BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: The Musical
Broadway in Chicago has brought Beauty and the Beast: The Musical to the Cadillac Palace Theatre, and it has a different look and feel than others I have seen.
I have seen many productions of Beauty and the Beast since first seeing it in the 90s. Each production was grand and large. This production isn’t as grand, but the cast is just as large and talented.
I won’t go into the plot of the production, I’m sure we have all seen or heard about. It’s a cute, romantic story.
This production is scaled down in set design, which I wasn’t so happy about, but it worked in its own way. The cast is amazing and carries the audience along with them in the journey to the happy ending for Belle and the Beast. I was impressed with the relationship between Belle, played by Kyra Belle Johnson, and Fergie L. Philippe’s Beast.
I had the honor of having a conversation with Fergie, and I expressed to him how I could feel the connection between Belle and The Beast, and it seemed deeper than I have seen in other productions. He explained to me that he and Kyra were very good friends. He went on to tell me, “When we both got cast, we immediately went to lunch and chatted, and started getting to know each other and meeting each other’s partners and families. And we knew very quickly that our relationship and our personal lives being solid would transfer to the stage. And so, I think that that’s a big thing to do with it.”
The other characters that we love so well, the vain, big in brawn but not so much in brain matter, Gaston, is played wonderfully by Stephen Mark Lukas. The household items, Cogsworth (Javier Ignacio); Lumiere (Danny Gardner); Mrs. Potts (Kathy Voytko); and the rest of the cast bring energy, fantastic voices, and a full understanding of their characters that make it an enjoyable evening. I must call out the fantastic use of Illusion Designer Jim Steinmeyer’s use of pure magic. Leaving the theatre, and even now as I write this, I am trying to figure out how some of the illusions worked. To be honest, I love the fact that I can’t figure it out.
The musical numbers were fun, but I don’t think I have ever seen a standing ovation at the end of “Be Our Guest” as was given in this production. It begins with the usual Be Our Guest and ends with flashing lights, June Taylor Dancers (just told my age, but Google them or the Jackie Gleason Show), and confetti. Almost everyone was on their feet for a three-minute standing ovation.
In my conversation with Fergie, I told him about the time in the 90s I took my niece, who was 8 years old, to see Beauty and the Beast at the Nederlander Theatre. At that time, the Beast wore a full mask. At the end, when he turned into the Prince and the mask came off, we saw that he was Black. My niece stood up, grabbed my hand, and said, “Aunt Bonnie, the Beast is Black!” She smiled and talked about that even all these years later. I asked Fergie how it makes him feel when he sees children of color seeing a main character that looks like them. His response was,
“I mean, it’s the reason I do it truly. I mean, I think about how, while it’s easy for me to say that we have quite a long way to go socially, the evolution we’ve also experienced is astounding.” He went on to say, “And so, when I come to the stage door, when I see in the audience, there’s little Black children seeing me, I am hoping that within them, it just confirms something that they believe about themselves because I think that’s all we want as children is to be affirmed for the thing that we believe in and for the love that we want to give so freely. And I think that image is what helps that. I think we don’t realize as a society how much images help affirm, more than words, more than sometimes even actions. Images are so profound to children. And so, when you show images of reflection, they are able to take that and envelop it within themselves, and then that becomes the foundation, that becomes formative. So, it just makes me hope that when they see me, that it’s them being able to be affirmed and go, “Right, that’s for me too. I’m also up there. I’m allowed to be up there.”
This production of Beauty and the Beast: The Musical is an evening of fun, laughter, and children enjoying the songs and characters they know, and adults remembering the magic of when they saw a production when they were young.
Beauty and the Beast: The Musical will be at the Cadillac Palace Theatre until August 2nd.
It receives a 4 out of 5 winks of the EYE!
Until next time, keep your EYE to the sky!