Beauty and the Beast

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

“Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish and unkind. But then, one winter’s night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold…”

Leah Berry and Gary Lindemann star in the Country Dinner Playhouse Production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

In 1991 Disney’s Beauty and the Beast swept the Academy Awards, the first time an animated film landed on top as Best Picture. In 1994 Broadway took the beloved animated film and turned it into a blockbuster theatrical production. With Alan Menken music and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, the beloved “tale as old as time” won the hearts of young and old alike again and again.

From the moment Country Dinner Playhouse announced Beauty and the Beast would materialize on its stage, anticipation and questions ran high. Who would they cast? Who would direct? Could such a huge musical adequately be performed and contained on the small theatre in the round stage?

The answers came. Country Dinner Playhouse was spending $200,000 on the costumes.

New York’s Gary Lindemann would be playing the Beast.

Leah Berry would become Belle.

The production would be directed by Ed Flesch.

Award-winning local favorite Greg Price would be the clock Cogsworth.

Maybe so. Maybe CDP could pull it off.

The extraordinary fairy tale brings to life a beautiful girl, Belle, captivated by books, while the other village girls are ga-ga over the handsome but arrogant Gaston. Her father Maurice a creative, tinkering inventor gets lost in the woods stumbling upon a castle where the clock, teapot and candelabra speak.

A handsome self-centered prince turned off by an ugly hag, lives under an enchanted spell. Turned into a Beast, he will remain so until he learns how to love.

The fairy tale speaks to several vital issues as old as humanity: judging a book by its cover, courage to be different, and in spite of looks, what is really boastfully ugly?

During Intermission a young lady was asked how she enjoyed the show. Without cracking a smile, she replied, “The Beast keeps waking me up.” Unfortunately, that just about wraps up CDP’s production.

If a theatre company spent $200,000 on costumes, it would seem someone would make sure the costumes and wigs fit.

The costumes and wigs create the initial image while the actors fill out the heart and soul of characters the audience wants to believe in.

Gary Lindemann certainly has the voice for the Beast, but his headdress looks like he just returned from a belated Halloween party. The gap between the headdress and his head destroys the beastly image.

Christopher Sergeeff deliciously portrays, Gaston’s not too bright goofball sidekick, while wearing a coat that could fit someone three times his size, detracting from his enchanting acrobatic proficiency.

Price’s expertise allows him to provide scrumptious personality characteristics for Cogsworth, the clock, but the wig has to belong to someone else.

Pairing Price with Brad Ramsey as Lumiere, the candelabra, comes close to comic genius. It has been quite sometime since Ramsey has a graced a stage. His talent needs to be shared. However, the overly large candles he sports on his arms overshadow the grace of Lumiere.

Berry’s costumes and performance are perfect for Belle. She gives what is most perceived as the character so many little girls aspire to be like. Leah Berry becomes Belle.

Rather than being portrayed as an arrogant, egotistical overbearing man about town who has convinced himself every girl drools at his feet, Gaston comes across as a clownish buffoon with a wig comically top-heavy.

Director Flesch takes Act I into a slapstick portrayal of silly people rather than a believable village of boxed in characters who have difficulty looking beyond their own world in what appears to be different. Berry does get Belle’s demeanor across along with Bill Berry’s portrait of Maurice, Belle’s ingenious inventing Father. Bill Berry and Leah Berry manage to maintain their defined characters with strong appeal in spite of the fact the rest of the town characters are just that: characters.

Act II does settle down to convey the struggle the Beast has to overcome his fear and anger to discover the humanity of love and being civil.

The wolf costumes look more like characterizing lions with their heavy manes rather than wolves. I know several wolves personally from a wolf reserve, and have yet to meet one with a heavy mane.

Alann Worley’s choreography stands out, particularly with the wolf encounters.

The program explains Brian Mallgrave plays the Young Prince at the very beginning of the production stumbling over his self-centered attitude. Appalled by an ugly old woman who actually happens to be Salli Melti as the Enchantress, he rejects her advances. With the spell cast in a flash of light, the Young Prince is transformed into the Beast. The physical transformation loses its punch when both Mallgrave and Lindemann are spotted standing side by side. Certainly, with the flashing lights the exchange could be made in the dark so both aren’t seen at the same time. With lights and creative direction, magic can happen on stage, calling for quick thinking timing.

Was the comic approach intended to make up for the cumbersome costumes? Or was the comic interpretation inserted to water down the underlying seriousness of the fairy tale? All fairy tales come clocked with an underlying seriousness reaching into the reality of human nature. Comedy works with fun enticing antics of the desirable characters, but the clownish attempt detours the romance, mystery, intrigue, splendor, and beauty of the honest story.

Spoons, knives, and forks, although impressive, are out of proportion to the actors carrying them on their backs. A smaller, more slender appearance could have provided a sense of elegance. One of the most adored songs of the musical, “Be Our Guest,” had to share an awkward moment with out of proportioned silverware.

This production of Beauty and the Beast lacks splendor, wonderment, majesty, and an awesome magical tickling of surprise, fun, and delight. It misses the point of how beasts come to be beasts and what it takes to become un-beastly. It sidesteps fun spontaneous characters for the sake of silly laughter becoming an entity in itself. Beauty and the Beast is a “could have been” traveling an enchanted road lost in a fog. There is a grand difference between silly and honest humor. Was silliness emphasized so not to scare the children?

The production fell prey to having actors hide behind much loved songs, creative but cumbersome costumes diminishing the opportunity to develop characters to their fullest extent. Several members of the large cast maintain their integrity. Wendy Bawman does as the Wardrobe. Leah provides a consistent irresistible Belle. Bill Berry plays Maurice with a range of emotions. Price overlooks his mismatched wig for the sake of artistic veracity. In spite of his ill-fitting headdress, Lindemann gives the Beast a range of believable emotion. Leah breathes heart and soul into Belle. Rob Costigan and Bob Hoppe always stand out with their proficiency in dance and characterization whether they are silverware or lionized wolves.

In spite of the good things that can be said about this production still don’t make up for the lack of enchantment it fails to reach.

The young lady spotlighted during Intermission sums it all up, “The Beast keeps waking me up.”