Ballet’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is family-friendly
Paul Daigle knows “Beauty and the Beast.”
He’s designed costumes for Canadian theater productions of the Disney musical, and is now doing the same thing for Milwaukee Ballet’s fresh take on the fairy tale.
So let’s ask him the big question: Will children and adults who love the Disney musical also enjoy Artistic Director Michael Pink’s version of Belle’s story?
“They’ll love this show,” Daigle said. “The story unfolds clearly. It has a lot of spirit and soul. It’s easy to relate to: It’s a tale of love and misunderstanding.”
Milwaukee Ballet performs “Beauty and the Beast” April 12-15 at the Marcus Center’s Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St. Beyond the familiar story line, the ballet’s production has several elements that may appeal to families that love “The Nutcracker”: a flock of 45 children performing with adult dancers in each show, and the incorporation of additional fairy-tale characters, including Prince Charming, Pinocchio and the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
In creating this world premiere, Pink has returned to the French fairy tale as his source material, Daigle explained. Pink has made Belle a bookworm whose intelligence and imagination give her the strength to cope with Beast — a prince turned monstrous by an enchantress’ spell as punishment for his coldheartedness.
Pink’s version also has original music by composer Philip Feeney, not the Menken-Ashman songs of the Disney musical.
The Milwaukee Ballet version grounds the audience in the prince’s and Belle’s lives before their meeting. Belle has sisters who are courted by a pair of goofball twins — played by dancers Parker Brasser-Vos and Randy Crespo, who don’t look alike. “A hint of humor and wit,” said Daigle, who loves this touch.
To communicate the worn-down atmosphere of the villagers’ lives, Daigle and the costume shop dipped fabrics in gray and turned them inside out, “so it has that sense of faded,” he said.
In contrast, Beast’s castle is a riot of jewel colors — peridot, amethyst, topaz, Daigle said.
The selfish prince is “sort of like the ruby in the crown jewels.” After the enchantress curses him, “his inner coldness and scarred character is revealed on the outside.”
In one important way, Daigle has followed a Disney precedent in designing costumes for this Milwaukee Ballet production.
“I put Belle in a blue dress,” he said. Not only is that what Disney did, “it’s a convention in dance as well, from the original productions of ‘Giselle.’”
It’s important the audience not have to search for her onstage, he pointed out.