Posted: 5/21/24 at 11:46am
The tour will be using the tier 3 touring contract. Disney could afford to tour this on the highest level contract, so I’m shocked equity approved this.
Posted: 5/21/24 at 12:03pm
Yes, I just saw the ECC on the AEA site. $1,467 a week minimum, which was on par with a Broadway production like, ten years ago...
Updated On: 5/21/24 at 12:03 PM
Posted: 5/21/24 at 12:12pm
And a relatively unknown director. Seems like he's mostly worked at the parks. So I'm guessing we get a slightly stepped up version of that non-union show that was touring.
Posted: 5/21/24 at 12:22pm
Well, no, Matt West has actually had quite a career, from being the original Bobby in A Chorus Line to choreographing the original production of BATB and its many tours and international productions. He graduated to director-choreographer for the recent UK tour of BATB, so I'm guessing this tour will more or less be a replica of that.
Posted: 5/21/24 at 12:29pm
I'd agree. I just mean we aren't getting an established director's new take on the material. We will probably just get a very safe, standard production.
Posted: 5/21/24 at 12:49pm
If it ain't broke, don't fix it I say.
Posted: 5/21/24 at 1:37pm
Call_me_jorge said: "The tour will be using the tier 3 touring contract. Disney could afford to tour this on the highest level contract, so I’m shocked equity approved this."
I feel like Equity has no real power over this. They can’t even stop tours from going non-union, so how would they control what tier a tour goes out on? The good news is, this tour should sell extremely well, so the cast will hopefully make a good amount of overages. I’ve heard that the BEETLEJUICE tour has been selling so well that the cast is actually making more than they would’ve on a full production contract due to the high overages.
Posted: 2/13/25 at 8:40am
Kyra Belle Johnson and Fergie L. Philippe to star (video)
A leading actress with the middle name "Belle" is kind of delightful
Posted: 2/13/25 at 8:46am
KevinKlawitter said: "Kyra Belle Johnson and Fergie L. Philippe to star (video)
A leading actress with the middle name "Belle" is kind of delightful"
I love that and also they have wonderful chemistry- he's so attractive
Posted: 2/13/25 at 9:00am
“It’s gonna be re-thought”
Ugh.
Posted: 2/13/25 at 2:14pm
That current Australian production is a disgrace. Songs half performed, the production values woeful. How did Be Our Guest become a tap number, with 10 per cent of the lyrics gone. A major disappointment in every way
Posted: 2/13/25 at 2:36pm
Rethought as in different from the UK tour or just the same rethought production? Confusing.
Posted: 2/13/25 at 4:00pm
It's likely the same rethought production that recently debuted in the U.K.
Updated On: 2/13/25 at 04:00 PM
Posted: 2/13/25 at 4:04pm
RippedMan said: "We will probably just get a very safe, standard production."
That pretty much sums up a majority of Disney's content (i.e. movies, TV shows) as of late.
Posted: 2/13/25 at 7:45pm
Call_me_jorge said: "The tour will be using the tier 3 touring contract. Disney could afford to tour this on the highest level contract, so I’m shocked equity approved this."
Equity allowed it because the tour met the qualifications to use that level. The contract lays out the level qualifiers, with the average weekly guarantee being the biggest factor. Producers don't get to just say "we're using this level." They have a lot of things they need to report to Equity before they get approved for the contract.
Posted: 2/13/25 at 8:58pm
It's about a beast who thinks he is a victim, a powerful woman who stands up for her rights, and a narcissistic violent man who demands the girl submit to him sexually. Only the violent man represents Make America Great again. The show has dangerous DEI and WOKE themes about empowering women and healing the outcast.
Isn't Be Our Guest is code for welcoming immigrants and foreigners, just as Belle is a foreigner in his castle? Definitely needs to be adjusted in major ways.
Hope Disney was not planning on taking the show to the Kennedy Center.
Posted: 2/14/25 at 1:01am
If that was an attempt at being funny you failed miserably
Posted: 5/19/25 at 4:20pm
BATB excerpt starts at 0:48
Updated On: 5/19/25 at 04:20 PM
Posted: 6/27/25 at 11:28pm
Anyone see this in upstate NY and can post a song list? Want to see if they are using the songs from the original or the live action movie
Posted: 6/28/25 at 12:01am
Looks to be the original score with the cuts (No Matter What, Maison de Lunes, the Battle) that have been made to it over the years
https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/s/irxUdSg2mo
Posted: 7/9/25 at 11:38pm
In Chicago, the first night, near-capacity audience on Wednesday, July 9 shared extended ovations after GASTON and BE OUR GUEST.
I got goosebumps listening to the brass arrangement beneath the Act One closer IF I CAN’T LOVE HER.
The show effectively uses LED, with scenes of the village, the countryside, the castle, and wolf attacks, but I wanted more oomph in the title song ballroom scene.
The stagewide LED screens are used both upstage and downstage.
The cast is great. There is magic shared between Belle and the Beast. Engaging work by Gaston, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs Potts.
Act 1 about 80 minutes. Act 2 about 45 minutes.
Very busy merch stand with a lot of choices, but I did not get close enough for details.
Shout out to the bubble gum pink curtain that appears at the start of BE OUR GUEST.
Posted: 7/10/25 at 9:20am
I saw this in Schenectady and can confirm No Matter What, Maison De Lunes, and The Battle are cut. New overture featuring A Change in Me
New dance arrangements for Gaston, Be Our Guest, and Human Again.
New dialogue woven into a few scenes, some cuts made to dialogue/ characters (ex: three silly girls appear in Belle number but no longer have dialogue/scene with Gaston before Me, Wardrobe character given more)
New costume/set designs that evoke the original but reflect the current theatrical trends.
Posted: 7/10/25 at 9:54am
I'm so tired of LED walls.
Posted: 7/10/25 at 9:59am
linus84 said: "I saw this in Schenectady and can confirm No Matter What, Maison De Lunes, and The Battle are cut. New overture featuring A Change in Me
New dance arrangements for Gaston, Be Our Guest, and Human Again.
New dialogue woven into a few scenes, some cuts made to dialogue/ characters (ex: three silly girls appear in Belle number but no longer have dialogue/scene with Gaston before Me, Wardrobe character given more)
New costume/set designs that evoke the original but reflect the current theatrical trends."
You should always cut “A Change in Me”
Simply cause Belle doesn’t change in the story. The beast does. That’s why that song is boring.
Poor “No Matter What”. If there’s any song in the show worth Menken rewriting it’s that one.
Posted: 7/10/25 at 10:07am
I've always liked No Matter What as a song but its placement in the show doesn't work very well. Having a slow ballad like that as the second song dulls early momentum. But it is nice for developing why Belle would go through all that to save her father.
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