Beauty and the Beast NETworks tour question

I saw the tour on it's recent Seattle stop. I've never seen the original on BWay/London, nor the first go around of the tour, so I can't compare, but for the most part, if you never seen a production, it does fine as a touring show.

Set wise, the village is three skinny revolving houses. Belle's house is just a set piece that wanders in from the side. "Be our Guest" is mostly done if front of curtains. Most of the Beast's castle is represented by a throne, a staircase, some platforms, and some curtains.

Costume wise, I thought for the most part they were fine, except Mrs. Potts teapot costume looked really cheap compared to Cogsworth and Lumiere. The "Be Our Guest" costumes were also a little cheapish looking.

Performances were fine all around, though the person playing the Beast seemed to mumble in his lower register a little too much, and I missed some of his quieter lines.

Also, be aware that there will be a lot of kids attending this show, and they have varying attention spans. Most of those around me lost interest in the book scenes (especially during act 1, when there seems to be a bunch). I cut kids a little more slack for misbehaving at a theater show (especially when it is geared towards kids) than adults, but your level of tolerance might be different than mine (note that most of the kids that really didn't have attention spans usually ended up leaving at intermission, at the performance I went to, it was about 10-15% of the audience).

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I saw it about a year ago and it was in great shape... my only issue was the end of Act 1. A scrim lowered, but there wasn't a blackout drape behind it, so when the house lights came up you could clearly see The Beast climbing down the tower, and stage hands coming on to help him.

Thought it ruined the illusion just a bit...

But wait until he fights the wolves... wow, did that look great!

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I remember seeing I believe the 3rd or 4th national tour of Beauty and the Beast, and from what I can remember, the set wasn't that good. The main castle set had this fireplace, with what looked liked arrows sticking up from it. And a chair, and something else, but not much.

This looks like ti has some great qualities in sets, and some okay costumes. I don't think you'd be disappointed...Actually, the only way you'd be disappointed, would be if you time travelled back to 1994 at the Palace, and saw Susan Egan and Terence Mann...but, we really can't do that.

I was fortunate to have seen the original Broadway run of the musical: countless times at its original home the Palace Theatre and twice when it moved to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. I also saw the 1st National Tour.

The original Broadway production was visually spectacular in every possible way. The 1st National Tour was basically a carbon-copy of the Broadway production, with just a slightly scaled-down (not scaled-back) castle set (which eventually was used for the Lunt-Fontanne move).

Several months ago I revisited the show via this NETworks touring production. I left before intermission. It not only didn't resemble the original Broadway production but every single element on that stage looked like a low-budget community theater production. Gladly, I was given a full refund for my tickets after I wrote to the Arsht Center here in South Florida.

Other people I know who loved the original lavish Broadway production felt the same way I did. Sadly, they never wrote for a refund and sat thru both acts of this mess of a tour.

Save your money AND embarrassment and skip this tour.

I haven't seen a production of this show since its last performance at the Palace. It's going to be in DC next month, but after what BrodyFosse said, I think I'll skip it.

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Thanks all...I will let you all know what I thought after I see it. Seeing the incredible version at the Palace, then the Fontanne, I have higher standards that my fiance who never saw it. As Iminicko88 said, it's still a great cast and story. I will say I don't like hearing the Beast's library looks like a piece of cardbord though. With all the money pumped into the show from nearly selling out each show, the scenery does not have to be that cheap looking. I realize there are touring limitations, but I don't like cheap looking scenery.

The worst part is that they cut "No Matter What" and replaced it with awkward dialogue between Belle and her father about Belle's mother.

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In addition to No Matter What, they've also cut Maison de Lunes. Neither cut bothered me, to be honest.

Unlike the previous tours which scaled back to Broadway set design, this tour uses an entirely different design. The lighting is darker than preferred and the cast is young (college aged), although talented.

I was offended by Belle's lack of energy when I saw the production a year ago, but there may be a new actress at this point.

Several months ago I revisited the show via this NETworks touring production. I left before intermission. It not only didn't resemble the original Broadway production but every single element on that stage looked like a low-budget community theater production. Gladly, I was given a full refund for my tickets after I wrote to the Arsht Center here in South Florida.

Boo Hoo. A Non-Equity Networks tour done on the cheap. Surely someone of YOUR VAST KNOWLEDGE knew what you were walking into and yet you essentially walked in with expectations of a high profile Disney backed Broadway tour. You ignore the cast because the set wasn't up to caliber so you threw a tantrum? Had you actually stuck around you would have seen they actually do pull off some interesting twists with staging. It was never billed as the Broadway Production, it was billed as a new production.

Updated On: 5/2/12 at 12:01 AM

But it is billed as a PROFESSIONAL production, is it not? So you EXPECT a professional set, costumes AND performances. (I have no opinion on this production, just Brody's right to his expectation.)

Why so nasty, theaterfan?

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I also saw the first national tour at the Shubert theater in Century City (Los Angeles). It was a great experience and the Disney Magic was thrilling.

We saw the latest tour at the Pantages and left at intermission. Cheap sets, and actually quite boring. Like a bad high school production.

"Basically as long as "The Beast" nails "If I can't love her", I'll be happy."

Well, Marway44, he certainly didn't when I saw the tour in Spokane in January — wrong notes all over the place.

The whole production was pretty amateurish, I thought — every line that could be funny was played for laughs, and the Beast acted like a whiny two-year-old. Gaston was pretty amazing, though!