Review: DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at Orpheum Theatre

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Book by Linda Woolverton

Music and Lyrics by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, and Tim Rice

Directed by Matt West

ATG San Francisco

The juggernaut that is Disney’s Beauty and the Beast rolls into San Francisco to the delight of young girls in princess dresses. This production looks sensational with great lighting, scrim graphics, and plenty of scenic design. The orchestrations are superb as is the vocal ability of the ensemble, most notably Kyra Belle Johnson as Belle.

The timeless fairytale of evil spells, an unlikely romance, and love redeeming all wrongs is one of Disney’s prized properties winning both Tony and Academy Awards including the score and title song. Disney has gone all out of this first touring production in twenty-five years, and it’s a crowd pleaser. With beautiful Belle, the outcast who loves to read, the swaggering narcissistic brute Gaston, the misunderstood Beast and a collection of anthropomorphic household knickknacks, Beauty and the Beast has something for everyone.

What is doesn’t need are the bloated, interminably long dance numbers that are out of place and unnecessary. Do little kids understand a 1930’s style Busby Berkeley hoof? The show is solid enough without a half hour of added shmaltz.

Beauty and the Beast continues through August 9th. Tickets and information available at https://us.atgtickets.com/whats-on/san-francisco/

Photo credits: Matthew Murphy

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