[NEohioPAL] Review of "Beauty and the Beast" at Ashtabula Arts Center

[Bob Abelman]

Watered-down show falls between beauty, beast

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the News-Herald 8/07/09

 

A recent trend in the musical theater industry is the creation of abridged or abbreviated versions of the Broadway originals and calling them "Junior" or "School Edition."

 

This allows schools, camps and community theaters to take on a bona fide Broadway hit, but with a more sanitized, simplified or shorter script to meet the approval of principals or small-town sensibilities.  

 

They also come with lower expectations.  No one really expects a production of Les Miserables: School Edition to have a hydraulic-driven revolving stage or for its teen-aged Jean Valjean to hit the high notes.   No one expects High School Musical, Jr. to be interesting. 

 

A similar thing has happened to Disney's Beauty and the Beast, albeit through unofficial channels. 

 

As conceived, Disney's Beauty and the Beast is a tough show to pull off.  Unlike the animated film, which is most people's frame of reference, playwright Linda Woolverton has given the storybook characters depth.  The Beast is more threatening and sympathetic, and Belle, a Disney Princess in the film, is more assertive and misunderstood by small-minded town folk.  Gaston and Lefou are not merely buffoons; they are mean-spirited and menacing.  The servants-turned-household artifacts under the enchantress's spell are slowly losing their humanity as the play progresses, and are heartbroken over it.  

 

In addition, Alan Menken's music and Howard Ashman and Tim Rice's lyrics are complex, stage magic that has the Prince transform into a beast and back again is required, and elaborate costuming, makeup, and sets are par for the course.  This show was intended to be a piece of theater rather than merely a children's amusement.

 

Some local theaters opt to embrace the simplicity of the animated film and stage this show accordingly.  Here, characters are one-dimensional and no attention is given to their evolution.  Production values are kept to a minimum, with stage magic being mere slight-of-hand, and costumes and set pieces being made rather than rented.  Orchestras strive to just manage the music.

 

It's Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Lite.   

 

There is certainly a place for both versions in the world of community theater, given the range of budgets, expertise of local performers and expectations of local audiences.  

 

Beauty and the Beast: Lite has found a home in the Straw Hat Theatre at the Ashtabula Arts Center.

 

This is a charming production in a rustic facility without any pretense of being more than what it is-an earnestly performed children's amusement on a cool summer's evening with a well-stocked concessions stand.

 

Actors transformed into things do so courtesy of homegrown costuming designed and held together with good intentions.  Ensemble production numbers, orchestrated by director Lisa Marie French, are exercises in choreographed traffic control where not all voices hit the notes as written, but everyone takes unflappable pleasure in singing and dancing.  The orchestra, under the direction of Nora Giangola, plays with devotion and heart, if not in complete syncopation.     

 

This production captures the enthusiasm of those "backyard musical" films from the 1930s and 1940s, where a teenage Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney rally the town to put on a show.

 

In fact, Allison Lehr, as Belle, has the look, voice and presentational style of a young Judy Garland playing Dorothy in Wizard of Oz.  Trey Gilpin is a cowardly lion of a Beast-all fur and façade-which is against type but works nicely with his sweet tenor voice.  Arian Pal, as Lefou, is the equivalent of a flying monkey.

 

As for standout supporting cast members, Tina Burgett-Krause, as a cartoonish Mrs. Potts, delivers the best moment in the play in her lovely rendition of the show's title song.  Aaron Drews, as Lumiere, deserves a writing credit for all of his quick witted improvisations throughout the production.  Caitlin Rose, as Babette, is absolutely charming.

 

This is a show to see if you have family or friends in the cast, have young children needing amusement, and like your big musicals with fewer calories.

 

Beauty and the Beast continues through August 15 at Straw Hat Theatre, 2928 West 13th Street, Ashtabula.  For tickets, which are $11 to $14, call 440-964-3396. 
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