Mercury’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is entertaining but not engaging Bob Abelman Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal Member, International Association of Theatre Critics As the title song reminds us, “Beauty and the Beast” is a tale as old as time. Its story about a prince who is transformed into a hideous beast as punishment for his selfishness and must gain the love of a selfless woman to recover his humanity was published as a fairy tale in 1740. An operatic version of the story was performed in 1771. Even the Disneyfication of this tale is getting a bit long in the tooth. It first took form as a 1991 animated musical by Linda Woolverton (script), Alan Menken (music) and Howard Ashman (lyrics), and then, in 1994, became a stage musical with additional lyrics by Tim Rice. “Beauty and the Beast” ran on Broadway for over 13 years, has been on national and international tour even longer, and is a favorite among regional and community theaters. In short, the show has been done ad nauseam. So Mercury Theatre Company’s instinct to do something a little different is commendable, even if the well-intended results of director Pierre-Jacques Brault’s efforts and those of designers Douglas Puskas (scenic), Michael Jarett (lighting), Eric Simna (sound) and Inda Blatch-Geib (costume) are mixed. For more of this review, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/.