Since I was a child, attending productions of Shawnee Mission's Theater in the Park has been a family tradition. The first show I could remember seeing was when I was three years of age; when my grandmother took me to see a production of The Wizard of Oz. Unfortunately, I do not remember much of it as I believe I fell asleep during the first act. This show is when I became enamored with musical theater (and when The Wizard of Oz became one of my favorite stories). As the years progressed, I have seen other productions from this venue such as Footloose, Fiddler on the Roof, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and recently, Beauty and the Beast.
On the evening of July 29th, 2017, I attended a production of Beauty and the Beast with my younger brother and my mother; the latter of which is a huge fan of the film this show is based on (like myself). This was her and my brother's first time seeing the film's stage adaptation, and it was my second; I saw another production in 2010 at Starlight Theater. The three of us agreed this was a beautiful production in all aspects, from the music and plot to the design of the set and costumes.
The visuals of the production seemingly takes inspiration from the 2017 version of Beauty and the Beast. My theory for this choice is because the recent remake is still fresh in fans' minds. In the costume department, the transformed castle staff takes copious amounts of inspiration from the original Broadway run of the show. As an example, Lumiere's costume is almost identical to the one worn by Gary Beach in the original 1994 production, the only change being his candelabra hands. The other costumes seem to be lower budget versions of their Broadway counterparts, which is understandable since this is a smaller production. The only costumes that were drastically different than other adaptations were those of Belle's father, LeFou, and the wolves. The latter seemed to bear more of a resemblance to werewolves rather than the wolf puppets from other productions. This aspect intrigued me as it shows they were taking a show in a different direction than usual.
While the show's plot was the same as it usually was, there were some small changes that made it an intriguing production. To start, the prologue was narrated by the castle staff in human form instead of an off-screen narrator; similar to the prologue of the 2017 remake being narrated by Agathe (the Enchantress). Starting the show through this method makes it seem like the story is being told from the perspective of the castle staff, similar to another Disney production; The Hunchback of Notre Dame (a show I hope is at Theater in the Park next year). After the prologue, the show plays out as normal. If I could pick two of my favorite moments, I would say that I enjoyed their version of Be Our Guest and my favorite song from the musical, If I Can't Love Her. However, I felt the cast could have done better in two of the show's musical numbers, No Matter What and Gaston. At certain points in these two songs, the actors playing the lead singers (Maurice and LeFou, respectively) would skip certain lyrics entirely. I can forgive them for that mistake as they could have been doing so to keep in time with the music, as the music's tempo was inconsistent in some spots. Other than the minor issues in the audio department (such as the volume being inaudible in some spots), the musical numbers were phenomenal.
Aside from two characters, the cast was perfect in their roles and portrayed them in a believable fashion. While my three favorite characters in this production were Beast, Lumiere, and Belle (as they are my favorite characters from other versions), I believe the character who stole this show was their version of Chip Potts. I found the child portraying him to be hilarious and adorable, especially during the songs Something There and Human Again. That child deserves an award for his role, especially after his final line of dialogue, "do I still have to sleep in the cupboard?" (My mom, brother, and I started laughing when he said that)
Overall, this show is a beautiful one and I look forward to the next time Theater in the Park decides to produce it. While the production values are lower (since it is a smaller production) and there were some small audio issues, it is an amazing show and one I would definitely recommend to everybody if they have the chance to see it. Theater in the Park is known for their quality productions and to see them putting on one of my favorites was an amazing sight to behold. I look forward to seeing what they have next (hopefully next time the "Bells of Notre Dame" will ring for us). Congratulations on an amazing theatrical season and ending it with a bang!
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