Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Live and Lovely: Beauty and The Beast The Musical

Posted by ai at 8:46 AM

I have loved the Disney film Beauty and The Beast for the longest time. I saw it at the cinema when it first came out, and I was so enchanted by it that of course I had to go back and watch it several times, and was utterly entranced by the soundtrack. I think what drew me to the film was not only the whole happy ending/romance scenario which gets me in any movie (there's a reason my fave film is Love, Actually), but the stunning graphics, gorgeous songs and sheer magic of the movie. And of course, i totally related to Belle. I didn't exactly fit in during my youth (it's hard being HomoPaul at school and church), and although actually most people were pretty friendly, i still loved the written word and how it opened up a world of endless possibilities while emerged in the pages of a great novel.
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I have now seen the musical version of the Disney classic 4 times (once in Toronto, once in New York, and twice in Birmingham) and each time I get something new from it. I'll try and concentrate on last night's performance. It was opening night for the new national tour and Kirsty and I had front row seats which often meant that we were drenched in dry ice. So much so at one point I was starting to seriously scan around for the nearest fire exit, just in case it went wrong. The cast were uniformly great - Belle was suitably wide eyed and innocent, Gaston seemed to be channelling the ghost of Elvis (but it worked) and the Beast, well lets just say they charmed him up a little bit so you could see why Belle would fall in love with him. In fact, he came off as a bit gay (if there is such a thing) - or at least bi! But when he was meant to be angry, he was angry and ferocious and the kids were pooing themselves (to which Kirsty loudly said "good" at one point!). I'd like to point out that the orchestra were also incredibly good, bringing new life to old favourites with slightly different arrangements.
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Rather than go through the whole musical performance, there are standouts for me that are constant in film and stage version. The opening song "Belle" is a perfect tour round the town in which our heroine lives, and the stage version made sure we were aware of the backing characters as much as the main cast. "Gaston" (the song sung in the bar after Belle rejects his marriage proposal) is amazing live - complete with a middle eight dance routine with clinking beer mugs - and not one a second out of time. Impressive and even though i've seen it several times, I'm always amazed by the amount of dancers keeping perfectly in sync. Goosebump time! Be Our Guest is as visually delightful on stage as it is on celluloid and just can't help but make you smile. Human Again was a song cut from the original film (but restored to the stage version and later the dvd) but is an important song in the musical where the household "objects" fear turning into inaminate items - their hopes for the spell to be broken and sense of fear are much more prevelant in the stage version than the cartoon, and this song sums it up perfectly.
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Ultimately, i know I'm going to have a great time every time i see Beauty and the Beast, and i watch the cartoon at least once a year. Indeed, the musical keeps evolving with new tracks being added (home and A Change In Me). And of course it has it's own non-rubbish spin off with An Enchanted Christmas (which of course I shall revisit sometime in December) with some equally gorgeous songs. From Little Mermaid to Lion King represented Disney at it's peak for me and i look forward to seeing LM on broadway at some point in the future.
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