One of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is on an international tour that stops in the capital for a 10-day run.
The much-loved tale of a beautiful girl and a young prince trapped in a grotesque body by a wicked spell has lent itself to several adaptations, most recently in a United States TV show starring Kristin Kreuk and Jay Ryan (now in its third season), but the Disney show producer Liz Coops is confident that their musical version – adapted from the 1991 animated film – holds its own.
The touring version’s links to the Broadway show are strong. Some of the 550 costume pieces used in the production featured on Broadway, while many of the production team – including the Tony Award-winning costume designer Ann Hould-Ward – have also come from the original.
The cast is all-new for this 20th anniversary tour, with Hilary Maiberger playing Belle, Darick Pead as the Beast and Adam Dietlein as Gaston, the bad guy.
For Pead, the first impression the audience has of him may be of the impressive transformation he undergoes at the end.
It takes less than an hour to turn him into the show’s lumbering protagonist each night – but isn’t it frustrating that for all his efforts, the audience doesn’t recognise him after the show?
“It’s OK if they don’t. I just hope my storytelling was clear and people enjoyed the show,” says Pead.
The classically trained Maiberger is as much at home on the opera stage as she is in Broadway musicals, and says: “Musical-theatre students focus on being a triple threat. They take dance, acting and voice lessons. While opera students analyse the music, musical-theatre students analyse the script. I believe now, more and more, opera is crossing over into musical theatre .”
