Interview: Darrell T. Joe of DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at Broadway At The Hobby Center

Darrell T. Joe is currently a member of the cast in the 30th anniversary tour of Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. It's coming to the Hobby Center January 6th through the 18th, and is part of the Broadway at the Hobby Center season. It's a big deal because, let's face it, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST hasn't toured in a while. So, now, the thing about Darrell T. Joes is that he is from Houston. He graduated from Nimitz High School. Darrell has been on other tours like JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and appeared on Broadway in SPAMALOT. BROADWAY WORLD writer Brett Cullum got to sit down with him before his big homecoming here in Houston. 

Brett Cullum: Darrell, Happy New Year to you! And this is the first show that's actually coming through the Hobby Center this year, so BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, you guys get to sweep in, and we can be your guests.

Darrell T. Joe: I'm realizing, as you said, that this is probably the first time I've been performing in Houston since, what, 2008? Ugh. So yeah. [Darrell was in a TUTS production of HELLO DOLLY in 2008 that starred Leslie Uggams] 

Brett Cullum: Yes, but you grew up here. Tell me about that. Nimitz High School, and you volunteered for the Hobby Center at one point… 

Darrell T. Joe: Yes, all these memories are coming back. I went to Nimitz High School. I'm from the north side of Houston, or the 1960 I-45 area.

Brett Cullum: Same here. We come from the North, Darrell!  

Darrell T. Joe: Oh my gosh, brethren. I was a big band nerd throughout high school. I played the French horn, the marching band, the regional band, all that stuff, and thought that I was gonna do that professionally. But then, my sophomore year of high school. Mary Morris, shout out to her, they were looking for more guys for the "GUYS & DOLLS" production that they were doing, and they asked some of the band kids. I auditioned and got it, and fell in love! And it's so funny how you can think you're going One Direction, and then one little change makes you completely change your course. So I love that kind of butterfly effect.

Brett Cullum: It seems like high school and college are where guys get recruited to become theatre people. They can never get enough for these productions, so they're always reeling in anybody they can, you know, kind of trick you into being in it. Parents really should warn their male offspring that this may happen! Okay, so you went through high school here; where did you attend college? Did you study theater after high school?

Darrell T. Joe: So, a little continuation of that. In that musical, there was a choreographer [Jodi Rayburn] who had a studio. I started training with her, and then I went to UT Austin for one year, but they didn't have a musical theater program, so I ended up transferring to Sam Houston State [Eat Em Up Cats], right down the street.

Brett Cullum: Everybody seems to go to Sam Houston to do musical theater. What is that?

Darrell Joe: I mean, for the longest time, it was one of the only [musical theater] programs in Texas. I think we have Texas State now, but yeah, it was a lone ranger for a long time. And it was a great school, still is, I'm sure, but I haven't been there in years.

Brett Cullum: I am still seeing a flood of talent from Sam Houston! Most of our local companies are very grateful for them. And now you live in New York, correct? Is that where you are?

Darrell Joe: I went to school, did a couple of cruise ships, and then I moved to New York with two bags and a tube of Chapstick, and I've lived there for 15 years now. Which makes me official, I think. 

Brett Cullum: I think you're official then, yeah. No. And it's so funny, I cannot tell you how many people come up through cruise ships now. So you have this common trajectory of being recruited in high school for the musical, hitting Sam Houston, and then jumping on a boat to do shows, and then taking on the Big Apple. The whole cruise ship thing is a good training ground, because let's face it, if you can dance on a moving boat, you can dance anywhere! 

Darrell T. Joe: Yeah, it's a good way to save some money up. I just graduated from college and needed money to move and start my life, because you're not paying for housing or food or anything, you're just drinking and collecting checks. That was how I got enough to get me on a plane to New York, for sure.

Brett Cullum: So, okay, this tour, Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. What is it? Faithful Broadway adaptation, or new-fangled fable with new angles? 

Darrell T Joe: We're calling it the 30th Anniversary tour, from the Broadway production that was mounted. Actually,the show’s very first out-of-town tryout was at the Hobby Center in Houston in, I believe, 1993. And so, it's the original team has reunited to mount a newly imagined, more upscale, modern version. Matt West is the director and choreographer, and he was the original choreographer of the Broadway production. We have the same scenic design and costume design, and we're taking what we know works and updating it to make it more suitable for today's audiences. Belle is more of a woman than a girl in this production. That's my easiest way to explain how it is updated.

Brett Cullum: Well, Darrell, it's kind of cool because the show has Houston roots, so do you, so it’s all a mirror moment happening here. And who are you playing in this?

Darrell T. Joe: I am a proud member of the ensemble, singer and dancer extraordinaire. To begin the show, I am the egg seller. You know the famous line, “I need 6 eggs!” I am the one selling the eggs in the beginning, and I am actually the very first “Bonjour!” of the opening number. So if you're looking for me, you'll see me there. And then we play some townies in Gaston's bar a little later. I become an enchanted object, I'm a fork for a little while.

Brett Cullum: That's what I was waiting for! One of my aspirations or dreams is to say I played cutlery on stage! You are living my dream, Darrell! I am so forking jealous right now! 

Darrell T. Joe: Yes, I am a very… very talented fork in “Be Our Guest,” and we have a dream ballet in Act 2, and then I'm an angry mobster at the end. Some fun character bits.

Brett Cullum: Always, what I've enjoyed about being part of the ensemble is that you're not stuck doing one thing. You just run around, and you get to do the whole show as different people. I was waiting to see what you were in “Be Our Guest,” because I was thinking, “Oh my gosh, please tell me he's playing cutlery.”

Darrell T. Joe: Well, it's interesting. This production, we kind of, hmm, how do I explain this? We're leaning more towards dinner guests in a conceptual sense. There's a bit where we have forks and knives, but then there's a moment where I have some plates, and there's a moment where I have some napkins! Like, we're just sort of enchanted objects at this very fancy dinner party. You'll have to see it to understand. 

Brett Cullum: Well, I definitely think this story is interesting because it seems to work so well on stage. What is it about BEAUTY AND THE BEAST? Because I know sometimes I go to a Disney musical, and some just work better than others. And this one works so well! 

Darrell T. Joe: I'm gonna get on my high horse a bit. I think BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is from that golden age of the 90s, when they had LITTLE MERMAID, LION KING, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and ALADDIN. Those are my top four. And I think with BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, it just comes with a built-in audience of people who hold the story so dear to them. Many of us have grown up with it, and so many people say, “This is my first community theater production, this was the first show I ever saw on Broadway!” This story has something personal to just about everyone. So I think that's one thing that makes it special.

The second reason is the message. I'm gonna get preachy, but right now and today, we're living in this unfortunate circumstance where differences are dividing us as a nation. I think one of the themes in this story, one of my favorite lines from the show, is, “We don't like what we don't understand; in fact, it scares us.” That happens in the mob song, when we're angry and wanting to kill the beast. And I think this is a story about two oddballs who aren't particularly liked by the outside world, yet they find each other, and we see that beyond their exterior, there's beauty and kindness within. I think that is an important message for us today as a society. Whoo! Preachy, sorry.  

Brett Cullum: Hey, no, preach on, we'll go to church with the fork from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. What I love is that a Disney show attracts a wide swath of humanity in the audience itself, and it's always wild to see that. Old, young, all races, all creeds. And that's one of the things I do love, is that at least we all come together in the dark and watch this beautiful story that we all know by heart.

Darrell Joe: Regardless of our politics. We'll see a ton of little girls in Belle dresses, some boys dressed as Beasts, and then we'll see our share of Disney adults, whom we love, also dressed up. People just come into this theater, and they forget the outside world, and they're living their Disney dreams, and I think that's a beautiful thing.

Brett Cullum: A tale as old as time!