In
1756 Jeanne Marie Leprince de Beaumont wrote and published a fairy tale
titled “Beauty and the Beast”. After that the tale was retold in print,
on the radio, in movies and television each making slight changes. In
1991 the Disney studio made an animated film version and in 1994 the
Disney film was adapted for the Broadway stage by Linda Woolverton and
Alan Menken, who had worked on the film with 7 new songs. Howard Ashman,
the original lyricist, had died, and additional lyrics were written by
Tim Rice. It ran for 5,461 performances and has been touring since 1995.
 

Tuesday
evening at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami
the touring company of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” opened to a full
house of which at least were 50% children. Just want to say the adults
could have taken some lessons from the kids on how to behave in a
theatre. The kids didn’t talk on Iphones, play with tablets, take
pictures, come late, get up in the middle of an act to go out and then
come back to disturb people again. They didn’t bring drinks to their
seats. We were surrounded by young girls and boys who watched, listened,
didn’t sing along with the performers and one kid in our row even led
the applause after a number!
 

Belle
(Jillian Butterfield) the beauty  had a strong voice, was a good
actress and dancer, who held her own against the Beast (Ryan Everett
Wood) in their duets. All the cast, except for Belle, were ‘hammy’ but
they got the laughs within the book and added a few more. Gaston
(Cameron Bond) was all vain, narcissistic and ultra manly as the
Beast’srival for Belle who didn’t stand a chance in winning her. His
sidekick, LeFou (Jake Bridges) would and did anything for a laugh and he
got every one he was after, especially with his innumerable pratfalls.
Lumiere (Patrick Pevehouse), as a candelabra, Cogsworth (Samuel
Shurtleff), a clock, Babette (Melissa Jones) and Madame de la Grande
(Kelly Teal Goyette) play their characters for all they are worth and
the audience eats it up. Emily Jewel as Mrs. Potts is an excellent
actress but was a little too soft singing the title song. The ensemble
of 20, in many different rolls, put across “Be Our Guest” with
enthusiasm and backed the leads when and where needed.
 

The
fun for me was watching the actions of the kids when the Beast turned
into the Prince, when Belle wore her first ball gown, when Chip (Ross
Nemeth), the teacup, turned back to the real boy he was--and they gave
him the most applause when he came out for his bow--and all the actors
became ‘human’.
 

This is a wonderful show for kids, and even the adults who come with them, at holiday time.