No
matter how you do Beauty and the Beast, you’re bound to attract an audience.
Especially those height-challenged folks (kids, to you) who are treated to this
Disney theatrical production.
And
the youngsters won’t be disappointed by this touring show, even though they may
squirm a bit as it lumbers along for almost three hours, with intermission.
Adults,
however, could find entrancement hard to come by in a production directed with
children’s theater broadness by Rob Roth. Indeed, there’s so much mugging going
on around him that Darick Pead in his Beast costume seems positively
understated.
Fortunately,
he and Hilary Maiberger as Belle have ideal voices for these fine songs, and Pead
finds some pathos in the Beast who is desperate to find a true love before his
hirsute and be-fanged fate is sealed.
Maiberger
is less successful in conjuring an interesting personality to go with her
sterling pipes. She never quite captures the feisty, eccentric spirit of this
girl who is considered a book-reading oddball in her little town.
In
the hugely comical role of Gaston, Jeff Brooks has guns that won’t
stop and a powerful voice. But he never fully dominates the stage as Gaston
should, leaving a hole at the center of the feud that leads to the final
confrontation with Beast.
As
for the mansion’s servants who are all on their way to becoming household
furnishings under the enchantress’s spell, it’s a mixed and mostly ungratifying
bunch. Hassan Nazari-Robati exudes plenty of energy as Lumiere, but he lacks
variety in his various candle lighting moments, relying on the same grins no
matter what the situation.
Mrs.
Potts, as portrayed by Erin Edelle, doesn’t offer the ample maternal quality
that makes this character memorable, and Edelle’s rendition of the title song
is thin and unaffecting. Jessica Lorion tries to have fun with the maid Babette
but comes up short, as does an over-the-top Shani Hadjian as Madame de la
Grande Bouche.
Instead
of playing characters, these actors all seem to be diving for the closest and
easiest laugh. And that begins to wear out one’s patience.
As
for the set design by Stanley A Meyer, it seems equally overdone, sporting lots
of fairy tale book foliage and super-cutesy little cottages. This approach
proves distancing, never allowing the audience to fully buy into the story
itself.
Even
so, much of the Alan Menken/Howard Ashman/Rim Rice music shines through, giving
kids and oldsters a familiar rush. With this show, that’s always the beauty
part.
Beauty
and the Beast
Through
November 18 at the palace Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, 1518 Euclid Avenue,
216-241-6000
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