Beauty and the Beast National Tour review

I saw the show yesterday and I loved every second of it. I forgotten how much heart the musical had. That was something that was usally lacking in Disney's most recent musicals like "Tarzan" and "The Little Mermaid." It was the first musical I ever saw and reminded me of how much I enjoy theatre. Although the show was scaled down the sets worked perfectly.

The standouts:

LIZ SHIVENER:Wonderful performance from her! She played Belle just the way I always have pictured her. I loved her voice and acting.

JUSTIN GLASER: Terricfic acting and singing. He also brought some humor to the role of the Beast.

NATHANIEL HACKMANN: He was definetley perfect for the role of Gaston. He was funny and evil. I also thought his voice was very strong.

MERRITT DAVID JANES: Excellent as Lumiere. His acting, singing, and dancing were some of the standouts.

Other notes: The library in the castle could have been better, but that was the only flaw I found in the show. I also did not mind that the songs "No Matter What" and "Mansion se Lunes" were cut. "No Matter What" was replaced with a sweet moment where Maurice talked about Belle's mother. The battle between the Enchanted Objects and the Villagers was also cut, but it was not a big deal.

Also here's an interview with Liz. She basically agrees with me on how Belle is not a damsal in distress and got her Happily Ever After all on her own:

http://www.wfaa.com/good-morning-texas/Meet-the-Star-of-Beauty-and-the-Beast-98509899.html

Updated On: 7/26/10 at 12:12 PM

Ha! Otterbein plug.

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so in this new tour Maurice is no longer Belle's father???

The cast was also very nice at the stage door.

THIS bit of news just made me book a block of 20 seats to this low-budget production!

Forget everything else that's been said about this tour.

Whoop-yeah!

"How did they do the library set? I was also wondering how the Prologue worked? What was the opening curtain for the show?"

The library was a tall piece of carboard that looked like a stack of bboks. The prolouge had the Enchantress float in the air and the lights flashed when the prince transformed into a Beast. The curtain was purple with a rose.

"so do the villager not attack the castle anymore? what exactly happens during that scene starting from the Gaston and the villagers singing"

They still sing "Kill the Beast," but after Gaston and the villagers bang on the door of the castle Lumiere tells the Beast that they are under attack and the Beast says it doesn't matter anymore. Then after Lumiere leaves the fight between Gaston and the Beast begins.

For $10, why not?

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I saw the tour in June and I didn't like the Beast at ALL. His singing was great, but all of his mannerisms were completely over the top. Yes, you're a Beast, but you don't have to move around the stage like you're in a Beast costume at Disneyworld. He just really annoyed me. Like the part where Belle treats his wounds from the wolves, he let's out this huge "OWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" that went on forever. It got some laughs from the children, but not so much from me. The rest of the cast was pretty good, but not as great as the OP makes them out to be. And yes, the Beast does fly around during the transformation, but to me, the transformation wasn't as magical as it was when I saw it on Broadway..........actually, nothing was as magical as it was when I saw it on Broadway......but hey, that's just my opinion :)

'When you say that Justin "brought some humor to the role", do you mean that he acted like a whining child? I've seen Beasts play scenes that way for laughs and it made me want to punch babies.'

When Belle treats his wound he lets out a scream that is funny. It was also funny when he was trying to ask Belle to come down to dinner. The Beast could not understand that the Enchanted Objects were trying to make him say please.

I also forgot to mention that he brought the serious side to the role also. I felt very sad for the Beast when he sang "If I Can't Love Her" and "If I Can't Love Her Reprise."

Updated On: 7/28/10 at 11:31 AM