from the movie, which made quite a bit of sense really, was that instead of singing to some sheep about the book, Belle snagged one of the townspeople to tell her about the book. Belle's "victim" actually looked pretty interested in what Belle had to say until someone else dragged her off.
Then Lefou and Gaston showed up and Gaston immediately got the attention of all of the girls. He had his three silly girl entourage (Jennifer Elise Davis, Robyn DeGuzman and Sarah Clare Smith). The Silly Girls were fantastic. They were so funny as they swooned over Gaston and got angry at Belle. Green Silly girl kept fainting whenever she'd get upset, or overly excited, or whenever Gaston would give her some attention.
I thought it was nicely done how the crowd prevented Gaston from getting close to Belle at the end there. The Silly Girls sort of helped a bit by hanging onto him.
Maurice was played by Christopher Spencer and sadly, they did not have his song. That was too bad, because I like that song. But I quite liked him. His voice made me think of some other character, but I can't figure out who that was. His wood cutting contraption was actually on a bicycle, which made it easier to move about.
He and Belle had great interaction, I thought that they were believable as father and daughter that really loved each other, which was good. It makes Belle's sacrifice later on a bit more believable, I think. They had a very cute scene where she gave him a bright red scarf.
Maurice did sing a little bit, as he was on his way off to the fair. It was a cute song about how he was going to win, and make Belle proud, and how he took a wrong turn, and what was that sound? It doesn't sound like a mating call, it sounds like a hunting call! And then the wolves attacked.
I thought the wolf attack was pretty well done. They brought the scrim down again, and actors in dark grey, so as to make them "invisible" operated these large wolf puppets.
I adored Cogsworth and Lumiere from the start. Poor neurotic Cogsworth, no one listens to him and he's supposed to be the one in charge. It was cute when Maurice was investigating Cogsworth. The poor clock was quite offended. Babette arrived as well to help look after Maurice, and she and Lumiere went into this great bit where they were arguing about being angry that the other person would flirt with others. The two went back and forth shouting names at each other until Mrs. Potts arrived with the tea.
When the Beast came on the scene a little bit later, I realized that I liked how he moved around. He didn't really walk, he jumped around, very animal like. We didn't get a very good look at him yet (I think).
Back to Belle's house for one of my favorite songs, "Me." Belle was cute as she tried to politely refuse Gaston, and try to give him subtle hints that he should leave, but he wasn't taking no for an answer. The lyrics are very funny, and the expressions of Belle and Gaston were perfect for the song. She was carrying a laundry basket, and they used that as a prop very well. After she banishes him and hides in the house, Gaston is upset, but the Silly girls come to comfort him. They are upset that he wants to get married, but he assures them that that means that nothing will change between him and the girls. After he walked off, this led to the girls fighting amongst each other about who the favorite was. It was rather funny.
One of my favorite moments of Belle (Reprise) is when she brings the song to its climatic finish: "I want adventure in the great wide somewhere, I want it more than I can tell" and I think that she nailed it nicely. I just love the music in that part anyway, and it was very nicely done.
Lefou had been sent off into the forest earlier, under much protesting, and he returned wearing a red scarf that he had found in the forest. Belle quizzes him on it, and tells him to think hard. Lefou got the most fantastic concentrating expression on his face. Thinking was very difficult for him. It was quite funny.
Belle gets to the castle without incident, and things play out according to the story. I liked how they did the dungeon. Maurice was locked up under the tower. It was pretty effective without requiring a whole lot of scene changing around. Belle is taken to her bedroom, and the Three are trying to coax the Beast into being a gentleman. It didn't go very well. First he orders her to come have dinner with him, and then he tries asking her to come to dinner. Cogsworth said helpfully, "Ple…" and the Beast turned to Belle and said: "Ple!" and then realized that he was supposed to say "please", which he did. It was rather funny. Belle still refused though, so he got angry and stormed off.
Belle's next song, Home was pretty, as she sang it to Mrs. Potts and Madame. Madame de la Grande Bouche was really funny during this sequence. She was digging things out before she found the dress to give Belle. It used to be hers, but she's too big to wear it now. Madame used to be an opera singer, but it seems that her singing ability has gone.
Back in the village, Gaston is sulking because Belle refused him. Lefou was carrying a barrel around for Gaston to lean on, so whenever Gaston would move, he had to follow him with the barrel. After abusing Lefou for a moment, we went into Gaston's song. I already liked Lefou, but I liked him even more after hearing him sing. It's a comedic song, so it's not what I'd call "pretty", but I really liked Lefou's voice.
This song turned out to be more elaborate than expected - and the full company was involved.
The Silly girls and other females all got a chance to dance with him. (Fainting girl fainted a lot).
But then the cool part was when everyone took two tankards (metal mugs) and started clanking them together or on the ground. It was very Stomp-like, and it was very cool.
Maurice arrives to break up the party, and they throw him out for being crazy, and that's when Gaston gets his evil plan. I liked the reprise of his song, especially since the line "A dangerous pastime" "I know" was pretty much played straight. Considering the way that Lefou responded to Belle asking him to think before, it made sense.
Back at the castle, the Beast is sulking, as usual. He's upset that this isn't working. He's tried to be polite and a gentlemen. The Three tell him that he wasn't really acting that gentlemanly. He sang his brooding song, "How Long Must This Go On?" while he was sitting on his chair. He never actually sat on his chair, he sort of squatted on it.
Lumiere is supposed to be guarding Belle's room, but Babette comes by. The two get into some playful flirting which takes them off stage.
That's when Belle sneaks out of her room and meets up with Cogsworth. A bit later, Lumiere comes to report that Belle is out and about. Cogsworth gave him a great death glare at that line.
This leads us nicely into Be Our Guest. The song was great, but it was a little surprising that Gaston was actually a more elaborate show stopping number. At least in my opinion.
The costumes were fun. It said in the program that the idea behind the costume design was to have it look more like they were people trapped inside of things rather than just things. I think that effect was achieved. There were fun bits, when the girls all came out holding plates, and then folded the plates down like capes around their shoulders. This other thing, I think it was supposed to be the menu, came out, and was doing lots of acrobatics.
At the top of the stage, there was what looked like a musical staff, but with lots of plates. They lowered it down near the end and the characters all took a plate off and unfolded top hats, which lead into the kick line at the end.
During this song, they kept spreading confetti about the stage. Cogsworth, besides trying to get everyone to be quiet, came out with a broom and started sweeping up. Then he came out with a bigger broom. As he walked past Belle, she encouraged him and he did a little dance for her. It was so very cute.
They fired off confetti cannons at the end, throwing streamers out over the audience. Two of them got caught on the lighting rig, way up high. This probably would have been a good end to the first act, but it wasn't.
The Beast approaches Belle's room with a covered plate. He is bringing her dinner, because he doesn't really want her to starve. It takes him a few tries to get up the courage to knock on her door. "Act like a gentleman. Act like a gentleman. Act like a gentleman." He does so, but she doesn't answer because she's not in there. He hears them coming, and ducks down to hide. It was really cute. He's rather upset when he sees Belle and co leave. So much for his trying to be nice.
Things progress on, Belle sneaks up to the west wing and disturbs the rose and the Beast gets upset and scares her and she runs off.
When the Three ask him what happened, he says rather despairingly that she ran off and then he gets his power song: If I Can't Love Her. He sang it fantastically, but unfortunately, he was up in the tower, which meant that I couldn't really see him. I liked how he performed it, although he couldn't quite top the awesomeness of the original Broadway cast.
Act Two started with another wolf attack. It was still spiffy with the puppets, and when the Beast fought the wolves, he sent them flying off in slow motion, which was cool.
I liked when Belle was tending to him under the watchful eyes of the servants. She was all set to clean his wounds but before she even touched him, he let out this very long and sustained "Owww." After the laughter of the audience died down he said, "That hurt."
She told him to keep calm, and then she started to clean his wounds again. He was very funny as he obviously was holding his breath and holding still. Then, in another really cute moment, Belle asked him to dinner.
Just like the movie, "Something There" consisted of them being awkwardly cute together.
I liked when the Beast gave her the library. It was fun watching him watching her running around. The two of them sat there reading while the Three took their turns singing. When they finished, they were sitting next to each other and the Beast hesitantly, but deliberately, set his hand down on hers.
The song Human Again was very cute. It's the first time that Cogsworth sings. I liked his verse best, that he was going to get away from all of this stress and finally get to relax. Madame de la Grande Bouche was funny as well, she was just looking forward to not being so huge. This song was interspersed with Belle reading to the Beast. After they finished the book, she asked him to dinner.
At one point in here, the Three were a bit confused by the behavior of the Beast. This is the first time, ever, that he has been a gentleman and not thinking of himself first.
Back in the village, Gaston and Lefou are meeting with Monsieur D'Arque who was delightfully creepy. They didn't have his song though, instead they just talked. Gaston wants him to lock up Maurice, but he says that he can't lock up someone who's not crazy. Gaston plops a little bag on the table and D'Arque picked it up, but insisted that he couldn't do anything. After another pouch, he still couldn't do anything, but with a much larger pouch, he was almost convinced. After taking Lefou's bright red scarf, then he agreed.
When Belle came, dressed for dinner in a pretty purple dress, Cogsworth told Beast to say something about the dress. The Beast looked at it and then said: "It's purple." Then he did manage to say that it was pretty. When they ate dinner together, the Beast was trying very hard to eat neatly, but when the two ate their soup, he slurped.
After dinner, Belle changed again, and came out in the fancy yellow dress. Mrs. Potts did very well with the title song, and Belle and the Beast danced around rather sweetly.
But as the story goes, the Beast lets Belle go to her father, because she sees him lost in the forest. He tells her that she's not a prisoner, she hasn't been for a long time. She assures him that she will never forget him, and she leaves. Beast tells the Three that he let her go, "If I Can't Love Her (Reprise)"
Belle arrived just in time to rescue her father, sort of. She and Maurice didn't get locked in the cellar or anything, so Chip didn't get to have any sort of moment where he saved the day, because that would have been difficult, considering how Chip was done.
The mob song was neatly choreographed, and fun to watch, but I admit there was really just one thing that I was watching for. When I saw the stage version of Beauty and the Beast that they put on at Disney World, during the mob song, there were a pair of dissenters. There were no dissenters in this version. Oh well. One thing that I did like about this song though, was because Gaston had definitely crossed the line, and I could tell. He was no longer posing, and being goofy. It worked quite well.
The fight scene at the end was kind of anti-climatic, actually. There were no townspeople/enchanted object fights, because, well, there weren't enough people in the cast for that. So the show down was between the Beast and Gaston. It's possible that I found the fight sort of anti-climatic because most of it took place up on the tower, so I couldn't really see it. When Gaston fell, everything blacked out and he was gone. The Beast had also teleported down to being wrapped up on the ground, being fussed over by Belle.
The transformation was great! I had been wondering how they were going to do it. Answer: In a rather spiffy way. The bed rose up and hovered for a minute before turning so that the Beast was upright and facing out. Then it started to rotate slowly, so he was upside down. It moved a bit faster and then they flashed some very bright rights, and the prince was standing there. The prince had very long hair.
All of the other disenchanted people came out a bit later, and got lots of hugs and such by the prince.
Lumiere and Babette were cute, as always. He told her that he liked her better now, and she got all upset because that meant he didn't like her before. He said that he liked her before as well, and she said that that meant he didn't like her now. Lumiere settled the matter by saying that he liked her more now.
Belle came out in her yellow dress again, but this time it was covered in some shear pink fabric. I wasn't sure why she turned pink. It was nice how everybody at the end was sort of pairing off. Belle and the Beast Prince obviously, and Lumiere and Babette. Maurice and Mrs. Potts were drifting closer together, as is in the movie, but the most surprising thing, which should not really have been surprising, was that Cogsworth and Madame de la Grande Bouche paired off. He's a big opera fan, and she's an opera singer.
Chip came running out to meet his mother, and did his line from the movie about not wanting to sleep in the cupboard. I think mostly though, he was just there to be very very cute.
I have been wanting to see this show for quite awhile and I'm glad that I finally got a chance to. It was very good, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Touring
April 2 2011
Appleton PAC
I was looking forward to this one, as I have never gotten a chance to see it live before. We were sitting up quite high in the balcony, which worked, because it made some of the big musical numbers, like Gason and Be Our Guest look a bit cooler to see the whole picture. I think also, that the transformation sequence looked better from up high.
The set was framed by a "picture frame" that looked sort of like a trellis. It helped add to the whole storybook feel, but I didn't care for it that much, because with where we were sitting, when the characters were up higher on platforms, they were sort of hidden by the frame.
The rest of the set was pretty fun though. The village consisted of three buildings, that looked drawn, if that makes sense. This show was originally a cartoon, and I think that the set reflected that, at least in the town and in Belle's house.
The Beast's castle consisted of a lot of platforms that would be rearranged in various ways to make different rooms. It was pretty neat seeing all of the different ways that they could fit them together. Downside, though, was that when they rolled them around, it was actually pretty noisy.
The West Wing was on a higher platform, and that was one of the areas where I couldn't see it very well because of the "frame."
The best part about it though, was how they did the scene changes. Several people were dressed as gargoyles. It took me a little bit to figure out what they were supposed to be, but once I caught on, it made sense. The gargoyles would sit off to the side. Since they were all in grey, they blended in with the set quite well and were easy to ignore. Then, when it was time for the set pieces to be moved, they would do the moving. It made perfect sense, and I thought it was a very neat idea.
The costumes were also the cartoons come to life. Belle's blue dress, for example, was the dress from the cartoon, but it was a lot more detailed. Gaston was perfect. The actor seemed to be pretty well muscular as well.
I really liked the costumes of the Enchanted Objects. They seemed a bit more like they were very slowly turning into the objects rather than that they already were. The story and the dialogue seemed to suggest that as well, that they would fall more into being the objects and forget that they were once human.
The feather duster had this really poofy short skirt.
Mrs. Pots didn't look overly like a teapot. Her skirt was rather rounded, and she had one white arm that she always held out like the spout, and her other arm she held curved like a handle. The two sleeves were white and pink respectively. Cogsworth looked quite a bit more like a clock, with the pendulum like a tie. He also had numbers on his head, and he wore glasses, which I am always a fan of. Lumiere had a rather spiffy coat, very French courtier like. The only thing, though, that marked him as the candelabra was that he had candles on his wrists/hands that sometimes would glow.
Out of all of the main enchanted characters, I think that Madame de la Grande Bouche had the most elaborate costume. She was also the one that looked the most like the object she was supposed to be: the wardrobe in Belle's room. In the movie, she doesn't have that big of a part, but in the musical, she's got a pretty big role. She had a very big dress, with panniers on the sides. She'd open them up and take things out.
None of the characters sounded exactly like their movie counterparts, which I think was good. However, it wasn't that jarring to hear the differences. Then again, I've hear the Broadway soundtrack many times, so I really am used to two different casts.
Belle was played by Emily Behny and I wasn't quite sold on her at first, but as the song went on, and as the show went on, I liked her a lot more. She was pretty funny when she interacted with Gaston, not only during "Belle" but also during "Me". But I think I really decided that I liked her voice during Belle Reprise. She was also quite pretty in the various different dresses that she wore.
Gaston was played by Logan Denninghoff and he was all kinds of awesome. An absolutely perfect Gaston, not terribly evil at first, but arrogant as all get out. You could tell when he was pushed over the edge towards the end. I loved him during "Me".
The Beast was played by Dane Agostinis and I wasn't a big fan at first, until I realized that he wasn't playing the Beast as a brooding, depressed young man. While he was rather depressed, he came off a bit more like a sulky kid. He really isn't all that old, and Agostinis's interpretation made that pretty clear. Once I accepted that interpretation, I liked him a lot more. I didn't realize that he would get so many funny scenes, so that also helped. I think he did well on "If I Can't Love Her" although that song was a little damaged by the fact that he was standing up in the tower, which made it harder to see him.
As far as the household objects went, we had Cogsworth played by Benjamin Lovell, Lumiere played by Michael Haller, Mrs. Pots played by Julia Louise Hosack, Babette by Erin Elizabeth Coors, and Madame de la Grande Bouche by Jen Bechter. All of them did great jobs, but my favorite one out of all of them had to be Cogsworth, which actually kinda surprised me because I don't like him all that much in the movie.
Chip was interesting. He was played by Noah Jones, who is seven. He mostly just rode around on a cart and all you could see was his head. At the very end though, he came running out as a real boy and was very cute.
Another surprise was who my favorite character ended up being. Lefou, played by Andrew Kruep was pretty fantastic. I'd classify him as the "plucky comic relief character" who sort of outshone everyone else. He did so much acrobatic physical comedy. Gaston would deck him, and he would do a backflip. His costume really helped I think, because he had very long tails on his coat that would flop around all over the place, making him seem like he was even more floppy.
The opening, the prologue with the Enchantress, was well done. They were behind a shear curtain, and the prince and the woman moved very slowly and exaggeratedly. It was definitely pantomime and very well done. I do wish I had been a little closer to see how things were done. I'm not sure if the change would have been more or less impressive up close. The change from the old beggar woman to the Enchantress was pretty nice though. I'm wondering how exactly the costume worked, because she became very tall. This also made her quite scary, I think. It definitely got the point across that the prince was in serious trouble. Since it was behind the curtain like that, it gave the whole scene a definite flashback quality.
The curtain went up and we were transported to Belle's town, which was much more colorful. Although I wouldn't say that it was brightly colorful. The houses and the townspeople, while colorful, were muted tones - all except for Belle and Gaston. I'm pretty sure this was to make them stand out. I liked watching the people in the background, going about their business while Belle was singing about the town. There was some pretty funny things happening as people who didn't have the full attention of the audience on them played around in the background. A guy and a girl appeared to be haggling rather intently about something, and another couple were flirting rather shyly.
I liked the bookseller very much, although I don't know who he was. He had that perfect bookseller air about him. I think that were it not for Belle and her father, he might have been considered a little odd himself. I could see why he and Belle got along.
Difference from the movie, which made quite a bit of sense really, was that instead of singing to some sheep about the book, Belle snagged one of the townspeople to tell her about the book. Belle's "victim" actually looked pretty interested in what Belle had to say until someone else dragged her off.
Then Lefou and Gaston showed up and Gaston immediately got the attention of all of the girls. He had his three silly girl entourage (Jennifer Elise Davis, Robyn DeGuzman and Sarah Clare Smith). The Silly Girls were fantastic. They were so funny as they swooned over Gaston and got angry at Belle. Green Silly girl kept fainting whenever she'd get upset, or overly excited, or whenever Gaston would give her some attention.
I thought it was nicely done how the crowd prevented Gaston from getting close to Belle at the end there. The Silly Girls sort of helped a bit by hanging onto him.
Maurice was played by Christopher Spencer and sadly, they did not have his song. That was too bad, because I like that song. But I quite liked him. His voice made me think of some other character, but I can't figure out who that was. His wood cutting contraption was actually on a bicycle, which made it easier to move about.
He and Belle had great interaction, I thought that they were believable as father and daughter that really loved each other, which was good. It makes Belle's sacrifice later on a bit more believable, I think. They had a very cute scene where she gave him a bright red scarf.
Maurice did sing a little bit, as he was on his way off to the fair. It was a cute song about how he was going to win, and make Belle proud, and how he took a wrong turn, and what was that sound? It doesn't sound like a mating call, it sounds like a hunting call! And then the wolves attacked.
I thought the wolf attack was pretty well done. They brought the scrim down again, and actors in dark grey, so as to make them "invisible" operated these large wolf puppets.
I adored Cogsworth and Lumiere from the start. Poor neurotic Cogsworth, no one listens to him and he's supposed to be the one in charge. It was cute when Maurice was investigating Cogsworth. The poor clock was quite offended. Babette arrived as well to help look after Maurice, and she and Lumiere went into this great bit where they were arguing about being angry that the other person would flirt with others. The two went back and forth shouting names at each other until Mrs. Potts arrived with the tea.
When the Beast came on the scene a little bit later, I realized that I liked how he moved around. He didn't really walk, he jumped around, very animal like. We didn't get a very good look at him yet (I think).
Back to Belle's house for one of my favorite songs, "Me." Belle was cute as she tried to politely refuse Gaston, and try to give him subtle hints that he should leave, but he wasn't taking no for an answer. The lyrics are very funny, and the expressions of Belle and Gaston were perfect for the song. She was carrying a laundry basket, and they used that as a prop very well. After she banishes him and hides in the house, Gaston is upset, but the Silly girls come to comfort him. They are upset that he wants to get married, but he assures them that that means that nothing will change between him and the girls. After he walked off, this led to the girls fighting amongst each other about who the favorite was. It was rather funny.
One of my favorite moments of Belle (Reprise) is when she brings the song to its climatic finish: "I want adventure in the great wide somewhere, I want it more than I can tell" and I think that she nailed it nicely. I just love the music in that part anyway, and it was very nicely done.
Lefou had been sent off into the forest earlier, under much protesting, and he returned wearing a red scarf that he had found in the forest. Belle quizzes him on it, and tells him to think hard. Lefou got the most fantastic concentrating expression on his face. Thinking was very difficult for him. It was quite funny.
Belle gets to the castle without incident, and things play out according to the story. I liked how they did the dungeon. Maurice was locked up under the tower. It was pretty effective without requiring a whole lot of scene changing around. Belle is taken to her bedroom, and the Three are trying to coax the Beast into being a gentleman. It didn't go very well. First he orders her to come have dinner with him, and then he tries asking her to come to dinner. Cogsworth said helpfully, "Ple…" and the Beast turned to Belle and said: "Ple!" and then realized that he was supposed to say "please", which he did. It was rather funny. Belle still refused though, so he got angry and stormed off.
Belle's next song, Home was pretty, as she sang it to Mrs. Potts and Madame. Madame de la Grande Bouche was really funny during this sequence. She was digging things out before she found the dress to give Belle. It used to be hers, but she's too big to wear it now. Madame used to be an opera singer, but it seems that her singing ability has gone.
Back in the village, Gaston is sulking because Belle refused him. Lefou was carrying a barrel around for Gaston to lean on, so whenever Gaston would move, he had to follow him with the barrel. After abusing Lefou for a moment, we went into Gaston's song. I already liked Lefou, but I liked him even more after hearing him sing. It's a comedic song, so it's not what I'd call "pretty", but I really liked Lefou's voice.
This song turned out to be more elaborate than expected - and the full company was involved.
The Silly girls and other females all got a chance to dance with him. (Fainting girl fainted a lot).
But then the cool part was when everyone took two tankards (metal mugs) and started clanking them together or on the ground. It was very Stomp-like, and it was very cool.
Maurice arrives to break up the party, and they throw him out for being crazy, and that's when Gaston gets his evil plan. I liked the reprise of his song, especially since the line "A dangerous pastime" "I know" was pretty much played straight. Considering the way that Lefou responded to Belle asking him to think before, it made sense.
Back at the castle, the Beast is sulking, as usual. He's upset that this isn't working. He's tried to be polite and a gentlemen. The Three tell him that he wasn't really acting that gentlemanly. He sang his brooding song, "How Long Must This Go On?" while he was sitting on his chair. He never actually sat on his chair, he sort of squatted on it.
Lumiere is supposed to be guarding Belle's room, but Babette comes by. The two get into some playful flirting which takes them off stage.
That's when Belle sneaks out of her room and meets up with Cogsworth. A bit later, Lumiere comes to report that Belle is out and about. Cogsworth gave him a great death glare at that line.
This leads us nicely into Be Our Guest. The song was great, but it was a little surprising that Gaston was actually a more elaborate show stopping number. At least in my opinion.
The costumes were fun. It said in the program that the idea behind the costume design was to have it look more like they were people trapped inside of things rather than just things. I think that effect was achieved. There were fun bits, when the girls all came out holding plates, and then folded the plates down like capes around their shoulders. This other thing, I think it was supposed to be the menu, came out, and was doing lots of acrobatics.
At the top of the stage, there was what looked like a musical staff, but with lots of plates. They lowered it down near the end and the characters all took a plate off and unfolded top hats, which lead into the kick line at the end.
During this song, they kept spreading confetti about the stage. Cogsworth, besides trying to get everyone to be quiet, came out with a broom and started sweeping up. Then he came out with a bigger broom. As he walked past Belle, she encouraged him and he did a little dance for her. It was so very cute.
They fired off confetti cannons at the end, throwing streamers out over the audience. Two of them got caught on the lighting rig, way up high. This probably would have been a good end to the first act, but it wasn't.
The Beast approaches Belle's room with a covered plate. He is bringing her dinner, because he doesn't really want her to starve. It takes him a few tries to get up the courage to knock on her door. "Act like a gentleman. Act like a gentleman. Act like a gentleman." He does so, but she doesn't answer because she's not in there. He hears them coming, and ducks down to hide. It was really cute. He's rather upset when he sees Belle and co leave. So much for his trying to be nice.
Things progress on, Belle sneaks up to the west wing and disturbs the rose and the Beast gets upset and scares her and she runs off.
When the Three ask him what happened, he says rather despairingly that she ran off and then he gets his power song: If I Can't Love Her. He sang it fantastically, but unfortunately, he was up in the tower, which meant that I couldn't really see him. I liked how he performed it, although he couldn't quite top the awesomeness of the original Broadway cast.
Act Two started with another wolf attack. It was still spiffy with the puppets, and when the Beast fought the wolves, he sent them flying off in slow motion, which was cool.
I liked when Belle was tending to him under the watchful eyes of the servants. She was all set to clean his wounds but before she even touched him, he let out this very long and sustained "Owww." After the laughter of the audience died down he said, "That hurt."
She told him to keep calm, and then she started to clean his wounds again. He was very funny as he obviously was holding his breath and holding still. Then, in another really cute moment, Belle asked him to dinner.
Just like the movie, "Something There" consisted of them being awkwardly cute together.
I liked when the Beast gave her the library. It was fun watching him watching her running around. The two of them sat there reading while the Three took their turns singing. When they finished, they were sitting next to each other and the Beast hesitantly, but deliberately, set his hand down on hers.
The song Human Again was very cute. It's the first time that Cogsworth sings. I liked his verse best, that he was going to get away from all of this stress and finally get to relax. Madame de la Grande Bouche was funny as well, she was just looking forward to not being so huge. This song was interspersed with Belle reading to the Beast. After they finished the book, she asked him to dinner.
At one point in here, the Three were a bit confused by the behavior of the Beast. This is the first time, ever, that he has been a gentleman and not thinking of himself first.
Back in the village, Gaston and Lefou are meeting with Monsieur D'Arque who was delightfully creepy. They didn't have his song though, instead they just talked. Gaston wants him to lock up Maurice, but he says that he can't lock up someone who's not crazy. Gaston plops a little bag on the table and D'Arque picked it up, but insisted that he couldn't do anything. After another pouch, he still couldn't do anything, but with a much larger pouch, he was almost convinced. After taking Lefou's bright red scarf, then he agreed.
When Belle came, dressed for dinner in a pretty purple dress, Cogsworth told Beast to say something about the dress. The Beast looked at it and then said: "It's purple." Then he did manage to say that it was pretty. When they ate dinner together, the Beast was trying very hard to eat neatly, but when the two ate their soup, he slurped.
After dinner, Belle changed again, and came out in the fancy yellow dress. Mrs. Potts did very well with the title song, and Belle and the Beast danced around rather sweetly.
But as the story goes, the Beast lets Belle go to her father, because she sees him lost in the forest. He tells her that she's not a prisoner, she hasn't been for a long time. She assures him that she will never forget him, and she leaves. Beast tells the Three that he let her go, "If I Can't Love Her (Reprise)"
Belle arrived just in time to rescue her father, sort of. She and Maurice didn't get locked in the cellar or anything, so Chip didn't get to have any sort of moment where he saved the day, because that would have been difficult, considering how Chip was done.
The mob song was neatly choreographed, and fun to watch, but I admit there was really just one thing that I was watching for. When I saw the stage version of Beauty and the Beast that they put on at Disney World, during the mob song, there were a pair of dissenters. There were no dissenters in this version. Oh well. One thing that I did like about this song though, was because Gaston had definitely crossed the line, and I could tell. He was no longer posing, and being goofy. It worked quite well.
The fight scene at the end was kind of anti-climatic, actually. There were no townspeople/enchanted object fights, because, well, there weren't enough people in the cast for that. So the show down was between the Beast and Gaston. It's possible that I found the fight sort of anti-climatic because most of it took place up on the tower, so I couldn't really see it. When Gaston fell, everything blacked out and he was gone. The Beast had also teleported down to being wrapped up on the ground, being fussed over by Belle.
The transformation was great! I had been wondering how they were going to do it. Answer: In a rather spiffy way. The bed rose up and hovered for a minute before turning so that the Beast was upright and facing out. Then it started to rotate slowly, so he was upside down. It moved a bit faster and then they flashed some very bright rights, and the prince was standing there. The prince had very long hair.
All of the other disenchanted people came out a bit later, and got lots of hugs and such by the prince.
Lumiere and Babette were cute, as always. He told her that he liked her better now, and she got all upset because that meant he didn't like her before. He said that he liked her before as well, and she said that that meant he didn't like her now. Lumiere settled the matter by saying that he liked her more now.
Belle came out in her yellow dress again, but this time it was covered in some shear pink fabric. I wasn't sure why she turned pink. It was nice how everybody at the end was sort of pairing off. Belle and the Beast Prince obviously, and Lumiere and Babette. Maurice and Mrs. Potts were drifting closer together, as is in the movie, but the most surprising thing, which should not really have been surprising, was that Cogsworth and Madame de la Grande Bouche paired off. He's a big opera fan, and she's an opera singer.
Chip came running out to meet his mother, and did his line from the movie about not wanting to sleep in the cupboard. I think mostly though, he was just there to be very very cute.
I have been wanting to see this show for quite awhile and I'm glad that I finally got a chance to. It was very good, and I enjoyed it a lot.