I have a confession to make: I didn’t like musical theatre at all until April 2015. That’s when I saw The Drowsy Chaperone for the first time, and a switch flipped, and I no longer thought “All musical theatre is dumb!”
But I was still a little iffy on some of the more mainstream musicals. They seemed a little too musical-ly for me.
So I entered the Athens Theatre in DeLand with a little trepidation. I have seen both the animated and live versions of Beauty and The Beast, and I thought — as Peter Griffin once said about The Godfather — “it insists upon itself.”
I was expecting the same insistence with this showing, but I also knew I wanted to review it for this blog. I took my son Ben to the show and we had to sit on the left side of the theater (stage right). This will become important later.
I ended up being dazzled and amazed by the show entirely. The performance was top-notch and highly professional. Everything was tightly choreographed and the singers were all in good voice. Of course, it didn’t hurt that a large part of the cast were all musical theatre BFA students and degree holders, with several professional actors as well.
This was Disney’s licensed production, which meant if you’ve seen the animated or live action versions, you already know how this is going to end. But you also know all of the songs, and I can imagine that there were many people singing and humming along. (Maybe the cast could do a singalong version one day, sort of like a live “Rocky Horror Picture Show” only without the toast.)
Also, the sets were very well designed, complex, and functional. The interior of the castle consisted of a door, Belle’s bedroom and the throne room on a carousel, and the West Tower where the final showdown between Gaston and The Beast finally take place. So, a tip of the tri-corner hat must go to Michael Brewer, the scenic designer.
Another hat tip to Tamara Marke-Lares and the Maine State Music Theatre Costumes because the costumes were all professional quality and looked just like the live action movie. Plus the actors, especially the ensemble, were able to make quick changes as they switched roles from townspeople to servants/dinnerware in The Beast’s castle.
I particularly enjoyed Emilyann Tobias as Belle, and of the three Belles I’ve seen, she’s now my favorite (#1 – Emilyann, #2 – Emma Watson, #3 – Cartoon Belle). And Ainsley Newton as Lefou made me laugh on several occasions. Plus, big props to Joshua Houvouras as The Beast for lugging that heavy-looking Beast-head on his own head. There were times I wondered if he was going to be able to stand upright with that thing — it looked like it weighed 50 pounds on its own.
Ultimately, I understood and felt the love story between Belle and The Beast. I felt them fall in love more — and understood the love story more easily — than I did watching the other two versions. In those two versions, it felt inevitable and I wasn’t emotionally invested in the relationship. But in this version, I felt the chemistry between the two main characters in a way that I didn’t with the others. That’s because of great performances by Emilyann and Joshua.
My one complaint is that from the left side of the audience (stage right), I was not able to see the West Tower at all. So I missed the big fight between Gaston and The Beast. I could barely see Belle standing there, looking on as her true love battled against the sexist d-bag who was threatened by intelligent women. For all I know, The Beast smashed Gaston into the turnbuckle, pile-drived him, and finished him off with a Sharpshooter a la Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart. And since I saw nothing to the contrary, that’s what I’m going to tell people actually happened.
Thank you to director and choreographer Mayme Paul and music director Chris Andsley for making me a believer in the “self-insistent” musical. I’ll never scoff at another musical again.
There are still some tickets available, but they’re going fast.
- August 1, Thursday – 7:30 pm
- August 2, Friday – 7:30 pm
- August 3, Saturday – 2:30 pm
- August 3, Saturday – 7:30 pm
- August 4, Sunday – 2:30 pm
