BEAUTY AND THE BEAST – Director’s Notes
Each fairy tale is a magic mirror which reflects some aspect of our inner world, and of the steps required by our evolution from immaturity to maturity.
(The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettelheim)
As a child I grew up with Disney through their classic animated films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and through their renaissance during the early 1990s with Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and of course, the musical that you are about to witness.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has delighted audiences around the world and was a natural successor to the original Disney classics. It was one of Disney’s most successful and critically acclaimed animated feature films; the first animated feature to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and receive two Oscars, for Best Original Musical Score and Best Song. When the film first premiered, Frank Rich, the theatre critic of the New York Times, amusingly lamented that the best musical score of the year wasn’t on Broadway; it was in Disney’s film.
When the decision was made to bring it to the Broadway stage, everyone associated with the production knew it had to be extraordinary. It had to have that special magic that audiences had come to expect from the Walt Disney Company. Its premiere and subsequent thirteen year run on Broadway did not disappoint, and the rest is history.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is unmistakably a Broadway musical – in every sense of the genre. Alan Menken, the composer of tonight’s performance, once wrote that “Musicals are about characters that go bravely forward in the face of adversity. They are about overcoming immense obstacles to realize great dreams.” On one simplistic level Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is musically a tribute to the great Broadway songwriters: Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, the Gershwins. Music is essential to Beauty and the Beast and it is one of the most finely crafted Broadway scores that I have ever come across.
On another level, Beauty and the Beast is a parable and its opening dialogue ‘Once upon a Time’ leaves us with no doubt that we are about to enter the realms of fairytale. Fairytales are ingrained in every aspect of our storytelling culture. As Mrs. Potts reminds us, we are witnessing a “Tale as old as time.” It has a clear moral: We must all make a transformation and come to love ourselves, so that we can deny our selfish ways, make a sacrifice and be loved as our reward.
This is a magical fairytale, in which the characters will sing their deepest thoughts and feelings. It is a place where magic can and will happen. But above all else, it is a moving and at times funny love story for everyone to enjoy.
An incredible number of talented people from your local community have devoted their time and talent to bring to GeelongGeelong theatre company has ever undertaken such a complex and challenging theatre show. This show requires unusual collaboration between script, music, costumes, sets, lighting, acting, choreography and technical special effects. The Cast, Production Team, Crew and Orchestra should be congratulated for their relentless dedication in bringing this enchanting show together. this exciting tale. It is most probably fair to say that no local
Our production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast aims to open the door to the magical word of live theatre. We want to hear children laugh, their fathers and mothers laugh, and for the entire Geelong community to enjoy this land-mark local event.
So it is now time to sit back, relax, Be Our Guest and be ready to be engulfed in the magic, excitement and experience of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
Bryce Ives – May 2007.
