Beauty and the Beast Revival Coming To Broadway- Page 5

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/21/23 at 12:07pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Man, I hope they spend the money and recreate the original production."

I would love to see something grand and whimsical but totally unique, departing from the original production. I want to see what John Tiffany or Tina Landau or Michael Arden or Julie Taymor could do with the material.

But I am deeply aware that is a fantasy.

[darquegk]

Posted: 11/21/23 at 1:59pm

I'm still a little annoyed about the scaled-back vocal harmonies and half hour of material removed from the licensing version as of 2019. The grand excesses of BATB were part of the appeal.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/21/23 at 2:10pm

darquegk said: "I'm still a little annoyed about the scaled-back vocal harmonies and half hour of material removed from the licensing version as of 2019. The grand excesses of BATB were part of the appeal."

Woah I didn't know that! Are they licensing the tour version without "No Matter What" and Maison d'Lunes now? Is A Change In Me still an add-on option?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/21/23 at 2:23pm

That’s how the recent UK version was. 

[BETTY22]

Posted: 11/21/23 at 4:16pm

I hope they bring in a director that doesn't give us another theme park show.

 

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 11/21/23 at 4:41pm

I predict Arden will be the director. He’s been auditioning something, said he has a few projects in the works, and he has a history with Disney and Menken through Hunchback. They didn’t do right by him there, but I feel like his recent directorial successes would make Disney want to work with him again. We’ll see!

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 11/21/23 at 4:49pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "darquegk said: "I'm still a little annoyed about the scaled-back vocal harmonies and half hour of material removed from the licensing version as of 2019. The grand excesses of BATB were part of the appeal."

Woah I didn't know that! Are they licensing the tour version without "No Matter What" and Maison d'Lunes now? Is A Change In Me still an add-on option?"

"No Matter What" is now optional, "Maison de Lunes" is cut and "A Change in Me" is officially part of it, not an add-on option. The Monsieur D'Arque character has been cut down quite a bit.

[darquegk]

Posted: 11/21/23 at 7:10pm

The Battle for the Castle is cut now too: the Mob Song goes direct into Beast vs Gaston.

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 11/22/23 at 5:42am

That’s such a shame, I like the enchanted objects fighting the villagers. Why would they cut it?  Hopefully they have it for broadway and give us a big lush production with modern stage craft.  I hope they’re not cheap with this. 

[themadmarchhare]

Posted: 11/22/23 at 5:49am

I’m interested to see if they use anything from the UK Tour / Australian transfer.

 

When the UK tour was first announced everyone assumed it was testing the water for a Broadway revival. But then it hit several problems:

1. The director got fired because of comments made about the Scott Rudin and Karen Olivo situation, and the choreographer had to take over directing duties shortly before rehearsals started (I think?)


2. Idk how much of the director’s original vision got stuck to, but while I personally enjoyed it it was very scaled back in terms of set and spectacle (except Be Our Guest, which had everything and the kitchen sink) and had a much more UK Pantomime vibe to a lot of it - which is fine for a UK touring audience, but it probably wouldn’t work with an American crowd.

3. The original guy they cast as the Beast got fired for being a creep to female cast and crew members backstage (I’ll say ‘allegedly’ idk the legalities of the situation) which led to a mad few weeks of constant understudy switch-arounds to cover roles until they found a new performer (who was better in the role anyway so it was a great choice)

4. The tour got interrupted over Christmas due to UK COVID lockdowns and testing stuff

 

It did go to the Palladium over the summer once everything had settled down, but I think all the issues and the reception to the production kind of killed any Broadway transfer plans (this is me massively speculating though, I have zero inside knowledge) - but the producers did quickly fly out and get an agreement to transfer it to Australia where it’s currently running.

 

But anyway TL;DR I wonder if any of the production (set pieces, costumes, directing choices etc.) will get carried over to a Broadway production, or if they will scrap it all and redo it from the ground up.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 11/22/23 at 2:56pm

Broadway Flash said: "That’s such a shame, I like the enchanted objects fighting the villagers. Why would they cut it?"

I guess to trim the show down a bit. In a 2020 interview with Laughing Place, Linda Woolverton mentioned that reimagining it, redesigning, and reconceptualizing many things was fun for her "because there are cringe moments for me that I get to fix now."
https://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2020/07/02/10-things-we-learned-from-linda-woolverton-during-wdfms-happily-ever-after-hours/

[Kad]

Posted: 11/22/23 at 4:01pm

I’m surprised Disney is doing such cuts to what is arguably their most artistically successful stage adaptation. The show doesn’t drag, the new material cohered well with the songs from the movie, and at this point everybody knows it. 
 

It could definitely use a new vision for the physical production, but the material itself is pretty darn great.