Disney’s latest tour revamp is part beauty, part beast
Kyra Belle Johnson is Belle and Fergie L. Philippe is the Beast in the latest tour of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Photo by Matthew Murphy. © Disney
Like The Phantom of the Opera, another gothic romance between unlikely lovers, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast seems destined to run in one form or another forever, from school and community productions to tours like the revamped version that Disney Theatrical Group put on the road last year.
Beauty is the show that introduced Disney to the live Broadway stage in 1994. The Oscar-winning movie seemed mere inches away from the Broadway spotlight when it first appeared in 1991, and it turned out to be a good match for the world of live musical theater, even if the naysayers deemed it nothing but super-sized theme park entertainment.
Audience enthusiasm kept the show alive for 13 years on Broadway, and it appears fans of all ages will continue to show up for this tale of the book-loving Belle and the cursed Beast/Prince who gives her a library. The tour is now at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre as part of the ATG San Francisco season, and it’s interesting to see how director Matt West (also the show’s original and continuing choreographer) has revised the show with much of the original creative team.
Most of the changes appear to be driven by budgetary realities. A smaller ensemble, abundant projections to fill in for scant (occasionally wobbly) set pieces, less lumbering costumes for the enchanted characters (candlestick, teapot, clock, etc.) and pared down production numbers. Linda Woolverton’s book has also been revised in the interest of streamlining and clarifying the story, and a few songs (“No Matter What,” “Maison de Lunes,” “The Battle Scene”) have been cut.
Harry Francis (left) is Lefou and Stephen Mark Lukas is Gaston. Photo by Matthew Murphy. © Disney
These changes are, for the most part, fine, even if there’s a slick mechanical feel to the production. Everything speeds right along, with the story feeling like it’s hitting marks more than piercing hearts…until the story itself takes on enough potency to warm things up.
The first indication of genuine emotion comes from the Act 1 closer “If I Can’t Love Her,” the song meant to humanize the Beast, and that’s just what Fergie L. Philippe as the Beast does – his wavering start shows real vulnerability, and then he delivers the necessary Broadway belt to close the song.
The show really warms up in Act 2 with “Human Again” (written for the movie by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman but cut) as the enchanted objects dare to hope that the curse that is slowly turning them into household objects will be broken if Belle and the Beast truly fall in love. It’s a gorgeous, wistful waltz, and it raises the stakes beyond just a love story.
Just as important is the production’s terrific villain. Gaston, played with the requisite boneheaded bro brio by Stephen Mark Lukas. Making the preening narcissist the bad guy has always been a powerful element of this story that preaches about “not judging by appearances,” and Gaston’s ability to beguile his toady, Le Fou (an adept and appealing Harry Francis) and use fearmongering to turn the townsfolk into pitchfork-wielding terrorists is as potent as ever. And Gaston’s big tavern number, called “Gaston,” naturally, is still a stein-clinking highlight.
Maurice (Kevin Ligon center, on stairs) encounters the enchanted objects in the Beast’s castle (from left) Danny Gardner as Lumière, Kathy Voytko as Mrs. Potts, Cameron Monroe Thomas, as Babette Javier Ignacio as Cogswrth and Holly Ann Butler as Madame. Photo by Matthew Murphy. © Disney
While all the performers are ultimately quite charming – Kyra Belle Johnson seems like she was born to play Belle, and Danny Gardner’s Lumière provides megawatt twinkle – the production lets them down in several ways. The first is relatively minor in that the staging of the two wolf attacks is embarrassing. Roughly animated projections, blinking red eyes and flashing lights are meant to convey the dangerous action, leaving the actors to over-act like they’re in a silent movie. The second is much more disappointing.
The dazzling production number “Be Our Guest” has always been a highlight of the Menken/Ashman score, from Ashman’s divinely irresistible lyrics (“Beef ragout, Cheese soufflé, Pie and pudding en flambé, We’ll prepare and serve with flair, A culinary cabaret!”) to Menken’s thrilling musical tribute to The Ziegfeld Follies and Les Folies Bergère. The original Broadway version of this number was also delightful, with singing and dancing utensils (hilarious), an acrobatic rug, twirling napkins and spark-spewing champagne bottles.
This touring production instead stages the number as a generic Broadway showstopper—closer to 42nd Street or A Chorus Line than a celebration of French hospitality and haute cuisine. It's undeniably entertaining, but dramatically it makes little sense. In sacrificing the food and enchanted household objects that define the sequence, the production misses an opportunity to celebrate the wit and imagination that made Ashman and Menken's work so extraordinary.
Ultimately, it’s Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s extraordinary score that continues to make Beauty and the Beast feel timeless. Productions may shrink, staging may evolve, and technology may replace scenery, but their music and storytelling still carry this “tale as old as time” with remarkable emotional power.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast continues through Aug. 9 as part of the ATG San Francisco season at the Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., San Francisco. Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes (including one 20-minute intermission). Tickets are $40.95-$286.65 (subject to change). Call 888-746-1799 or visit https://us.atgtickets.com/whats-on/san-francisco/.
