Beauty & The Beast - A Tale As Old As Time….But Worth The Trip!

Theater: Kelsey Theater at Mercer County Community College
Theater Group: Playful Theatre Productions
Show Title: Beauty & The Beast
Opened: November 2, 2007
Attended: November 2, 2007
Reviewer: Tom Lamphere
Submitted: November 3, 2007

Walt Disney’s version of “Beauty & The Beast” opened on Broadway in 1994 with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. The show continued delighting New York audiences until earlier this year when the curtain closed on the New York production.

However, theaters across the country continue to present the Disney version of this classic tale and it was one such production I had the pleasure of attending at the Kelsey Theater @ Mercer County Community College produced by Playful Theatre Productions.

The production, directed by Frank Ferrera, boasts quite a large cast of all ages with wide a range of theater experience. Leading the cast is Cara Scharf as Belle (the “Beauty” from the show title…) who brings just the right amount of sweetness to the role. Her beautiful voice and strong diction does justice to the numerous songs her character sings. She has tremendous stage presence and is perfectly matched to the role.

The “Beast” in this production is played by Paul Lasky who brings quite a bit of wit and charm to the role! Many actors are chosen for this role based on their voice and while Mr. Lasky possesses a nice baritone, it is his acting and comedic touches that make him so winning in the role.

Stealing nearly every scene they appear in are Mike Schiumo (Gaston) and Jacob Porter (Gaston’s sidekick, Lefou). Mr. Schiumo possesses a powerful baritone voice that stands out among the cast. His portrayal of Gaston is thoroughly convincing and a joy to watch! This is especially true when he is joined onstage by Mr. Porter who wrings every last laugh out of the audience as the bumbling, beat upon Lefou! The two actors together share tremendous chemistry and keep the show from stagnating.

Several other performers also give wonderful performances including Tom Bessellieu as Maurice, Wayne Irons as Cogsworth, Wileen Luscombe as Mrs. Potts, Beth Martinetti as Wardrobe, Vicky Czarnik as Babette and Keenan Westcott (aka Kyrus) hamming it up appropriately as Lumiere. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the terrific work done by Dani Tucci-Juraga, Denise Policastro and Eryn LeCroy as the three “Silly Girls”. Although they’re on stage only for short periods of time, they never failed to make the audience laugh! In fact, Mrs. Tucci-Juraga does double duty by playing a VERY active rug (yes, the kind that normally lays on the floor…)!

One of the highlights of this production is the terrific choreography by Pam Fabri Pisani. This is especially true on the larger production numbers “Be Our Guest” and “Gaston”! The entire cast worked extremely hard to make these numbers come to life and it shows!

The orchestra, under the direction of Shannon Ferrara, plays the score very well. Unfortunately, the theater layout has the pit on the side of the stage behind a curtain so the music is a bit muffled. However, I must say that there was never a time when I couldn’t hear the music nor a time when it overpowered the performers.

Although the performances on stage were strong, the same cannot be said for the technical side of the show. Although nearly all of the performers wear body mics, the number of times when an actor began singing with their microphone off was too numerous to count. In addition, the appearance of stage crew onstage during scenes was at times, a bit much. While some of this is caused by the need to move scenery, there are several occasions where it isn’t necessary such as when the Beast is singing the reprise of “If I Can’t Love Her”. Since I attended the opening performance of the show, it may be that some of these technical kinks will work themselves out on subsequent performances.

It should be said that despite the technical problems noted above, some of the technical work done in the show is excellent! This is especially true during “Be Our Guest” and in the magical transformation of the Beast at the end of the show.

Beauty and the Beast has delighted audiences of all ages for many years and the Playful Theatre Production’s version of the show continues this tradition. The children in the audience gave the show a big thumbs up and I must admit, I give it a thumbs up as well!