Mutton dressed as lamb

From the first note of “Belle”, Hilary Maiberger mesmerised the Bangkok audience on Tuesday night with her realistic portrayal of Belle and a pitch-perfect voice in the international touring production that’s celebrating the 20th anniversary of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”.
Had there been more young girls among the audience at Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre – there were, unfortunately, fewer than 10, understandable given the Bt4,000 tickets – I’m sure they would have wanted to become like Belle, a beauty with a brain and love of books for who being just a housewife would never be an option.
Maiberger’s unforgettable performance was well supported by Darick Pead in the role of the Beast, who convincingly showed different sides of the cursed character as he moved from being hot-tempered to warm-hearted and even funny. Adam Dietlein’s Gaston was so comically narcissistic that I couldn’t help thinking of today’s selfie culture. James May’s Cogsworth and Hassan Nazari-Robati’s Lumiere were also delightful, brightening the dark tone of the Beast’s castle. Emily Mattheson’s Mrs Potts was gentle and warm and her rendition of the title song was a highlight of the evening. In other words, these characters came alive – they’re no longer cartoonish – thanks to these actors who never for a moment looked or sounded like they’d performed the musical many hundreds of times already.
As a result, this “Beauty and the Beast” was pleasant from start to finish and I had a better time than I did 20 years ago watching it on Broadway. However, in a rare case of showing preference for film, I have to say the 1991 animated movie was more magical.
Disney Theatrical Productions staged a major show for the first time back in 1994 and a few years later raised the bar very high with “The Lion King” thus proving that theatre can be more fantastical than film and it’s the creators who need to think about storytelling techniques differently when working in different media. It also proves that, like many Disney’s animations in recent years, a good children’s story, when deftly told, can be equally enjoyed by the young and the no longer young.
What I felt back then, and feel even more strongly now, is that Linda Woolverton, who wrote the screenplay, was so concerned that the kids in the audience wouldn’t get the core message that she over-repeated it from the first scene onwards. She also spent too much time on the antagonist Gaston in the first act and used him very little in the second to the sacrifice of the time Belle and the Beast shared and how their hatred turned into love.
The original creative team recreated this production a few years ago and maybe the word “tour” restricted scenic designer Stanley A. Meyer, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, who won a Tony Award from this colourful work, and lighting designer Natasha Katz from adding more theatrical magic to the 20-year-old work.
For example, the “Be Our Guest” scene and the characters’ transformation back into humans was in obvious need of more 21st- century trickery. It’s 2015, and so when the audience see the word “spectacular” in the title, we expect more than our counterparts in 1990s.

Bring the kids
“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: The Original Broadway Musical Spectacular” continues until Sunday at Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre (MRT: Thailand Cultural Centre).
Showtime is 7.30pm, with 2pm shows on Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets cost from Bt1,000 to Bt4,000 at ThaiTicketMajor.
Find out more about the show at www.BeautyAndTheBeastOnTour.com and BEC-Tero’s Facebook page.