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
