Beauty and the Beast

          Everyone knows the Disney classic Beauty and the Beast, but seeing it on a Broadway tour is a whole other story. Last night my mom and I went to McCain Auditorium to see the Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast. When we walked in the stage was all decorated with a sheer screen with whimsical vines like a fairy tale and behind was a huge pink rose. After climbing to our seats, which were right in the middle, the music started. They had their own orchestra that traveled with them, the lights dimmed and the show started. The very first character you see is the spoiled prince who sends the old witch away, and then you're wisped away to the quiet village where Belle and her father live. The most incredible thing about this musical was how much the actors sounded like the people in the Disney movie. Even just when she talked, Belle sounded just like the girl who played her in the movie. At the end of the village scene we meet the daringly handsome Gaston. He is totally encompassed with himself but is determined to make Belle his wife. Belle, however, wants nothing to do with Gaston and avoids him as much as possible. When Belle's father goes off to the science fair, Gaston decides to propose to Belle, but to his great astonishment Belle turns him down. Meanwhile, Belle's father has found refuge from the storm and wolves inside the enchanted castle where the spoiled prince, who was now a hideous beast, lived. Here is where we first meet Lumier and Cogsworth, and when Lumier invites the stranger in and allows him to sit in the master’s chair, things go wrong fast! The stage went dark for a split second and then there was the beast towering over Belle's father. He drags him up to the dungeon. After Gaston finally leaves Belle's house, his sidekick comes running in, does a summersault, and scoots up to Belle, when she sees that he is wearing the same scarf she had given her father for good luck she orders him to tell her where he found it. She runs off to find her father when she too stumbles across the enchanted castle. Everyone lights up when they see her, for only a girl can break the spell if she truly falls in love with the beast. She finds her father locked up in the dungeon cold and sick, but before she can free him the beast shows up and she makes a bargain with him to let her father go and take her as her prisoner instead. After the beast slams the door to her room she sings the most beautiful song called Home and wishes she could return to that poor provincial town. The storyline starts to pick up as the beast tries to act more gentlemanly to win the girl's affections. Day by day she slowly starts to care for him and invites him to dinner to make up for not coming the first night. This is where we hear the timeless song Beauty and the Beast sung by Mrs. Pots. Things are going well until Belle learns that her father is lost in the woods somewhere and to the audience's surprise the beast tells her to go. After returning home with her father, we learn that Gaston has cooked up a plot to ensure Belle will marry him. A man from a mental institute threatens to take Belle's father away unless she marries Gaston. When Belle replies she will never marry him, Gaston becomes mad and decides to kill the beast. The town's people march off into the woods and storm the castle. Belle runs to warn the beast of the attacking visitors and runs in just in time to see Gaston stab the beast, but in the process Gaston falls off the balcony and is never seen again. Belle kneels before the beast and comforts him, when the beast slowly slips away from her she says the words, "I love you," just before the last petal on the enchanted rose falls. The beast and everyone turn back into humans and Belle and her prince live happily ever after. The show was incredible and had many added in songs that are not in the original movie. This musical only proves that the Disney classic you watched when you were little is still just as thrilling on stage.