Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” is one of my all-time favorite movies. I love that it takes place in France. I love that the heroine is smart and brunette and sees through appearances. Most of all, I love the retro feeling of the musical productions, especially “Be Our Guest” with the dancing flatware and dishes! It reminded me of the June Taylor Dancers’ highly choreographed, filmed-from-above production numbers I saw as a kid on the Ed Sullivan Show. Yes, I’m old enough to know who June Taylor and Ed Sullivan were! Deal with it.
Even on VHS, “Beauty and the Beast” seemed like it was in 3-D. So I was practically giddy at the prospect of seeing it in real 3-D. The wait is over for all of us. Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” hits theaters today.
Was it all that I imagined? Yes and no. Some of the animation seemed choppy, at least in the beginning. But oh, the 3-D effects! I loved the additional scenes, put in specifically to show off the 3-D effects (like the opening scene of the castle). The scenes that were screaming for 3-D were wonderful, just as they were meant to be.
Rediscover “Beauty and the Beast” or discover it for the first time. It’s just lovely.
My children must have watched the movie “The Lion King” at least 500 hundred times – a month. I watched it with them about 350 times, I’d say, with the remaining viewings serving as, I’ll admit it, a babysitter while I got some work done. I had the scenes from the movie timed to the minute. The big scene in the canyon with thundering wildebeests? Great, I had enough time to work on an article. Simba and Nala meet up again after the Pridelands have fallen into near run by Scar? Maybe enough time to get a load of laundry in and finish the dishes. The kids sang along to the songs and reenacted scenes afterword. “The Lion King” was a part of their childhood and my motherhood (and house-wifery).
That’s why, when I saw scenes from the Broadway production of “Disney’s The Lion King“, I had some trepidation. It looked abstract. Had they honored the movie? Was it too artsy for the average audience member and especially children to absorb?
I got the chance to find out when I attended opening night of The Lion King in Denver at the Buell Theatre. The opening scene is stunning with characters, in human/animal form entering from the sides of the theater, down the center aisles, past the audience and up on the stage. An ethereal, life-size elephant! A cougar, birds, antelope and giraffes, oh my, walking right past us.
One of my biggest faults as an observer and critic is that I am constantly looking to see HOW they do things instead of just being able to sit back and take it all in. So I spent the first half of the show being at once impressed and bothered by the disjointedness of the characters’ painted faces with separate masks. I think I missed entire conversations between Scar and Mufasa because I was so busy looking between the actors’ faces and their masks. Faces, masks, faces, masks. And the hyenas! I was obsessed with trying to imagine what it must have been like to be those actors manipulating the animal’s front legs with one hand while handling the hyena’s head with the other. And the giraffe’s! I can’t fathom being stooped over, on stilts, hands AND feet, wearing a head-dress! Unbelievable. It truly wasn’t until the second half that I got past the wondering how to just enjoying. I’m sure most audience members are better able to just take it all in and enjoy the show from the first moments. I envy them.
I had to wonder about the kids in the audience, who, like my children, were so very familiar with the familiar animated scenes of lions looking pretty much like lions and meerkats looking like meerkats. Was this stylistic, modern production just too foreign to enjoy? Apparently not. I looked around and all children were transfixed. Except for being really tired after the two-hour show, they all seemed to have really enjoyed it.
Even if you are weird like me and have to dissect how they do things and why it’s so different from the animated movie, this production is a wonder. I was pleasantly surprised at how the show was firmly planted in African heritage from the Zulu language to the absolutely beautiful African fabrics in the scenery and on the cast members. Scar wore pants that appeared to be made of woven leather and were shaped, well, like M.C. Hammer pants. Mufasa had patterns up and down his muscular arms. Of course, the movie took place in Africa, I just hadn’t thought of it before. But the stage show makes sure you know it and feel it and absorb it. I loved that. I also loved the modern dance throughout, clever sets and inventive props to suggest loping animals, rushing wildebeests, swaying grasses and my absolute favorite, the body of water drying up. Brilliant!
Fans of The Lion King movies won’t be disappointed. They will be surprised and maybe confused at first but then they will be delighted and transported to a mystical, powerful, graceful place.
There may be only a few tickets left but try to get some. And if you don’t, fear not, as enthusiastic as Denver’s audiences have been, I’m sure the show will be back. Then, be very smart and order tickets as soon as they are announced.
1. I had never seen the show “Hair” until last night where it is playing through October 16 at The Buell Theatre.
2. I had never seen a mass of naked people on stage before, until last night.
3. I did not know much about the 1960′s, I’m really ashamed to admit, even though I was around then, but a youngin’ at the time…until last night.
I wondered what the format of the Broadway production of “Hair” was going to be. Would there be periods of dialogue punctuated by the famous musical numbers? Not much, really, yet the bits that were there did help create a framework through which the audience became familiar with the characters, their joys and struggles and the context for each song.
The show starts off with a bang with Berger, one of the lead characters, played by Steel Burkhardt, stripping down to his fringed loin-cloth-like-thing and shaking those fringes on unassuming people sitting in the front row. Immediately the audience knew this show was going to have an intimacy not usually felt in musicals. “Something tells me this won’t be like ‘White Christmas’,” my date commented. “You think?” I replied.
The cast is constantly moving in all directions including up into the audience and even into the box seats. This cast must love The Buell Theatre because its seat configuration and very architecture lent itself perfectly to straddling chairs and dancing along dividing walls. They envelop the audience right down to the surprise finale which I won’t ruin for you.
There were the recognizable songs like “Aquarius” and “Good Morning Starshine” plus plenty more written just for this show. Although the sound quality was better than often occurs with shows at The Buell, I still missed about a third of the words in most of these songs. No matter, I got the gist of the idea and the emotions and turmoil of the time. I really had no idea what it was like to be a young person struggling with your identity and the times and also a parent struggling with a child you no longer understand. It’s worth taking your teenagers to for the education alone. But be aware, there is nudity at the end of the first act, tastefully done, but it’s certainly there. As a parent of two young teens, I would have been more concerned about all the simulated sex acts than the dimly-lit nudity. Just consider what you feel ready to let your children see and what you feel they can handle before buying tickets. Otherwise, it’s an entertaining and important show to see.
Of special note was Tripp Fountain, who is from Monument, Colorado. I had the opportunity to meet Tripp briefly the day the show opened. He is an understudy who happened to be called on to play the role of “Dad” and nearly stole the show as “Margaret Mead” the night I was there. He was fantastic! I always love to hear of a local performer making it big.
For tickets and more information about the show, visit www.denvercenter.org.
The holiday season is upon us. Time to gather with friends and family. Instead of gathering at someone’s house, go for a change of venue to the theater. An evening at a play lends itself to fervent apres theater talks over performances, costumes and the ridiculously long line for the ladies’ room. The next three months bring a range of kinds of theater from massive Broadway productions to tiny, home-grown productions. As an added bonus, many theaters offer discounted ticket prices for groups! Good theater, good company and money-in-your pocket? Now that’s something to celebrate.
October: Hurry to see two witty and fast-paced productions, Love, Sex and The Second City through October 9 and The Liar, through October 16. To Kill A Mockingbird takes flight through October 30 and Hair and lots of it runs October 4-16. All of these productions run at the various theaters of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, www.DenverCenter.org.
November: Disney’s The Lion King roars in with theater about as big as it gets November 2 - December 4, www.DenverCenter.org. The Wizard of Oz runs November 11-December 31, www.townhallartscenter.com. Escanaba gives a rustic feel to the holidays, www.aurorafoxartscenter.org. Imagine what it was like to get your entertainment from the radio with The 1940’s Radio Hour November 25-December 23, www.arvadacenter.org. Perhaps the best production of A Christmas Carol runs November 25-December 24, www.DenverCenter.org. For a self-described mash-up of A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist, see A Christmas Twist November 18-December 17 at Lowry’s John Hand Theater, www.johnhandtheater.com.
"White Christmas" plays at the Lonetree Arts Center
December: Catchsome of the productions you didn’t see last month that are still running plus West Side Story December 13-30, www.DenverCenter.org and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, playing December 13-23 at the new Lonetree Arts Center, www.lonetreearts.org. I just love shows where everyone spontaneously breaks into song and dance! Real life should be like that, don’t you agree?
Of special note is Apples from the Desert, playing through November 6 at The Mizel, www.maccjcc.org/jaamm. Lowry resident Diane Gilboa is the producing artistic director and co-founder of the show’s production company Theater Or. The show is billed as a romantic comedy and there is comedy and romance. Just don’t expect a joyful little romp. This play is thought-provoking, anxiety-building, sweet and funny all at once. Although the entire, small cast is great, Carol Bloom is stunning as the matriarch of the family who loses her strong sense of self only to rediscover it in her daughter. The play takes place in Israel, however the themes of rebellion, family drama, obligation and love are universal.
Note: This article was originally published in the October 2011 issue of The Lowry News.
and brunette and sees through appearances. Most of all, I love the retro feeling of the musical productions, especially “Be Our Guest” with the dancing flatware and dishes! It reminded me of the June Taylor Dancers’ highly choreographed, filmed-from-above production numbers I saw as a kid on the Ed Sullivan Show. Yes, I’m old enough to know who June Taylor and Ed Sullivan were! Deal with it.
