Beauty and The Beast
Hendricken
Theatre's current show is Disney's "Beauty and the
Beast". The show first opened on Broadway on April
19, 1994, ran for 5,464 performances, closing in
September, 2007. It is based on the 1991
animated Disney movie, the show tells the story of a
spell cast on a Prince that transformed him into a
ferocious beast. He must love and be loved before
the last petal falls from the rose or he will remain
a beast forever. Into his life comes beautiful
bookish Belle. They must learn to love each other
after he makes her a prisoner in his desolate
castle. Belle could melt the ice cap and indeed,
even his heart. But will she see through his facade
in time? Add many colorful characters to the mix
including her inventor father, Maurice, the town
strongman, Gaston, his hilarious sidekick, Lefou and
the numerous enchanted humans turned into household
fixtures in the Beast's castle and you have the
ingredients for a marvelous musical masterpiece
which combines comedy and pathos to create a
fantastic show that people of all ages can enjoy.
Director Brian Codeiro, music director Richie Sylvia
and choreographer Theresa Pearson take the 58 member
cast and do a magnificent job with this musical.
Their combined efforts are rewarded with a
spontaneous standing ovation at the close of this
magical tale .Bravo!
Brian casts
topnotch students in all these roles and blocks them
excellently from start to finish to capture
your interest at all times. He pays attention to
every detail in the show and surrounds himself with
talented theater folks. Richie musically directs
this show obtaining stunning harmonies from this
student cast. Jarrod Gorman conducts a 22 piece
orchestra. Richie makes the cast members shine in
all their numbers including the solos and choral
ones. Theresa choreographs many different type
dances for this show including soft shoe, can-can,
tango, a kick-line and a waltz. She obtains the best
dance moves out of this cast with the three stopping
group numbers," Gaston" where the townspeople dance
up a storm, "Be Our Guest" which is a vaudeville
type of song in Act 1 and "Human Again" which turns
into a huge dance number in Act 2. The multitude of
gorgeous costumes in the show from the townspeople
to the household items to Belle's beautiful
gowns are by Janice Nagle with some of the leads
costumes rented from Harris Costume. The excellent
two story set of the inside of the castle was
designed by Brian and built by Brother John Kiernan
while the lovely mood setting lighting and sound are
topnotch, too.
The
outstanding leads of this show are Casey Cook as
Belle and Casey Sheehan as the Beast. She is a
stunning brunette with a fabulous soprano voice
which soars off the charts in her many numbers
including "Belle", where you learn she loves to read
books and the townspeople find her odd, "Is This
Home?" where she laments being held prisoner in the
castle, and "A Change in Me" where she
finally admits she loves the Beast because they have
many things in common with each other. Casey's
strong voice is matched by her topnotch acting
ability. She gives Belle a backbone to stand up to
the Beast's rude behavior as well as fending off
Gaston's obnoxious advances. Belle is determined to
control her life and is head strong at times but
finally see through the gruff exterior of the Beast
to find the good within him. The audience falls in
love with as Belle and they root for a happy ending.
She and Casey do an excellent job in their scenes
together. Casey Sheehan's Beast is scary at first
because he doesn't know how to act around a lovely
young woman but he also conveys the humorous side of
the Beast especially in the eating and reading scene
with Belle where he gobbles the food down with
his hands, clumsily holds out the chair for her and
throws a bench down so she can read to him. The
pathos of the Beast comes through in his solo, "If I
Can't Love Her", shows off his magnificent tenor
voice, evoking the sympathy for his character with
this powerful song. Casey is dynamic and
authoritative as the master of his castle. The
transformation into a prince at the close of the
show moves the audience to tears and is splendidly
executed. The falling rose petals on the happy
couple is the perfect finishing touch to a marvelous
show.
Ward
Pettibone plays Belle's absent-minded father who
gets lost in the woods, gets chased by wolves and
ends up becoming the Beast's prisoner. Belle takes
his place there and he returns to save her only to
find out she has fallen for a gentler Beast. Ward
and Casey Cook sing a tender ballad called "No
Matter What" about how they have each other to
depend on all the time. He does wonderful work as
this older character and shows off his singing voice
in this duet. Ward is adept at funny roles, having
played a comic waiter in "Scapino" in 2007.) Greg
Duffy is topnotch as Gaston, the egomaniacal town
strongman who wants to marry Belle whether she wants
to or not. He stands around six foot two and as
Gaston he is constant flexing and preening, making
them laugh out loud moments. He plays this buffoon
wonderfully and displays his powerful singing voice
in "Me" where he tries to woo Belle while telling
her how wonderful he is and in "Gaston" where the
chorus fawns on him. The laughing bubble-headed
girls who adore him are beautifully played by Nicole
Cayer, Jess Keane and Jade Genga and many others who
also do wonderful work in a ballet section of the
show.) Gaston turns into a villain in Act 2 when he
decides to have Maurice committed to an insane
asylum in "Maison Des Lunes" and in "The Mob Song"
where he rouses the rabble to go and kill the Beast.
The evil doctor, D'Arque who is his cohort is played
with gusto by Matt Davey. One of the biggest scene
stealers in this show is Ron Fitts as Lefou,
Gaston's sidekick who is constantly beaten up,
smacked on the head and in the face. He displays
some of the best pratfalls, facial expressions and
also uses his comic timing in his songs especially
"Gaston" when he leads the chorus in a rousing dance
and sings with Greg in the second act.
The
servants of the Beast are excellent, too. Francesca
Hansen-DiBello plays the kindly housekeeper, Mrs.
Potts while clad in a teapot costume. She is
marvelous in this role and shows off her lovely
voice in a section of "Be Our Guest" and in the
Academy-Award winning song, "Beauty and the Beast"
which tugs at your heartstrings when the two leads
fall in love with each other. Her warmth envelops
Belle and her love for her son, Chip who is clad in
a teacup costume is played by Josh Petteruti who
shows off his strong singing voice in solo lines in
"Human Again". The biggest scene stealer in the show
is Graham Duff as the butler, Lumiere who has
candlesticks for hands. His acting is astounding
with a perfect French accent as is his tenor voice
which is fantastic in two show-stopping numbers "Be
Our Guest" and "Human Again". Lindsay Martin plays
Babette, the ultra sexy vamp who is love with
Lumiere. She struts her stuff in the dance numbers
especially the tango with Graham in "Human
Again". Luke LaMontagne plays Cogsworth, the major
domo, who is a clock. He commands the other
servants and barks orders at them in a comical
manner using a high pitched voice. Madame de La
Grand Bouche is Alex Andrews who gets to show off
her operatic soprano voice in the defending the
castle song. So for a terrific rendition of this
well known show, be sure to catch "Beauty and the
Beast" at Hendricken before it magically disappears
from sight.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (25 to 28 March, 2010)
Bishop Hendricken, 2615 Warwick Avenue, Warwick,RI
1(401)739-3450 ext. 172 or www.hendricken.com