A fine production of the Disney musical by 3-D Theatricals plays Friday through Sunday in Redondo Beach
Shame on me for initially misjudging the capabilities of 3-D Theatricals, the Anaheim-based company that’s been staging musicals at Fullerton’s Plummer Auditorium and, more recently, the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. I’ve now seen a handful of their shows and they really are quite good, and “Beauty and the Beast” is no exception.
The Disney musical (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, book by Linda Wolverton) originally opened in Los Angeles and thrust Susan Egan and Terrence Mann into the spotlight for their performance in the title roles: A musical just for kids this wasn’t.
You know the fairy tale. A pretty maiden eventually finds compassion in her heart for the ugly and terrifying beast who’s keeping her under house-arrest in his castle. He’s under a spell for dismissing a sorceress disguised as a beggarwoman, and the only thing that will banish this curse is if he can find a woman who will agree to marry him, despite his outward appearance.
The musical, and the animated film that preceded it, pretties things up a bit, and not always for the better. Not only has the Prince been transformed into a monster, his servants, both male and female, have also been altered, but in their case one’s a candelabra (Lumiere), another’s a teapot (Mrs. Potts), still another is a chest-of-drawers (Madame de la Grande Bouche), and so on.
On top of it all, there’s a time limit before the changes become irreversible.
Afton Quast is Belle, Alexander Mendoza is the Beast, and Cameron Bond is Gaston.
I’m not sure how much of this is built into the show, and how much has been amped up by the actress, but Belle is yet another of Disney’s spunky, take-charge heroines who actually come across as bossy rather than traditionally demure and tentative, as if at any moment they could shed their peasant gowns to reveal themselves as CEOs of major financial institutions.
I mention this because Mendoza makes an impressive, temperamental beast, who carries himself well as he paces his castle, but his leonine qualities all but evaporate after being subdued by Belle. In short, he wimps out at the end, which maybe draws a few laughs but also destroys his fearsome image. In real life, of course, he would eat her.
Gaston is the prancing, self-preening and egocentric town bachelor who decides that Belle will marry him whether she likes the idea or not. She doesn’t, of course, because she’s a down-to-earth, bookish young woman who longs for more from life. In the “Belle” reprise she sings: “I want adventure in the great wide somewhere!… And for once it must be grand/ to have someone understand.” That someone is most definitely not the he-man but pea-brained Gaston.
The supporting actors occasionally outshine the stars. Tracy Lore as Mrs. Potts, Dennis Kyle as Lumiere, Bree Murphy as Madame de la Grande Bouche, and even Bradley Bundlie as Chip, keep the show in high gear (only six years old, Bundlie has, according to the program, already appeared in 90-plus films, musicals, and theatrical shows).
The centerpiece of the show is probably “Be Our Guest,” an extravagant number with ensemble singing and choreography meant to entertain Belle and to convince her that the Beast isn’t such a bad fellow after all, but it also forestalls the momentum, that is, the slowly growing fondness between our Beauty and our Beast. Well, I guess we can’t have it both ways.
All grumbling aside, 3-D has done a bang-up job with this show, directed by T.J. Dawson, choreographed by Billy Sprague, Jr., and conducted (there’s an 18-piece live orchestra) by Julie Lamoureaux. It’s not quite Broadway caliber, but you’re not having to drive to New York to see it, are you?
Beauty and the Beast plays Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., plus Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., in the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 E. Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach. Tickets, $25 to $95 ($3 handling per ticket), but discounts are available. Call (714) 589-2770 ext. 1, or go to www.3dtshows.com.
