Current Beauty and the Beast tour

[Alessio2]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 3:55pm

Curious if anyone here has seen this current tour.  Is it union? How was it? Am debating getting tickets for their LA stop at the Pantages but am hesitant. A friend of mine said he saw this same tour about a year ago and didn't enjoy it. Thoughts or comments?

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 4:06pm

It's non equity. My theatre teacher is actually the psm for the show.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 4:08pm

Non-Equity. Hasn't been Equity in many years.

[Alessio2]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 4:11pm

Have either of you seen it? I just saw the non equity tour of Annie and it was so bland and uninspired.

[asmith0307]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 4:31pm

I wasn't impressed (but many of my neighbors were). I am also the only "theatre person" out of the group. It seemed to me that it was literally the same show that started on Broadway in the 90s - technology and all.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 4:32pm

It's not a bad production. I personally missed the pyrotechnic effects during the prologue and Lumiere's real flame candles from the original staging but the scenery, while simple, is beautiful and the costumes are nice as well. "Be Our Guest" is still the best part of the show and remains charming. "No Matter What," "Maison des Lunes" and "The Battle" have been cut and that bothered me a little at first but the show still feels complete by the end. The cuts aren't devastating. I haven't seen this current cast but it's still Beauty and the Beast and if you like the show it's worth it for a rush ticket at least.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 4:48pm

I saw it in Chicago either the last time it was in town or the time before. Most of the cast I saw is no longer with the production, so I won't bother commenting on them. The physical production, on the other hand, I can comment on. When they were first building the set for this new tour, there was much hullabaloo about how grand it would be, despite being scaled down from the original production. It is not grand at all, and looks rather cheap; it is a very tawdry production. The castle is a huge let down. The special effects are still rather fun though. If you are planning on seeing it, it isn't worth paying more than $40 or $50 for the ticket. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 4:59pm

I don't think it's fair to say the scenery is scaled down. That would imply that the designer started with the original Broadway designs and made alterations for the tour. What they actually did was completely redesign the show with a simpler more colorful story book type set designed to tour. Yes, the castle design is nothing compared to the original but even the last tour sent out by Disney in the early 2000's had been reduced to a backdrop and a few moving columns for the castle. This is at least a new concept that is simple by design and conceived as such at the start.

[c0113g3b0y]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 8:38pm

the set design looks cheapy and gawdy. an insult to the original animated movie and the original Broadway set design.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 8:42pm

I saw the tour a few years back. It has been a non-equity tour since the very beginning. It is a completely redesigned production. I personally found the new design to be tacky, cheap, and gaudy beyond belief.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 9:01pm

How do they do the show with no battle?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 10:34pm

A scrim comes down for the last bit of The Mob Song and they jump from "kill the beast!" to Lumiere telling the Beast that the castle is under attack. The Beast says "It doesn't matter now, let them come." and the scenery rotates to the roof where Gaston attacks the Beast and the scene continues per usual from there. If I remember correctly the scrim stays down for the entire rooftop scene with the rain being projected on it. They just kind of skip over the battle and instead we just hear about it from Lumiere.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 10:49pm

Just go for the score. It's one of my favorites.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 11:19pm

I'll agree with that! And I'll also use this space to bitch about how we never got a proper recording of the overture or the final Broadway arrangement of "A Change in Me."

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 11:29pm

Listen to Ashley Brown's "A Change in Me" from Disney's On the Record tour cast recording.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 11:40pm

Not the same arrangement. 

[The Barricade Babe]

Posted: 10/21/15 at 11:04am

I saw this tour in Chicago in February. Honestly, the set design bothered me more than anything else. Very cheap, anytime anyone stood on one of the wagon pieces or came near it, it shook like crazy. I was in the third to last row in the top balcony and I could tell how flimsy the set was.

Talent wise, the cast is not bad. I saw an understudy for Lefou that was wonderful, and the rest of the cast are competent if not a little tired. Be Our Guest is still a showstopper. 

Altogether a meh experience. The set is just horrendous, although the pre-show curtain is gorgeous. Go for the score, it still holds up.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 10/21/15 at 12:19pm

It bothers me and my wallet that here in L.A. Its a season extra show so I have to buy a ticket extra and the prices are raised up? Why? Just because it's Disney.

[Jakeevan942]

Posted: 10/21/15 at 2:18pm

I think it's worth noting, that, in terms of design elements/scaled down nature of this tour, Networks designed this tour to be able to bring Beauty and the Beast to the C and D bus and truck cities that had never been able to fit the full tour. It travels in 5 tucks, loads in in 11 hours, and tears out in 5. For these cities, it stands out as being impressive. When Networks books this into a major market like LA and Chicago, it comes off as cheap when you're comparing a small tour to a bigger tour, which only plays full week markets. As for the cuts, it allows the show to be advertised with a more family-friendly run time. Regardless of the thoughts on equity vs non-equity, know this tour was designed to allow BATB to play smaller venues, and Networks has taken advantage of the popularity of the piece and booked it into larger markets.