William Chong

Watched the Macleans school production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” last night. Co-directed by Janet Jennings and Jacqui Hood, the show offered a real mix of outstanding and average singers, impressively meticulous choreography, and a good balance between comic and dramatic in a commendable school production. The male leads (Beast, Gaston, le Fou, Lumiere) excelled more in their dramatic/comic portrayals (the Beast played by Matt Hoyles felt a little stilted), whilst the female characters were the next step up – Hannah Lee successfully carrying many of the scenes herself when things got a little cumbersome. Special mention also to Andrew Paterson’s portrayal of a much more innuendo-inclined Gaston as well as the Cogsworth Lumiere Mrs Potts trio (Katherine Jennings, Steve Waganivavalangi, Stephanie Wood), all with polished performances. Wood’s shining hour in singing the title track encapsulated a beautiful moment for many in the audience.

The excellence of Alan Menken’s score (no mean feat getting Disney tunes to its luscious best) was attended to very well by musical director Nigel Weeks, and detailed and beautiful sets made the perfect backdrop for one of Disney’s greatest animated musicals of all time. Some of the longer chorus numbers dragged on a bit with multiple verses (Gaston himself sang about the countless refrains).

The school seems to bring on a bigger and more ambitious undertaking each passing year, but the student cast are equal to the challenge and provide the talent and drive to make the show a successful one.

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-More on Disney-

Some further thought on the story itself – if you’ve seen the animated feature (which I’m sure many have), I’m sure you’ve realised that films like Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King are part of a past era in Disney animation that focussed on great music, enriching lyrics and a classic fairy tale adventure in most instances. The folks at Disney in recent years however have put out bombs such as Atlantis: The Lost Kingdom, Home on the Range and Brother Bear as animations.

With the wider success of CGI works such as Monsters Inc., Ratatouille and The Incredibles, one might be quick to call the death of traditional animation… but I’d like to argue that the classic musicals (which have each spawned Broadway successes) stand the test of time and have more of an emotional resonance (enough to be Oscar-nominated at least), especially when you revisit them as adults.

Therefore it’s very encouraging to see that Disney’s 2009 release The Princess and the Frog will be a return to the Broadway-style musical in the same style as we’ve been mentioning. Can’t wait for new songs to hum.

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