Seeing ‘Beauty and the Beast’ through different eyes
With its production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” the Garden Theatre has put a new twist on a tale as old as time. It’s evident from the opening moment when a young girl wanders into her bedroom and picks up a journal — and I thought, “Wait, this is ‘Beauty and the Beast’?” After all, part of the wonder of the original production of the stage musical was how faithfully it re-created the beloved animated film.
At the Garden, director Roberta Emerson has chosen to wrap a framing device around the story of Belle’s journey from her quiet village to a Beast’s enchanted castle. In this version, the young girl seems to be writing the story herself or at least retelling it, if she has read it elsewhere. So young Gabriella Milchman pluckily begins the tale, intoning the classic “Once upon a time …”
Milchman is Black. So it makes sense that in her imagination Belle and the spoiled prince who was turned into a Beast are also Black. That casting isn’t revolutionary by any means; as far back as 1998, singer Toni Braxton played Belle on Broadway.
But what makes Emerson’s choice intriguing comes from the addition of the little girl. There’s something powerful about watching a child create her own fairy tale within her own frame of reference, a sense of something bigger in how we all want to “write our own stories” as we go through life.
The girl wanders through the show’s scenes, sometimes more organically than others. But this is still the “Beauty and the Beast” we all remember: As played by Zeshan Khan, Gaston has the correct balance between comic and vile; his dopey partner in crime, Lefou, is a strong comic presence as played by Logan Lopez. He’s funny despite the absence of the played-for-laughs violence that usually befalls Lefou.
At a preview performance last weekend, I didn’t miss the pratfalls. But in a few other spots, the show comes up a tad short. “Beauty and the Beast” is the type of entertainment where literal visuals are part of the enchantment, and the big “Be Our Guest” number feels undercooked
without a parade of colorful food — though choreographer James Tuuao makes the most he can of the Garden’s limited stage space.
Also suited to the theater’s size, Joe Klug’s set nicely evokes a storybook motif. Daisy McCarthy Tucker has given the Beast a gorgeously artistic headdress, while her other costumes are evocative of the status of the humansturned-objects
— but don’t always mesh with the “child’s imagination” framing device.
Strangely, not much attention has been paid, in costuming or movement, to the fact the characters are becoming more inanimate as the story progresses.
The Garden has made other tweaks here and there: Ayò Jeriah Demps, in a deliciously sly turn as Madame de La Grande
Bouche (Belle’s wardrobe), joins Whitney Morse as bubbly Mrs. Potts to add appealing harmony to the title tune. An odder choice: Belle and Beast’s finale solos are sung by the ensemble.
I’m glad the sometimes-jettisoned “Maison des Lunes” number was left intact; the slinky song shows off music director Bert Rodriguez’s band, and lets Giancarlo Osorio as the creepy Monsieur D’Arque beautifully demonstrate how to make a big impact in a small role.
If Gaston and Lefou are one “Beauty and the Beast” comic double act, another is Lumiere and Cogsworth — and the two Garden newcomers in those roles create another winning
combo. Nate Elliott doesn’t overdo the tightly wound Cogsworth’s tics, and Ricky DeVito Jr. simply lights up the stage literally and figuratively with Lumiere’s zest for life.
As for the central couple, Shane Bland smoothly pulls off the feat of being scary and somehow lovable at the same time. Belle has never been a shrinking violet, but Da’Zaria Harris makes her even stronger and sassier with zingier takes on familiar lines. Her singing voice is more pop-song husky than Broadway belt, but it meshes perfectly with her characterization. And she succeeds in the most important aspect of the character: Making the audience feel like anyone of us could be in her shoes.
But, of course, at the Garden it’s the little girl who’s imagining herself in those shoes. And one more thought on that: While it is superbly rewarding to watch a young Black girl imagining her own story, the choice could be viewed as the theater providing a reason for casting Black actors in the lead roles. I hope it goes without saying that no theater needs to explain that sort of casting decision when the talent speaks for itself. And let’s hope the day comes soon when that thought doesn’t cross people’s minds.
Until then, we have theaters such as the Garden showing us how our fairy tales — and our real world —could be.
‘BEAUTY AND THE BEAST’
Length: 2:35, including intermission
Where: Garden Theatre, 160 W. Plant St. in Winter Garden When: Through May 22 Cost: $27 and up
Info: gardentheatre.org
Find me on Twitter @matt_ on_arts, facebook.com/ matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel. com. Want more theater and arts news and reviews? Go to orlandosentinel.com/ arts. For more fun things, follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.