James Karas
The fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast has been around
for almost three hundred years in various forms. But Disney has generated a
whole industry with its musical transformation of the tale as a cartoon on film
and live on Broadway and around the world.
It is such a wonderful story one can hardly blame the Disney Corporation
and others for relying on the tale for entertainment and moral instruction for
young and old. Young People’s Theatre is offering the musical during November
and December and if the matinee that I saw is an indication to full and
enthusiastic audiences mostly of pre-teens.
The production has the virtues of a fine cast that can sing, dance, take
care of comic business and get dramatic and scary as necessary. We follow the
story enraptured in its telling as if we have never heard it or seen or before.
But that is not all.
(L-R): Stewart Adam McKensy, Andrew Prashad,
Emma Rudy and Celine Tsai,
Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann
This is brilliant entertainment wrapped with easy-to digest morality
lessons. Beauty (Celine Tsai) loves her father Maurice (Neil Foster) who is an
outcast in the village; she rejects the empty-headed, egotistical and boorish
Gaston (Aaron Ferguson) and she makes reading books and thinking appear
attractive. She may be considered odd herself but she is a strong character who
can stand up for herself. Count the number of virtues this young lady displays
(if you need the fingers of only one hand, you better examine your values) and
have a chat with your children
Examine the actions of the handsome Prince (Stewart Adam McKensy) who
throws out an old beggar woman (Claire Rouleau) and is cursed by a spell
becoming a Beast. There is a period of self-realization and transformation, a
personal change that results in his humanization. And McKensy has a marvelous
voice – another virtue, no dount.
Damien Atkins as Lumiere and Andrew Prashad as Cogsworth are very funny
and Mrs. Potts (Susan Henley) and Chip (Phoebe Hu) are both funny and
charming.
This is a fairy tale about change, growth, transformation and cogent
lessons about tolerance, understanding and decency.
Who better to judge the quality of the production and the attendant
issues of the fairy tale than my two Assistant Reviewers? Jordana (I am going
to be 11 in January) and Emily, bright red lipstick applied with surgical
precision, (I am going to be 10 in March).
Jordana liked and complimented the singing and as the daughter of a
singer and participant in musicals herself, her opinion can hardly be gainsaid.
Her assessment was that “Over all, it is a very good production” [sic]. She
knew the story well enough to have drawn her own conclusions about its
morality.
(L-R): Emma Rudy, Zorana Sadiq, Dale R. Miller,
Damien Atkins, Aaron Ferguson, Claire Rouleau,
Celine Tsai, Joel Schaefer and
Jacob MacInnis, Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann
Asked about what she learned, Emily said tersely “you can’t judge a book
by its cover.” Her favourite scene was when Beauty and Beast kissed.
But Emily had second thoughts about some things. “Would you have let the
old beggar woman in your house if she knocked on your door?” she asked me.
“Of course” I replied a bit too quickly.
“But mommy tells me not to talk to strangers and never to let anyone in
our house” she observed. Ah!
The YPT production is an edited version of the Broadway musical and runs
for about 85 minutes that seems to be the right amount of time before the kids
start getting restless. The set by Sue LePage consists of moveable panels that
enable quick and efficient scene change.
The fact that I enjoyed the production is of secondary importance.
Listen to the infallible and totally reliable opinions of my Associate
Reviewers and take your children to see the show.
___________
Beauty and the Beast by Alan Menken (music), Howard Ashman and Tim Rice
(lyrics), Linda Woolverton (book) directed by Allen MacInnis, continues until
Dec. 31 at Young People’s Theatre, 165 Front St. East, Toronto, Ontario. www.youngpeoplestheatre.ca
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