Interview: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Panel Explores Fairytale Magic

"Beauty and the Beast is the essence of that Disney magic! It brings people together and it is such a joyful experience!" Actress Lexi Rabadi plays Belle in Maine State Music Theatre's new blockbuster production of the Disney classic which closes its run July 14th. She and fellow cast members Darick Pead (the Beast) and Matthew Ragas (Gaston), together with MSMT Managing Director Stephanie Dupal are talking with Broadway World's Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold about the experience of creating this timeless fairytale on stage. The panel discussion, the second in the annual Peek behind the Curtain Series at the Curtis Memorial Library drew a full house, as audience members and patrons listened to the group explore the factors they believe make this show a classic and make this particular production a work of incredible enchantment.

"I grew up watching the Disney movie," Rabadi continues, "and I always looked up to Belle. She is spunky, smart, confident, graceful, open, loving. I wanted to just like that. To have my first professional experience after college be at MSMT and from that summer to move right into the leading role of Belle at the Fulton in 2016 was a dream come true! Not only did I get to play this amazing part, but I got my Equity card and - completely unforeseeable - I met the man of my dreams." Rabadi is referring to her Beast in the Fulton production, Matt Farcher. "I really feel as if this role has helped me come into myself as a young woman and an artist, and Matt and I are still together and still very much in love."

And with that she turns and glances pointedly at her MSMT co-star, Darick Pead. "And I know someone else at this table shares this kind of experience," she prompts. Pead takes the microphone to explain. He recounts how he moved to New York City immediately following his college graduation from Brigham Young University. "I just got my degree in drama, packed two suitcases and headed for New York. A friend let me stay with him for a few days, and I finally became his roommate. It was literally my on first New York audition that I landed the role of Shrek and met the producers of the Beauty and the Beast tour. I had played the Beast in Utah in 2007, so I asked if I could audition. I got to play the role on national and international tour for over 1000 performances."

But like Rabadi, this starring opportunity proved not only a breakthrough professional experience for Pead, but a life-changing personal one as well. He recounts falling in love with his Belle, Hilary Maiberger. It is a story worthy of any fairytale. "The first day of rehearsal I came early to demonstrate how ready I was to work hard. The girl playing Belle was already there, and we began to banter. Doing the death scene that very first day, as she was holding me in her arms, I felt this amazing connection. We were both weeping. I spent five months wooing her, and it finally worked. She asked me to be her boyfriend in post it notes which she put inside the King Arthur book when Belle and the Beast do the library scene. I keep those notes in my wallet to this day. Every time when we did the waltz scene, I would feel the world spinning around me, and all I saw was this person I loved. There is something very extraordinary to get to travel the world with and play a role opposite the person you love most."

As Pead concludes, the audience spontaneously bursts into applause for the two, clearly enjoying the serendipity of the narratives. It is Matthew Ragas' turn to talk about how Gaston is also a magical, breakthrough experience for him. He confides that because he plays the antagonist - in his words, "the most cartoonish character in the show" - he doesn't have a similar romantic experience connected to the musical to recount. Nonetheless, this role debut marks another special occasion for the actor. "As many of you know I had taken a break from the stage for two years, so to come back in this part was a big challenge for me. Gaston is arrogant, annoying, and so full of himself in the first act and then truly evil in the second. It is a super choreographed role; everything has a beat and a pose. I had to learn it all in ten days, and I was the only principal who had not done the part before so I felt like I had some catching up to do, especially because I started rehearsals three days after the others. (Ragas confides his own touch of a romantic narrative - "I was in Ireland getting engaged to my partner," he beams. Nevertheless Ragas says he has learned to love the part and the character, and it is that actor's sympathy and understanding that likely makes his performance so appealing. Ragas jokes, " I am not sure why but all the little girls who cone to see the show LOVE Gaston!"

And, of course, much of the magic does emanate from the luminous performances of these cast members and all the others in the thirty-two person ensemble. But the visual aspects of this lavish production also play a major role. Stephanie Dupal talks about planning and realizing this major undertaking. "You all know Curt Dale Clark," she says teasingly. "He always wants to do something bigger and better than before, and I also believe that if we are going to do a production that we have done previously at MSMT, we do need to do it differently and better than before. People do not want to see the same thing again, so we have to give them a reason to come a second [or third] time."

Dupal discusses the challenges of bringing this very large, opulent set with its projections and elaborate lighting and costumes to the Pickard, with its limited backstage space. She also waxes eloquent about the costumes by Ryan Moller, which originated at the Fulton and which MSMT bought as a package for its Costume Rentals division and built some additional garments to amplify the collection for the production.

The actors chime in, praising the costumes and the way they feel transformed by them. Rabadi says, "When I had my first fitting with Ryan and tried on the famous yellow ball gown, it was an experience I had never had before! I had never had costumes built just for me, and I had never seen myself wearing anything so magnificent. Ryan has a picture of me standing there looking into the mirror and weeping."

Ragas says that donning Gaston's signature red tunic and wig helped him transform into the character "who is so opposite of who I really am," while Pead sanguinely notes wearing the Beast's costume is akin "to wearing a snowsuit in summer."

But if the costumes help the actors to transform psychologically into their characters, the cast notes that while onstage they do not see the elaborate scenery and swirling projections that convey so much of the story's allure. In response to a question from the floor, Ragas explains, "What you the audience is seeing is magical, but we actors don't see that behind and around us (except maybe if we watch a little of tech rehearsal). We are just up there creating our magic by living the emotions of the characters."

Rabadi seconds that. "When I saw the video of the Fulton production, I was completely amazed. Only the audience really gets the full experience of the live magic."

And what has been, I ask, the rehearsal process of creating that magic in the very short fourteen days prior to previews and opening? For this particular MSMT production of Beauty and the Beast has been led by co-directors Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark, an experience that was unique for some of the cast.

Rabadi who worked on BATB with Robin before at the Fulton comments: "Every though Marc and I had done the show together in 2016, I am a different woman, and he is a different man now. A great deal of growth happens in two years, and we have a different cast and a different theatre, so the experience is new. Marc works very fast, and got the show on its feet in five days, and it was Curt's job to weed through, fine tune, find dramatic intentions, and clean and polish the final product. Marc brought many of the same insights, but it was also fun to watch him discover new things and to trust me to discover as well. When Curt stepped in after that [ while Marc Robin was in London making his West End theatrical debut], he sometimes asked us to try something different, but it was never confusing or overwhelming for us as actors. Rather it was an opportunity for us to collaborate, to find all together some new ideas. Marc and Curt share the same overarching vision for Beauty and the Beast. The heartbeat of the magic and the storytelling was always rooted in the same place for both of them. It is our job as actors to interpret their vision, and it was such a joy to do that with such talented directors."

Pead concurs,"This has been the most collaborative directorial experience I have everbeen part of. Curt has a very personal connection to the Beast, but he was very open to us as actors. While holding steadfastly to Marc's and his vision of the show, he would often ask what we thought, and I was honored to be able to put a little bit of my own imprint on the role."

The final result has been awing Maine audiences and playing to sold-out houses with added performances for nearly three weeks now. But, this magnificent production had to overcome unforeseen technical obstacles in order to open on June 28th. As Stephanie Dupal puts it, "It was a difficult birth, but it is a beautiful baby." She tells the story, already chronicled in numerous articles about the power surge which knocked out the company's sound board and speakers forcing MSMT to cancel its Wednesday previews in order to replace the equipment and tech the show as adequately as possible. Dupal recalls the hercuelan efforts of the entire company, trustees, and volunteers to make the opening happen and to accommodate loyal patrons.

Ragas adds a comment from the cast perspective. "When they told us we couldn't have a tech rehearsal on Tuesday, we all knew what a big decision this was for the theatre. To lose two previews is massive, and it is very rare that a theatre company will look out for the safety of its actors before it considers its bottom line. We came in on Wednesday and did our 10/12 and then Thursday our five-hour rehearsal, but we never really had a run through until opening night. We all crossed our fingers and hoped for some theatre magic."

And magic it was! Not only the magic of Disney's "tale as old as time" made new again, but the special kind of MSMT magic that has won loyal audiences over its sixty years. Says Darick Pead, "I am not overselling when I say this. Working at MSMT in this show has been a life changing experience for me. The cast is amazing; the company leadership, the staff, the trustees, the Angels are amazing; the audience and the town are fantastic. I go to dinner, and everyone is so cool; I go to the grocery store and people chat with me. There is an energy that makes this a remarkable experience, and I am a total advocate!"

Photograph courtesy of MSMT, Mary Catherine Frantz, photographer

Beauty and the Beast runs at MSMT's Pickard Theater until July 14th. There I is an added matinee on July 14th www.msmt.org 207-725-8769 The next Peek Behind the Curtain panel for Saturday Night Fever will be at 12 noon at the Curtis Memorial Library on July 25, 2018.

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