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Anyone who’s ever met me knows that I love Disney just as much as I love Broadway. And I really love Disney on Broadway. (Well, not all of it. You couldn’t have paid me to see Tarzan last year. But I love the good stuff.)
My favorite show, Beauty and the Beast, closed its doors at the end of July to make room for Disney’s newest theatrical endeavor, The Little Mermaid. While I’m excited for the new show (it’ll star two of my favorite actors—Norm Lewis from the recent revival of Les Miserables and Sheri René Scott from The Last 5 Years), I was heartbroken to learn that Beast would be closing.
So in honor of a show that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing professionally three times, here’s a review of the original Broadway cast recording.
When the film Beauty and the Beast first came out, a common observation was that it played just like a Broadway musical. And no wonder—with musical-theatre heavyweights Alan Menken and Howard Ashman doing the music and lyrics. The opening number, “Belle,” feels like it would be more at home in a light comic operetta than in an animated movie for children. And then, of course, there are the big show-stopper numbers like “Gaston” and “Be Our Guest.” So when the decision was made to re-create the show on Broadway, a lot of the work was already in place.
The trick was to take a 90-minute cartoon and flesh it out into a full-length Broadway production. New songs had to be added to make this happen. Regrettably, lyricist Howard Ashman had passed away by the time work began on the musical, so Disney brought in renowned English lyricist Tim Rice to help write the remaining songs. Six brand-new songs were written for the show: “No Matter What,” a sweet song between Belle and her father, “Me,” a big comic show-stopper for the villainous Gaston, “Home,” a ballad sung by Belle her first night in the Beast’s castle, “How Long Must This Go On” and “If I Can’t Love Her,” both of which are sung by the Beast to express his frustration over the spell, and “Maison des Lunes,” another Gaston number. In addition, “Human Again,” a song written for but eventually cut from the movie, was reinstated.
The CD is so much fun to listen to. Songs you thought you knew from the movie sound so different with a full Broadway orchestra backing them up. The new songs fit in seamlessly and really complete the story arc. And the performances by Broadway heavyweights like Susan Egan, Gary Beach, and Burke Moses are amazing.
Even though the Broadway run is over, Disney has released the rights to community and high school theatres across the country, so there may be an opportunity to see the show in your area. In the meantime, check out the cast recording. It’s definitely one of my favorites.
