Review – Beauty and the Beast 2006
“Ever After – VOS’s Beauty and the Beast fun but not flawless”
| By: | John Threlfall, Monday Magazine |
| For: | Beauty and the Beast |
| Who: | The Victoria Operatic Society |
| Where: | McPherson Playhouse |
| When: | November 2006 |
Published: November 29, 2006
If you’re looking for some good family fun and are not too picky when it comes to musical theatre, you’ll quite enjoy the Victoria Operatic Society’s production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. But, despite some strong performances and exceptional costume design, this entertaining version of the animated blockbuster is somewhat hampered by murky lighting and uneven sound, both of which get in the way of what could have been an exceptional production.
If you’ve ever seen the Disney movie upon which this is based, you’ll already know the story: after a castle and all its inhabitants are put under a spell, the angry Beast (Dwayne Gordon) imprisons the beautiful Bell (Kira Tozer) only to fall in love with her – thanks to some judicious meddling by his good-hearted servants, that is. Meanwhile, village idiot – er, the village’s most manly hunter, Gaston (Stan Davis) has also taken a shine to Belle, and stets out to kill the Beast and manipulate Belle into marrying him. But don’t worry, after some memorable song-and-daces (“Gaston”, “Be Our Guest”, “Something There”, “Beauty and the Beast”), everyone who deserves to lives happily ever after.
There are some wonderful performances in the nearly two-and-a-half-hour effort. Both Gordon (Evita) and Tozer (a talented cruise ship veteran) do extremely well in the title roles, with strong voices well-suited to the material and both strike just the right emotional tone with their parts. And in the supporting roles, Jaymes D. Goodman as Cogsworth (the enchanted clock), Craig Wilson as Lumiere (the candlestick) and Debbie Robinson as Mrs. Potts (the teapot) are clear favourites, lighting up the stage whenever they’re on. In fact, the chorus is one of the best parts of Beauty and “Be Our Guest” is absolutely the showstopper everyone is expecting. Slightly less successful – but still enjoyable – is Stan Davis (Four Neat Guys) as Gaston. Spoofing the he-man image with overly-stuffed bulging muscles and a perma-grin, Davis is clearly having a blast – indeed, there was one point on opening night when he nearly burst out laughing – but his character needs a bit more underlying menace to believably make the shift to the villain at the end; plus, there are a number of scenes where his lyrics can barley be heard above the orchestra and chorus.
Which brings us to the main problems with this Beauty. Despite having the principals miked, all too often the voices of certain cast members must fight to be heard over Phil Hallman’s excellent 11-piece orchestra; as a result, some important lyrics and dialogue get lost. (Let’s hope that’s something which has been fixed since opening night.) Another serious technical issue is Adam Wilkinson’s murky lighting; why have set designer Misha Koslovsky go to all the trouble of creating a fabulous version of the Beast’s castle and costume designer David Hardwick build all those sumptuous outfits if we can barely see them? Atmospheric is one thing; impenetrable is quite another.
Also surprisingly drab is the overall direction. The choreography is fine, but whenever the cast isn’t singing or dancing, things tend to drag – unusual for a musical, especially when you’ve got three people (David Brillinger, Heather-Elayne Day and Jennifer Sanders) sharing directing and choreography credits. On the plus side, fans of the animated version will find quite a few musical numbers no in the movie, most of which are quite enchanting.
Still, if you are not too picky or have children who are big fans of the movie, you’ll find much to like in this version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.