ABC to present BEAUTY & THE BEAST Live film with performances- Page 4

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 12/17/22 at 3:04pm

As a lifelong Disney fan (I remembered watching ‘Beauty and the Beast: A Concert On Ice!’ on TV over twenty years ago), this was decent. I certainly found it more creative and took more risks than they did with The Little Mermaid Live!. I also went in expecting a decent celebration of the property, and my expectations were exceeded. I think some people went into this thinking we were getting an extremely high budget full out production. The transition from outdoor to soundstage during Belle was fun, as were the moments with storyboards, etc. The only real thing I missed was the Broadway score, but this is a celebration of the animated film and its recent live action adaptation, so I get it. I also appreciated them not making this a “Live!” presentation because it gave them more opportunities for post production, angles, etc.

Standouts: H.E.R (stunning and such a lovely voice), Joshua Henry (handsome as always, but also had a fantastic character performance), personally thought the dance segments/interludes were beautiful, and the Lansbury tribute made me cry. 

Again, BATB is a property close to my heart (one of the first VHS tapes I owned and the first National Tour I saw in 1995), and I think this has been one of the best televised musical specials in quite some time. They could have really butchered it (as they did with the remake, IMO&hellip but I think it was a fun hour and did the legacy justice. 

Updated On: 12/17/22 at 03:04 PM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/16/23 at 11:52pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "The SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE/HAMILTON contemporary dancing infused throughout was so out of place. The Busby Berkeley-ish one of the rose was like a bad SNL parody of cheesy contemporary dancing."

Bumping this old thread because I finally watched it. I don't know why there was so much dancing or use of the ensemble. I feel like they were trying something with the multidisciplinary approach but there really were just "moments" because it was too chaotic to hold together. I fast-forwarded a lot. Joshua Henry was good. I could see the wolves working on stage and some of the costumes reading well. But I can't see them putting most of this in the stage show. At least I hope they wouldn't. The Beast costume was terrible. It did make me wonder if they want to use screens/projections going forward.