Derek and Melissa’s Family

Disney's Beauty and the Beast on Broadway

by Derek—2005.11.29 @ 1554

My rating: 2 out of 5

My first visit to New York City had to include a Broadway show. My boss wanted to see Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” which seemed like a good, tame choice: the show won the Tony(R) for best costumes and is sixth longest-running show in Broadway history. We picked up our tickets in Times Square at the TKTS counter and waited patiently until the theatre opened up. Some of my best memories of “broadway” shows were when I was in high school and going on trips to California to see blockbusters like “Phantom of the Opera.” One of the most fantastic was seeing Sunset Boulevard starring Glenn Close. Performed in the amazing Shubert Theatre. I was absolutely blown away (Sunset Boulevard still ranks as one of my all-time favorite musicals).

It is no wonder, then, that when I attended my very first ‘official’ Broadway show in New York City, that I was expecting extravagance. Unfortunately, “Beauty and the Beast” failed to deliver on many points. I guess I had my expectations too high, but some things were set up badly from the very beginning.

First, the theatre. Having never been in a typical broadway theatre, I was expecting (again) to be blown away. My first impression was very stale. The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre seemed small, worn, and dated. It reminded me of many old college and high school stages I’ve seen and acted on before. What was worse about the space was how small it was back stage. My seat was in the orchestra, stage right; I had an excellent view of the stage, and all the action behind the curtain down stage left.

The action behind stage became a little distracting. As soon as the actors broke the wall, they fell out of character, although they were still in plain sight by the far stage right/left positions (aren’t sight-lines a beast?). Oh well.

The story is faithful to the Disney movie of the same name. Bell, the attractive, studious book-worm is not content living in her “poor provintial town” and wants much more. Her inventor father, Maurice, encourages Bell to follow her dreams, as he follows his own. Maurice leaves Bell one afternoon to take his current invention to a competition and on the way gets lost, falls prey to wolves, and finds himself in an enchanted castle. I’m sure you remember the rest by now.

The castle provides the most stunning stage design, but it is obvious that the constrains of the theatre limit the show on how extravagant the design can be. Additinally, there is no pneumatics in the theatre, so the only movement is on casters or on the fly system. Although the set design and construction was top notch, I felt like it was on par with many regional theatres—primarily because due to the space and theatre technology limitations.

One aspect of the show that diverted from the movie storyline was the costumes. Instead of having all the enchanted characters maintain the same look throughout, the enchantment becomes more permanent along with the costumes as the story unfolds. Cogsworth, the butler, slowly becomes more “clock-like” and new appendages (like a wind up) begin to appear later on. This is all very disturbing to the characters who recognize they are slowly becoming permanent fixtures in the castle. It really hits home the desperate plight of the castle’s inhabitants, not just the Beast alone.

Speaking of the Beast, he seemed a little tired. His performance didn’t have much energy and it appeared as though he was a little too comfortable, a little too bored, and maybe a little too bored. Did I say that twice? Well, I became bored watching him, maybe that’s it. His portrayal lacked emotion and I had a difficult time connecting to him.

The character I enjoyed the most was Bell. Her voice, her staging, her emotion, and her motivation were wonderful. Thankfully she got a lot of stage time and it helped move the otherwise slow performance along.

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