Starring H.E.R, Josh Grogan, Joshua Henry, and Rita Moreno
Directed by Hamish Hamilton
Music by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice
This is Disney's second shot at a hybrid live action-animated special after their Little Mermaid from 2019. Beauty and the Beast actually turned 30 last year, but no matter. It remains one of Disney's most beloved films, and one of their biggest properties. The live-action version was a smash in 2017; the Broadway stage show ran for 13 years and turns up frequently in regional theaters. How does this version measure up to those? Let's start with Groban and the chorus as they perform a prologue showing how the Prince became the Beast and find out...
The Story: Belle (H.E.R) feels out of place in her small French village. She's too intelligent for most of the peasants, including boastful hunter Gaston (Henry). After her eccentric inventor father Maurice (Jon Jon Briones) stumbles into the Beast's castle, Belle agrees to trade her life for his. All of the Beast's servants, who were turned into household objects, hope to bring the two together...but Gaston and his buddy LaFou (Rizwan Manji) are determined to force Belle to marry the muscle-bound lunk, whether she wants to or not.
The Song and Dance: Disney not only went all-out on this, they did a somewhat better job of integrating the animated and live-action sequences than they did with Little Mermaid. It's especially apparent in the opening, where we see Belle's original animator at work in the Disney Studios. Sketches blown through the door take us and Belle out into the courtyard, where the real story begins. I liked seeing the original sketches and some of the voice cast at work in between numbers, too. And the dedication to Mrs. Potts' original voice artist Angela Lansbury (who passed away in October) at the end of the title song was so sweet.
Speaking of Twain, she ended up being the biggest surprise of the show. She made a warm and friendly Mrs. Potts, and her rendition of the title song was stunning. Martin Short and David Alan Grier had fun the few times they were allowed to interact as Lumiere and Cogsworth (despite the off-and-on French accent from the former). H.E.R was not only a lovely Belle, but is likely the only version of that character to ever get to play her title song on electric guitar.
Favorite Number: As mentioned, they did a great job with the opening number "Belle." Sketches of the village provide the backdrop in the Animation Courtyard for the lavishly costumed characters as they sing about their day. There's even children "sheep" for Belle to read to.
The reprise of "Belle" now celebrates all women who wish they could be so much more, as Belle imagines the women and girls of the town dancing with her. Disney hasn't done the pub stomp "Gaston" wrong yet. The hilarious paean to Gaston's over-the-top masculinity is as much of a hoot as it is in the animated and live-action movies, with Gaston knocking the table down and lifting a beer barrel barbell. "Something There" has an adorable touch with the kids dressed as birds dancing with Belle...but the Beast's stylized costume makes it hard to get any expression or figure out what he's singing.
"Be Our Guest" is just as colorful here as it is in the film. I suspect the disembodied hands in the table tossing the food around may be a reference to the invisible servants in some versions of the original fairy tale. The amazing costumes here are particular stand outs, with candles popping out of tables and Short manically jumping all over. The title song is done simply, with Twain singing it over the animated sequence, but it does come off as a touch of elegance. Groban gets the equally elegant ballad "Evermore" as the Beast wishes he could figure out how to get Belle to love him.
Trivia: "Evermore" is from the live-action film.
Look for Paige O'Hara (the original voice of Belle) as the book seller and Richard White (the voice of Gaston) as the baker in the "Belle" number. Composer Alan Menken can be seen as the piano-playing peasant in the opening and playing "Beauty and the Beast" with Twain.
What I Don't Like: The animated sequences are somewhat better-integrated...but they're still there, and they're still not necessary. Disney does the live portions so well, I wish they'd go all the way and make a fully-live musical that doesn't rely on animation. The stagy numbers don't work with the animation, and the animation often undercuts the stage routines. And I love Rita Moreno much as the next woman, but you could see the bits with the actors recording their roles and the sketches on the DVDs for the animated films. Once again, it takes away from the live show. Disney needs to either do the stage show, or just show the animated movie, not both.
The Big Finale: In the end, while I liked this somewhat better than The Little Mermaid Live, I still think it's mainly for huge fans of Beauty and the Beast or Disney. Everyone else is fine with the live-action or animated versions.
Home Media: It can currently be found streaming on Disney-owned ABC, Hulu, and Disney Plus, the latter two with subscriptions.
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