The Joffrey's New Nutcracker

I don't get out to see the Joffrey Ballet's Nutcracker every year, but last year when we learned it was their final time producing their classic version we made it out to Chicago to soak it all in one last time. This month I got to see Christopher Wheeldon's new take on it.

I've seen other more local productions too throughout the years, and various movie versions/youtube clips, and typically each company doesn't vary too much from the classic story, scenes, and characters. The new Joffrey Nutcracker is certainly unique-it's set the Christmas before the opening of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 (which introduced the first Ferris Wheel to the world, among other novelties-you're welcome, Earth!). Clara (whose name went back to Marie...possibly a nod to the Hoffman story?) is now the daughter of one of the immigrant workers on the Fair.  Her family lives in a shack on the developing Fair Grounds-one that was based on a historical photo.

So it's an interesting choice for a setting, although it may hold less appeal for out of towners. One of the most significant differences is that Marie is now poor, and the Christmas party scene looks very different. Purely from a visual perspective, the party scene isn't nearly as colorful or lush, but it makes for good exploration of what Christmas might have been like for most families around that time who couldn't necessarily afford the luxuries that Clara's family does in most ballets. From the program notes: "Instead of receiving luxurious and rare presents at a magnificent party in a vast house and then dreaming of even more presents and candy, our story offers a small gathering of immigrant workers coming together to celebrate the holiday with the things they have, filling the air with music and their vivid imaginations." When the tree transforms, it's significant not just because the tree magically grows, but because the tree originally started out as basically a cheap, Charlie Brown Christmas Tree that disappoints Marie, and it becomes a more lush and decorated tree in the process of growing.

The score is the same classic Tchaikovsky music, although with a few minor changes-during the party scene, some of the dances were played by three onstage musicians, as characters playing for the festivities. It added a sense of authenticity, although there were times I missed the full orchestra. The dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (who is now the Queen of the Fair) was moved to earlier in Act 2 and I think at least one variation was removed (the Nutcracker or Cavalier's solo after the big Pas de Deux).

I like Chicago history as much as the next person,probably even more, and although the setting was interesting I almost felt by the end like we were being hit over the head with it, in almost propaganda-like fashion: "The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 was the greatest anyone could ever dream of!!!" The Fair isn't merely the setting with interesting themes to explore, it became the thing the ballet revolves around. The opening scene has a huge billboard advertising the coming of the Fair; instead of mechanical dolls at the party the Drosselmeyer character (the Great Impresario, modeled after the Fair's chief architect Daniel Burnham) creates a silhouette model of the Fair for the children; the Waltz of the Snowflakes was performed with the Fair in the background and the entire Land of Sweets was replaced by the Dream Fair. To be fair (haha...no pun intended), the setting did make sense of the dancers from all around the world, as the program compared the World's Fair to Disney World's Epcot, giving you a "taste" of different countries' cultures from around the world. Still, in the old Joffrey production that element was tied together by the dolls that came to life under the tree, each representing one of the dances in the second act.

One of the more disappointing changes for me, personally, was replacing the Russian dance with a Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Show. Although there really was a Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Show at the original Fair, making it historically accurate, the Trepak is one of the most iconic dances in the ballet- but really I just found the choreography to be unimpressive. I feel like they could have done more with Cowboy Bill than swinging a lasso, the saloon girls hardly did anything, and the dance lacked the energy of the Russian dance-but the rest of the audience loved that one. I also thought the choreography was poor for the Mother Ginger dance-which used to feature children doing tumbling and ballet, and is now child dancers in walnut costumes that frankly made me feel like I was watching a local dance studio's production of Nutcracker and not one of the top ballet companies in the country. Yet again, others disagreed-one reviewer called that dance the most hilarious part of the show.

So overall, it was an interesting look at the Nutcracker story and I enjoyed it. Still, for the traditionalists in our group, we kind of missed the ballet we knew and loved. Yet not everyone agreed with us-I overheard a woman afterwards saying she liked this better than the old ballet, and critics have given it great reviews. It will depend on what you're used to and expect when it comes to Nutcracker-some people may be itching for a new way to look at the story, but others of us love the nostalgia of recreating old traditions at Christmas-one of my favorite Christmas memories has just been replaced by a totally different ballet. Although I did like the concept, I don't know that I'll be dying to see this as often as I did the classic version (just as well, since it will be harder to get to it in future with a baby!). Speaking of which...one cool thing was that one of the party guests in the first act was "pregnant"-I think it's probably pretty rare to have a pregnant character in any ballet!

Although I really will miss my favorite element of the old ballet: one year, a child showed up to audition in a wheelchair, and so a character in a wheelchair was made part of the cast every year after that, participating naturally with the other boys in their party shenanigans. At the very end of the party scene, Drosselmeyer would give that child a magical "blessing" and it always made me tear up (I teach music to people with disabilities).

I don't know that I have a lot of local Chicagoland readers, but if anyone else has seen the new Nutcracker I'd love to hear what you think! Gypsy posted on it a few days ago, with several excerpts from other reviews, for more on what the experts have to say and not just my sentimental reaction ;).

Joffrey's Cinderella

Joffrey's 2006 Cinderella

I thought this review in the Chicago Tribune on the Joffrey Ballet doing Sir Frederick Ashton's adaptation of the ballet "Cinderella" was interesting. Ballet and Cinderella fans alike might enjoy reading about the challenges of the dancers playing the stepsister roles, and attempting to make them more than just comic relief.

Rory Hohenstein and David Gombert rehearsing their stepsister roles

An excerpt: (emphasis mine)

"Male roles inspired by British pantos, the Stepsisters epitomize the ballet's gentle, hopeful vision. Quarrelsome, jealous, deliciously foolish, they must go beyond comic relief. "At the end of the ballet," says Wheater, "we have to have some feeling for them, empathy for them."

Dancing the bossy older Stepsister for the first time, paired with returning Joffrey member David Gombert as the younger one, Rory Hohenstein says that at first he was intimidated by the part: He'd heard "legendary stories of some of my friends' really funny performances." Plus he knew how important it was to get these character roles, so crucial to the story, right.

However, it's "harder to get your point across when you're covered in ridiculous clothing," he says. Despite being men in dresses, the Stepsisters are coached not to be too over-the-top. That can be "a hard line to walk — literally in heels," Hohenstein says. "You're jumping around in them so much, at the end of the day your feet hurt. But sometimes it's easier in the heels because you naturally walk a different way."

Blogger Meetup (and Fairy Tale Tea!)

By far, one of the best perks of blogging is getting to interact with amazing people all over the world. I've been following Amy Elize Brown of The Willow Web (now transitioning to a new website, Amyelize.com) for a while now, and loving her insights into fairy tales, especially her research into Sleeping Beauty for her dissertation. You may remember reading some of her most interesting discoveries in her guest post here at Tales of Faerie, 5 Strangest Things I Learned about Sleeping Beauty.

Amy lives in England, so I had never really considered the possibility of being able to meet her in person, but I was thrilled to hear she was coming to Chicago last month! We met up for tea and then explored the German Christmas Market for a bit, a favorite Chicago tradition of mine.

Amy is just as sweet in real life as she is online! (Not to mention I am super jealous of her amazing British accent!) It was fun to search for all the fairy tale themed things at the Christmas Market, and you can see more of her pictures at her blog (including the Fairy Castle at the Museum of Science and Industry!). It was great to meet Amy and her friends, and she was kind enough to bring me some souvenirs from England, including this fabulously appropriate Winter Fairytale Tea!

From Toys to Husbands: Children and Romance in Fairy Tales

I got to see two productions of "The Nutcracker" this year, one that my student was in, and then I wanted to see the Joffrey's classic production of Nutcracker one last time before they switch to a different production next year!

One thing that stood out to me this year as I watched the story unfold was how odd it was that Clara is such an odd mixture of child and woman. At the beginning of the story she is very excited to be getting dolls and dolls beds for Christmas, but the whole story is a romance. Although she doesn't marry the Nutcracker Prince at the end of the ballet, E.T.A. Hoffman's original story makes it all the more jarring-the heroine (who was originally named Marie) begins the story at 7, and the conclusion says that she and the Prince were "married after a year and a day." Yes, some time has passed, but not long enough for that to be any less troubling!

Katharine Cameron

Yet this is not a new issue in fairy tales (and yes, I'm aware that "Nutcracker" isn't technically a fairy tale). I've already mentioned that I find it kind of creepy that the Princess in Frog Prince is so childish at the beginning, especially in the Grimms' version-her golden ball (another toy) is her favorite thing, she needs to be taught (in a rather condescending manner) about the "importance of keeping your word" (not the danger of letting strange supernatural males sleep in your bed), and after throwing the frog against a wall, she all of a sudden marries him.

Arthur Rackham

Yet another seven year old fairy tale character ends up married in the Grimms' version of Snow White. Some say that she must grow during her enchanted sleep, but even then it's hardly more comforting-she would still emotionally be a little girl after waking up (there are plenty more disturbing things about the Grimms' Prince I won't go into here). And why is her age even mentioned? Unlike Clara/Marie and the Frog Prince's bride, her story could have happened to an older teenager/young woman. Her stepmother is jealous of her beauty-an odd thing for a seven year old girl-and she is tempted not by toys, but by an apple and beauty products. Removing the age from the story would make total sense.

I've already done a little looking into the fact that, in other cultures, many girls really did get married off extremely young (see Frog Prince and Marriageable Age). It's possible that in some of these stories, the idea of a young girl going right from baby dolls to making babies would have seemed more natural, but it's also possible that the extreme and sudden transition was intentionally meant to show how unnatural the process felt for many of those young girls. Often fairy tales served to be the voice of the voiceless, as women passed down their experiences to those in the next generation.

Joffrey Ballet

Yet maybe it's not all that unnatural. It's very common for young children to have romances, even though they are not sexual ones. I remember having my first "boyfriend"at age 6. It was a label that really had no meaning, but for many people of all ages, having a significant other can be more of a status symbol or form of identity than anything else. Children see romance stories all the time, and it's natural to have crushes, even though they might not think through the logical outcomes of those crushes.

Joffrey Ballet

And stories like the "Nutcracker" may just be an exploration of that odd time when young girls are still children in many ways, but starting to feel that pull towards adulthood. It can also be seen as a sweet story of a girl's first crush-in the Joffrey version, Clara is the only one to join in both the children's and the adults' dances.

Thoughts on the subject?

Hans Christian Andersen around the World (in monuments)

The other day, Tabled Fables had this posted:

From passport couture: "I never expected Hans Christian Andersen to be in Chicago, but I'm excited to run into him."

I never expected to run into HCA in Chicago either, and I live here!! Well, not in the city proper, but I've lived in the Chicago area my whole life. I need to get to Lincoln Park at some point and see this in person!

I was also curious as to why we have a statue of HCA among a bunch of famous Chicago/Illinois people. Most people might go for the Grimms as the most famous fairy tale collectors (maybe they didn't want to make two statues??). I'm pretty sure Andersen never visited here or had any special Chicago connections...

View of Lincoln Park in Chicago

It didn't answer my question but I did find some more information on the history of the monument:

"Soon after members of Chicago’s Dania Society suggested that the city should erect a monument to Andersen in 1891, a committee formed and began raising money for the eight-foot-tall bronze sculpture. Donations included pennies and nickels from school children. The Hans Christian Andersen Monument Association hired Danish sculptor John Gelert (1852–1923), who had arrived in Chicago in 1887, and received his first commission for the Haymarket Riot monument (which was later considered controversial). Gelert later explained that “he had the advantage of studying several good photographs of Andersen taken at various times in his life.” Gelert portrayed the children’s author sitting with a book in hand and a swan at his feet, alluding to his world-famous story."

(emphasis mine)

Hans Christian Andersen, also with book and duck, can also be found in Manhattan:

And, as you might expect, in Copenhagen (where the famous Little Mermaid statue also is):

And a museum in Odense (HCA's birth town):

Through the Scandinavian Heritage Association in North Dakota:

And apparently, this sculpture in Odense was going to be drowned in a harbor??

HCA can also be found in Slovakia

This time without a duck and with a snail...and whatever that is on his back? Am I a bad fairy tale blogger if I don't know what the snail is from?

And Solvang, California

Out of curiosity, I tried to find other statues of the brothers Grimm to compare. It seems that they are most honored in monument form in Germany but not outside. (Let me know in the comments if I'm wrong!) Isn't that interesting, though? The Grimms are arguably more popular, is it just the cost issue of having to do both brothers verses one HCA?

A Hansel and Gretel Christmas

Found these two ads in the Chicago Tribune a couple days ago and thought you might find them interesting too:

"Gingerbread House Competition: Hansel and Gretel's witch could look to Geneva for inspiration this season as candy-coated houses fill the All Chocolate Kitchen. The houses must be made entirely of edible materials and will be judged...on overall appearance, creativity, difficulty, and precision."

Emerald City's "Hansel and Gretel: A Wickedly Delicious Musical Treat"

Among the most fertile of fairy tales, this classic takes on a new flavor when kiddie ace Justin Roberts teams up with Emerald City's Ernie Dolan. The pair deliver an all-ages rock musical (featuring The Grimm Brothers Band) about the brother-sister duo who discover appearances aren't always as sweet as they seem. 

Sounds interesting, definitely a new take on Hansel and Gretel! More info on the Broadway in Chicago site.

Then, also from the Chicago Tribune, but on a much more sober note: They've been doing several exposees on the system of institutions in Illinois for abused and neglected children, finding that they are rife with sexual and physical abuse, from the other residents as well as the staff. Truly heartbreaking to read story after story of kids and teens who were taken advantage of when they should have been protected. (Read more here, here, and here.)

But it did remind me of fairy tales, so many of which are about the abuse of children. And while we sit around contemplating the possible symbolic and psychological meanings of these tales in which mothers, stepmothers, siblings, and lusty fathers are cruel and mistreat the protagonists (I was just reading the other day about how "Donkeyskin" is supposed to be a way that girls live out their Oedipal complexes), we forget that for thousands of kids worldwide, these accounts of horrible abuse are true in the most literal sense. Even in our modern world, the very system that is supposed to put an end to this is making it worse. Many of these girls escape the system, to end up on the streets and in prostitution. They are truly victims, yet I hope no one would accuse them of being passive and unfeminist; they were placed in a horrible, awful sitation they should never have been in. I just hope that these articles inspire some major change, because awareness is only the first step-people have to take action next.

The White Snake

I mentioned this back in my post about Chicago Fairy Tale Entertainment back in August: a play of the Chinese fairy tale Legend of the White Snake. I wasn't familiar with this tale, only the Grimm Tale White Snake. And to be honest the Wikipedia summary, linked above, was hard for me to follow since the names were all unfamiliar to me and hard to keep the characters straight.

Being presented at the Goodman Theater this year, Mary Zimmerman's The White Snake might be a better introduction to Asian folklore for people like me. The description from the website:

"The White Snake chronicles the tale of a gentle serpent spirit who lives for centuries coiled on a mountaintop. One day, she transforms herself into a beautiful young woman and, with her feisty companion Green Snake, travels down to the world of humans. There, she unexpectedly finds love, happiness and family, and vows to remain a human forever. But when a vengeful monk discovers her true identity, he becomes determined to destroy the life that she’s built—and break apart her marriage to her one true love. Funny, moving and stunningly staged, The White Snake is a ravishing theatrical spectacle that will enchant and delight"

It's gotten good reviews from the Huffington Post, New York Times and NPR. This performance includes puppets, singing, and choreography. Costumes and props are lavishly done, larger than life, and impressive to behold.

This tidbit from the Huffington Post was interesting, especially to those of us who are interested in the evolution of fairy tales in general, and how and why they are edited. This play ends happily, with love conquering all, but:
"That account bears little resemblance to the original tale, in which the snake devours her human prey, but Zimmerman's free adaptation is consistent with the story's evolution in China. As described in scholarly yet readable program notes, the plot and especially the serpent have been re-imagined through the centuries in plays, operas and literary works, changing along lines that seemed appropriate to the authors and their eras."

Generally, we know people like happy endings, despite how realistic/unrealistic that may be (HIMYM Series finale, anyone?). At least they did their research and have thought through the decision to give the story a happy ending. Adaptations of Swan Lake also have to decide which ending they're going to give audiences.

On that same vein of happy vs. realistic endings-I just saw Saving Mr. Banks. I won't do a whole post on it since it's not a fairy tale, but I did think it interesting that they addressed the issues people have with Disney and his fairy tale versions through Mrs. Travers' character, who didn't want her stories to be all sparkly and fluff, and didn't want children to have the idea that everything would magically work out for them. Yet in the end Disney gives this big emotional monologue about how his childhood was hard and his father harsh, yet through stories we can redeem the past. I thought this was interesting because usually we talk in terms of what stories do to us in terms of preparing us for the future, but in this case the story was a way of almost therapeutically healing and letting go of the past.

Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives at Museum of Science and Industry

I got to see the Museum of Science and Industry's Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibit!

I was already prepared from reading in the Chicago Tribune that the exhibit focused on movie props and animation, not on storylines or specifically fairy tales. But of course, no display of Walt Disney's life would be complete without reference to fairy tales. In the article, Steve Johnson also pointed out his disappointment that the museum didn't go more into Disney's life, "the good and the bad." I was surprised by this initially, because this is not a display somewhere in Disneyland, but put on by a respected and unbiased museum-until I saw that the whole thing was put on by D23, Disney's official fan club. And really to be fair, only so much can fit into one exhibit, and it's a science museum after all, so it makes sense they would focus on animation.

 

And animation is where Disney shines most when we look back-this form of storytelling would be very different today if it weren't for Walt Disney. It's rather unfortunate that someone so innovative and forward thinking couldn't be more progressive when it came to his portrayals of women in fairy tales. In my opinion, Disney's movies really aren't that bad in and of themselves, especially compared to much of the media coming out at the same time (although you will find many who vehemently disagree with me on that)-what's really telling is looking at each fairy tale's history, and how in that sense, his ideas seemed almost backwards. And while we could have expected a little more from him, at the time critics and fans alike absolutely loved his movies-there were even fan letters from other celebrities and presidents. I don't know enough history to fully understand the attitudes of the time, but it's safe to say people had different expectations from there entertainment in Walt's early career than we do today.

Of course you won't find any of that in this museum. The only thing they mention about storyline is how Walt invented the storyboards. But, aside from that, it was still really interesting. I'd read about the multiplane camera before, another invention of the Disney company (although not actually Walt himself, as the exhibit made it seem), but only had a vague idea of how it worked. But now I understand what it is and appreciate the creativity that went into creating it.

 

I also really enjoyed seeing movie props, like the costumes from Mary Poppins, and the storybooks used for the openings of the first Disney Princess movies.

I also thought it interesting to see how, in the span of Disney's creations, though the creators of this exhibit lauded his genius as storyteller, I'd say at least 50% of his movies were taken from either fairy tales or well-known books. It's a little more challengin to create your own masterpiece then to interpret a story that is already well-loved...but whatever your personal opinions of Disney, you can't deny how influential he was. From his earliest laugh-o-grams to the present, fairy tales were integral to Disney's success, and in turn his interpretations of the tales placed him as one of the most significant people in the history of fairy tales (one fan letter the museum displayed, I think from Cecil B. Demille, said that "Germany had its brothers Grimm, and America its Disney!"). I'd recommend the exhibit to anyone else in the Chicago area who has a soft spot for Disneyana!

Fairy Tale Entertainment: Chicago

I've thought about doing a post like this before, but decided against it, since I think most of you don't live in the Chicago area and this wouldn't be of special interest to you.

However, after hearing ads for two fairy tale-inspired events in one set of commercials while listening to the radio this morning, I thought it might be interesting just to see how much of our art is influenced by fairy tales, in just one season of one city's entertainment. This is not even an extensively researched list, a few of these I had heard of and I went through the CSO schedule and listed those titles which included fairy tale subjects (this doesn't include programs where only one piece may be fairy tale inspired).

• David Lang's The Little Match Girl Passion at Ravinia, August 26, 2013

• Dvorak's Rusalka at the Lyric Opera, February-March 2014

• Mary Zimmerman's The White Snake at Goodman Theatre, starting May 3, 2014

Description: "This ancient and beloved Chinese fable chronicles the tale of a gentle serpent spirit who transforms herself into a beautiful young woman to find love in the human world. Funny, moving, and stunningly staged, The White Snake is a ravishing theatrical spectacle that will enchant and delight."
(So this appears to be unrelated to the Grimm's tale of the same name)

• Chicago Symphony Orchestra:

Once Upon a Symphony: Stone Soup October-November
Mother Goose and More November
Program includes:
Tchaikovsky Waltz from Sleeping Beauty

Mussorgsky Tuileries from Pictures from an Exhibition

McBurney Nursery Rhymes

Ravel Selections from Mother Goose Suite

Prokofiev Midnight from Cinderella

Humperdinck Selections from Hansel and Gretel

Pictures From an Exhibition in December (Includes Baba Yaga's Hut)
Once Upon a Symphony: Three Little Pigs in March-April
Adventures with Aladdin in May-This is really just Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade, I find it interesting they used the more familiar fairy tale character to advertise the concert

• Ballet Preljocaj Blanche Neige (Snow White), at the Harris Theater May 2-4

*InkGypsy at Once Upon a Blog covered this ballet back in 2012
I'm sure there's much more happening this year-especially in theater, which I don't follow as much as I do classical music/ballet. If I find more I'll try to remember to update this list, or feel free to send links my way in the comments!

Jim Henson at Museum of Science and Industry

Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry currently has a special Jim Henson exibit through Jan. 23. The exibit itself was great-it showed his early career, lots of storyboards and original puppets, but then ended abruptly after Dark Crystal. I was disappointed I wouldn't get to learn more about the Muppet movies or my beloved Labyrinth.
The Muppets are no strangers to fairy tales. Jim had done an early commercial with a Hansel and Gretel theme, where the children survive the horrors of the furnace because of some fabric product they were promoting.


The characters also did Frog Prince and Hey, Cinderella:




And I've already shared Muppet Theatre Classic Fairytales, and Surlalune has featured many Muppet News Flash Fairy Tales.

The Museum of Science and Industry is also home to Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle. Pictures from the website; read about it there or in my archives.

The Joffey's Nutcracker

In the Chicago area, (or the whole coutry according to the ads,) the Joffrey Ballet's Nutcracker is clearly the best one to see-but also the most expensive. When you're used to it, any other productions are disappointing in comparison. Thank goodness for youtube-

One of my favorite things about the Joffrey Ballet's version happens at the end of the party scene. There's always a little boy in a wheelchair at the party. If I recall correctly, they used to have it so that at the end of the party, Godpapa Drosselmeier throws some magic dust on him and he rises out of his chair-a miraculous healing. Last year, from what I could see from my seat, I think the boy in the wheelchair was really a boy with a disability. Godpapa Drosselmeier gives him a special "magic" blessing as usual, but there's no miraculous healing-I think I like it better that way; it gives encouragement to individuals and families with disabilities without an unrealistic solution that won't really happen.

Chicago play-Peter Pan

For any Chicago area folk who might be interested, here's a link to the Tribune's review of Amanda Denhert's "Peter Pan (A Play)." The review itself is pretty negative, so it might discourage anyone from buying a ticket, but it's always interesting to see how people interpret classic stories in different ways.

An exerpt: "This "Peter Pan" loses almost all of the sharp contrasts in Barrie's writing, fails to hold on to the narrative thread of his storytelling and flattens everything into an overwrought and tediously theatrical landscape. More problematic yet, the piece feels weirdly clueless about parents and children, which is the very core of a book that, while strange, surely hits on some of most painful truths of our home lives.
"Peter Pan," which was born out of an unusual and now well-documented, turn-of-the-century friendship that Barrie had with a family of five boys, can be played darkly or lightly or (ideally) on twin tracks for kids and adults."

I love that last line and think it applies to most stories-"Can be played darkly or lightly or (ideally) on twin tracks for kids and adults." I believe good children's stories should also have appeal for adults and that it's totally possible to achieve that balance, as the original Barrie play itself proves.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast onstage: My take

Well, I finally did see Broadway in Chicago's "Beauty and the Beast".

Secret to automatically enjoying any stage production you see in Chicago: see a jr. high do a production of the same show a week or two before, then the professional version will instantly be better.

But, I'm pretty sure I would have loved it anyway. You can read my review of the musical version in general here.

Here's my take on this production: the costumes, sets, special effects, everything was amazing live (especially compared to the jr. high version. Sorry to be hating on jr. high). I thought Nathaniel Hackman as Gaston was especially funny. Lumiere and Cogsworth (Merritt David Janes and Keith Kirkwood) were funny too but hard to understand sometimes.

 

The musical starts out strong. In the scene when Belle goes to the castle to rescue her father, the Beast was especially scary-more violent and creepy than in the movie. But then, like I said before, Belle's song "Home" is just such a letdown at that point in the plot. The movie Belle's flinging herself across her bed and sobbing is way better. The song is in a major key, guys. Even my students with developmental disabilities know that a song about losing your home, family, and freedom and being at the mercy of an angry, heartless monster should definitely be in minor.

 

From this point on, the musical becomes more unrealistic. It's largely the way the script is written, and I understand it's for kids and they're trying to lighten things up and everything, but the Beast becomes less of this tortured soul and more of a comic figure as we laugh at his attempts to woo Belle, who ends up being far too cheeky. While bravery is one thing, realism is another.

I still also hate the song "A Change in Me." Pointless words and music, and yet another slow solo when the audience just wants the plot to start wrapping up. At least Elizabeth Shivener does have the pipes for it. (Justin Glazer as Beast had a great voice too. I automatically fall in love with any Beast character so my opinion of him hardly even counts.)

They made some other minor changes to the script-cutting out a couple scenes (like the battle between the townspeople and enchanted objects, that surprised me) and there were parts I'm pretty sure they added some of their own lines to, but I think that's the beauty of live theater and making each production unique.

By the way, the special effects for the transformation scene were really cool. With my little experience in school theater, I was amazed he could get off the complicated Beast costume while never leaving the stage.

 

Overall I'm so glad I went, and I'm glad I have this production in my head now to replace the school versions I was in/just saw.