SHOWING : December 05, 2008 - December 21, 2008
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Disney’s Beauty & The Beast Dec. 5 – 21, 2008.
Student performances Dec. 9 & 10 at 10 AM. Based on the Academy Award winning animated feature, the stage version is the sixth-longest running Broadway production of all time. The show includes all of the wonderful songs from the film, written by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, (the team responsible for Little Shop of Horrors), plus new songs written especially for the Broadway version by Mr. Menken and Tim Rice (Aladdin, AIDA).
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Beauty on a Budget
| by MsMusicalMaker |
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Monday, December 15, 2008 |
2.5
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"Beauty on a Budget"
Performance attended: Dec 13
There’s something to be said for opening in a brand new location with such a huge production…the word is ambitious. I commend the Atlanta Lyric Theatre for taking such a risk on a show that typically calls for a much larger venue, but the production still ended up suffering.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has been a favorite film of my children and family for quite some time. The stage adaptation, with recent incarnates by the Theater of the Stars clan, has been brought to the Atlanta area with a bang in the past.
The Lyric’s production, though still charming at times, suffers in its confined space and with what at times seems like strange casting and directing choices.
As the Beast, Matthew Kacergis possesses a beautiful baritone voice. What he lacks in size (think Mini-Beast), he makes up in vocal dynamics. You do wish he was costumed to appear larger. More padding to his body would have made a large difference.
As our beauty, heroine Stephanie Dorfman makes a stunning Belle both physically and vocally. Her rendition of one of the “screen-to-stage” additions, “Home”, was simplistically beautiful.
Bradley Bergeron falls short of ever making the character of Gaston more than one dimensional. Though he had both the height and biceps (he flexes them to the point of distraction), he lacked the acting dynamics and comic chops to pull off the part. Some of the music sounded too low for him as well.
As for the Beast’s servants turned objects, Jeff McKerley’s Lumiere seems more like a standup comic routine than a tortured soul trapped within wax. His strange accent was a toss between southern, Minnesotan, and Mexican instead of that of a Frenchman.
Mrs. Potts (Mary Welch Rogers) continuously directed her lines directly to the audience, breaking the 4th wall. Whether this was a personal or directing choice, I don’t know. It became distracting and created a very amateur feel to the show.
Robert Wayne shines as Cogsworth with great comic timing and instincts.
The true “beast” of this show lies within the technical aspects. Mics seemed to distort from time to time, and with such little room, the cast members barely had space to move.
The set pieces looked like those that you would find in a community production. It makes you wish they had settled on a more minimalist approach with JUST drops, focusing on the story. Instead, you watch clunky, poorly painted pieces cram on and off stage, visible stage hands in the wings and long blackouts.
The saving grace of this production lies within a talented ensemble, a fantastic orchestra and the hope of new beginnings at the Strand Theatre.
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