BWW Reviews: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Hits the Right Notes

An audience filled with girls and boys who grew up loving "a tale as old as time" got just what they wanted at Minneapolis' Orpheum Theatre with NETworks' production of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The over 20-year-old crowd pleaser did what it always does and the crowd responded as only a Minneapolis audience can -- erupting in applause and cheers and a standing ovation (though slightly delayed from the usual moment the ensemble takes its first bow; this time they politely cheered until the power couple took their bows).

Jillian Butterfield (Belle) and Ryan Everett Wood (Beast) were well sung and had good chemistry. Butterfield was a softer, gentler Belle but had an ease about her that stood out against the rest of the cast's frenetic energy. Wood was comical and well as romantic and sweet.

Cameron Bond was a perfectly big and brash Gaston. Emily Jewell was a pleasant Mrs. Potts. But it was Patrick Pevehouse, head and shoulders above the others (he IS really tall), that truly stood out among the cast as he took and reveled in every opportunity to hit a punch line.

This BEAUTY had all the expected bells (pun intended) and whistles and the story is exactly the way you remember it. But that's also exactly what the grown up fans and kids alike were hoping for. Reliving a childhood favorite, the members of the audience were clearly pleased. With more than 35 million people reported to have seen a production of the show, the formula clearly works.

Luckily for this reviewer, show backgrounders clued me in before I sat down to write; I was ready to note that this production is not nearly as big, ornate or eye-popping as the one I remember the first tour that came to Minneapolis after the 1994 Broadway run. But apparently that was by design. Scenic designer Stan Meyer, who designed both shows, "says that the former staging was, essentially, the 1991 movie made live." This new production was intentionally a departure from that style with a nod to Eastern European wood carving and guilded manuscripts. The set seemed to be flimsy by comparison to the earlier version but this reimagined look was quaint and had the storybook details.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST plays the Orpheum stage through March 15, 2015. Tickets are available at www.hennepintheatretrust.org or call 1.800.982.2787. Members of the cast will be playing a fundraising Cabaret at Minneapolis' Hell's Kitchen on Thursday, March 12 beginning at 11 p.m. through "late night." For the non-nightowls, there also will be a special event at IDS Center's Crystal Court on Saturday, March 14.

Photo: Ryan Everett Wood as Beast and Jillian Butterfield as Belle in Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

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