After Beauty and the Beast closed, what did Disney do with the sets for the show? Did they burn them or did they send them to some other country for another international production?
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If I remember correctly they were shipped to Japan. But, I think they shipped the original Palace Theatre sets. Not the Lunt Fontanne sets which were actually the First National US Tour sets.
The set at the Lunt was the jump set for the First National Tour. The original set from the Palace was essentially destroyed. I believe the Lunt set went to Brazil or Mexico. I don't think it's in storage currently.
What were the differences between the set at the Palace and at the Lunt? I've really only seen pictures of the Lunt set, and the set they toured with years ago. Why did B&B move to the Lunt in the first place?
Beauty moved to the Lunt so Aida could have the Palace. The Palace sets were much larger and way more elaborate than the tour sets. A lot of people complained when the show moved because it was so scaled down. Someone else will have to list specific differences between the two sets I don't really remember anymore.
At the Palace during the title song and the finale, the set was a huge outdoor pavilion with 3-D columns covered in vines. Upon moving to the Lunt, the title song was staged on a dark stage, and the finale staged with an ugly backdrop.
The village was smaller.
At the Palace, the woods was a rather magical set that moved back and forth on tracks...at the Lunt, I believe it was merely a scrim.
There may be others...but it's been a long time.
How to properly use its/it's:
Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...
Yeah... A quick run down of changes I remember off the top of my head..
At the Palace, the show curtain was lush red velvet. At the Lunt, it was a scrim with the show logo.
The village was about half the size of the original Palace set and relied much more on painted effects than actual construction - The Palace roofs were thatched, at the Lunt, they were painted.
The forest at the Palace had moving trees, the Lunt had a, badly, painted scrim.
At the Palace, the wolves were creepy looking puppets with glowing eyes. At the Lunt, they because dancers that looked like rabid cast offs from Cats.
The castle interior was smaller and had one less playing area.. Maurice was imprisoned under the West Wing at the Palace and under a balcony at the Lunt.
The Be Our Guest set was a lot smaller.. at the Palace, the stairs were a wall of plates that lit up and at the Lunt, they weren't so 'solid'.. the front part of the plate stairs lifted out of a trap at the Palace, but not at the Lunt. The end of the song at the Palace had 4 different wine bottles shooting sparks.. at the Lunt, they became two units shooting smoke and streamers.
The ballroom set for the totale song and finale at the Palace was the solid, 3D gold pavailion with columns and a fountain, vines everywhere. At the Palace, the totle song happened in front of a starry sky drop and two insert flats at the sides.. the finale was in front of a cheesey pinkish drop that had a painted heart and painted flower swags.
There were others to be sure, but that is a very basic list. The cast at the Lunt was also slightly smaller.
I'm family friends with one of the workers who removed Beauty from the Lunt after it closed, and from what he told me, the set was meant to be stored for other productions, but while trying to fit it out of the theatre, the entire castle crumbled under it's own weight, and became dumpster food. It's sad, but true.
That's pretty sad! I didn't realize how scaled down the sets were from the Palace to the Lunt! When I saw it at the Palace when it first opened, I was probably around 4 or 5 years old, which is why I honestly can't remember too much...
I know it won't happen for a long, long time, if not ever... but I'd love a revival of it. No modifications, but a full-scale production identical to its frozen state when it opened in 1994. And to be totally honest, this show is still one of my all time favorites no matter what. It's what got me into musical theater and Broadway from the time I was a kiddie.
I never saw the show at the Palace or the Lunt, but I did attend the tryout, which used the Palace sets, and the tour, which used the Lunt designs. I noticed the difference immediately and it was a shame it was scaled down in such a way to appear more cheap and tacky than dazzling and magical. I remember the whole "Beauty's Been Decreased" Forbidden Broadway gag and thought, "It can't be that bad." Apparently, it was.
The biggest reason I attended the tour was to see the transformation. When I attended the tryout, there was a problem and the transformation didn't occur. Some sort of harness issue. I don't know if this was changed for the tour but...what a massive letdown! I really like the show, but I did not see what people were going on about. It reminded me of the old circus trick with a lady strapped to a spinning wheel as a guy threw knives. But without the knife-thrower.
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I don't know for sure, and the pictures included in the CD booklet aren't much help, but there are four wine bottles shooting sparks so if I had to guess I would guess that they were the more elaborate sets.
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