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'Beauty and the Beast' Story and Characters | The Box Seat Babes Podcast · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome back Broadway lovers to another exciting episode of the Box Seat Babes podcast.
• 0:05
  Today we're visiting the storybook world of Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
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  But before we venture to the Enchanted Castle, like, follow, and subscribe to us on all major social media platforms to stay up to date on news and reviews from here in Michigan
• 0:17
  and the larger theater community.
• 0:19
  Spoiler warning, we're going to be diving into the story and characters within the North American touring production of Beauty and the Beast.
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  So spoilers will be bouncing around like Lumiere during his big dance numbers.
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  But if you're still here, sit back, relax, and proudly be our guest as we explore the defining piece of Disney's history.
• 0:36
  Joining me as always is RJ Miller-Zelinko, my co-host, fellow Box Seat babe.
• 0:41
  Hello, sir, how you doing?
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  Stand dry.
• 0:44
  Day in dry, it is a wet day in Michigan.
• 0:47
  Yes, which I'm not complaining because I have all my windows open.
• 0:51
  of your car?
• 0:52
  No, just kidding.
• 0:53
  I mean, I could, but it's in the garage, so it wouldn't do much.
• 0:57
  I'm so excited to talk about Beauty and the Beast with you.
• 1:00
  um As you know, I am the biggest Beauty and the Beast fan that you probably have in your life, which I think is a safe statement to say even though I don't actually know.
• 1:10
  Correct me if I'm wrong there.
• 1:12
  You and Justina are probably tied.
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  um Ironically, she is there right, well, or on her way there right now.
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  But yes, very big Disney Beauty and the Beast fans.
• 1:30
  You have two of them in your life.
• 1:31
  That feels uh like a one in a million shot there.
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  I mean, which is absolutely fine because Beating the Beast is probably, like I've never really rated Disney movies, but it's up there because Belle is the best, I think, at least
• 1:51
  of like the classic Disney princess.
• 1:55
  So naturally, Beast comes in at the top.
• 2:00
  I think I also agree with that.
• 2:02
  That Belle is because she is so independent, but also like I feel like there's a lot of damsel in distress that go around Beauty and the Beast, which one time I wrote a paper
• 2:13
  about the damaging aspects of the dynamics that they have for princesses and princes back in my psychology days, which I know you're not shocked about at all.
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  um But Belle's truly one of those ones that she is kind of like her father's daughter.
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  So.
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  And she is kind of on her own.
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  But before we jump into that, you've seen this movie growing up, correct?
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  Please tell me that.
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  Okay.
• 2:37
  Oh.
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  the live action and the animated.
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  Possibly the live-action more than the animated In recent years, although if I do watch I try to do them in tandem with each other like I try to be like I'm gonna watch The og and
• 2:55
  then I'm gonna watch the live-action Maybe not back-to-back but like week to week or whatever month-to-month
• 3:06
  I have done them back to back in the same day.
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  In fact, I'm not gonna lie, I maybe did it back to back just like a week or two ago.
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  I was like, I'm gonna catch up on some writing.
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  And so I turned them on because I had to watch, of course, both for different reasons.
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  As you know, there's no song from a live action Disney film that's better than evermore from Beauty and the Beast.
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  And I will stand on that hill until the day I die.
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  It's true.
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  it's okay.
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  Okay!
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  m
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  It is a good song for him.
• 3:39
  I don't know if it's the best song out of the entire...
• 3:41
  Maybe out of that movie?
• 3:43
  Okay, let put this in.
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  It's one of the best songs that Disney has written exclusively for their live action films.
• 3:49
  Yes, that can well and this this live action was just so superior.
• 3:54
  I think to literally every other one so opinion
• 3:59
  we do get uh Aquafina rapping a Lin Manuel song in The Little Mermaid.
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  So mean, like that probably is superior, but.
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  I mean, we do love that.
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  just...
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  It feels like a...
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  a step so far away from the classic that it's hard to...
• 4:22
  Like, Evermore feels like it could still be in the animated version.
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  I do not think...
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  And maybe this is a hot take.
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  I don't know how I would feel about watching that.
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  I can't even remember the name of it, song.
• 4:38
  Go back into Little Mermaid.
• 4:41
  No, and I definitely think that Evermore could go back into Beauty and the Beast and fit within it.
• 4:46
  ah where Lin-Manuel Miranda is very distinctly Lin-Manuel Miranda.
• 4:53
  Well, it's like so, like it's before the era of him, right?
• 4:58
  So it feels a little out of place, I think, wherever more falls more into that traditional uh musical theater-esque pop genre.
• 5:13
  Sure, correct, that is true.
• 5:15
  uh So then growing up, you watch this film, I'm glad to hear that because I feel like we've done a few podcasts where you haven't, and I have questioned um your loyalty to
• 5:28
  Disney things.
• 5:28
  ah But when we're about the Beauty and the Beast stage production, uh the first thing that caught my eye as I was working on this is that,
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  The book of the story was also written by the person who did the film, who also co-wrote Lion King, who also added stuff to Mulan.
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  Like this is somebody who was very, very much into Disney and quite frankly, some of the best Disney films, like The Lion King, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, they're all classics.
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  um What did you think?
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  overall of the story of the stage production of Beauty and the Beast that we saw this past week.
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  I mean, it's pretty true to the movie, right?
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  Like there are a couple things.
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  Script wise, I would say almost identical.
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  Like, I mean, you have some added nuances, definitely some added music and dance and stuff like that, but script, it's feeling very true to the animated film.
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  Character wise it feels very What you would expect and it doesn't shock me because you want like people while they're coming to see this on stage and You want to give them
• 6:47
  something new and exciting you also want to give them exactly what they're hoping to see So I feel like having those writers in the same room.
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  It makes sense
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  I think that it does speak to kind of the brand of what Disney is.
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  Like, granted, I haven't seen a lot of Broadway productions of Disney shows.
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  The only two I've actually seen have been Beauty and the Beast and Frozen.
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  But they're both pretty closely resembling the movie, even if there's a song added here or there.
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  Like, the major beats are not changed.
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  And I think that's because they want that synergy of like, oh, you're going to see a show.
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  you're going to see Beauty and the Beast, you want to see Beauty and the Beast, you don't want to see a different interpretation of Beauty and the Beast that you're not familiar
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  with.
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  Yeah, you have the Disney brand on it.
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  You have it is literally like bringing Disney World Touring right like when you go to Disney World or land you expect to see the princesses you expect to see Whatever character
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  and you expect them to be true to who you have seen them be previously ah
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  There were some interpretation differences or maybe modifications to some of the characters, I think, with this show to make them feel more real.
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  But not anything that anyone could possibly be really upset over.
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  I don't think that could also be a hot take, but, um.
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  Whose stories do you think changed the most?
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  while we have a very limited view, not that it's very expensive in the movie, but we have a very limited view of Belle and her father.
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  Like that relationship is over quite, quite quickly.
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  and even in, you know, when he returns or she returns at the end, also that is very, very brief.
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  Whereas in the movie you get a little bit more, um,
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  of that, you know, the insanity plea and the scene, um of course, with the horse and in the woods and the back and the forth and the wandering, we kind of skip those in between
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  toggles for, of course, probably time saving.
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  um But it does make it lose a little bit.
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  ah
• 9:22
  Like when he goes to wander and find her the rose, right?
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  The whole purpose of him kind of going up to the castle and picking from the bush.
• 9:35
  Those little things, they are, I'm a little bit surprised, but I completely understand why they aren't there.
• 9:43
  you're correct, they really did kind of uh compact their relationship quite a bit, which I understand.
• 9:48
  People are going for the story, the love story of Beauty and the Beast, is it truly a love story is a different answer?
• 9:54
  Like, um don't let the psychologist of me come out about that one.
• 9:58
  But, like, even when she goes to the castle to get him, the scene between her and her father tends to be more emotional.
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  Or like even like after her dad's kind of taken away and she says like, never, you didn't let me say goodbye.
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  And like there's this heartbrokenness.
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  They took some of these like these beats with them and they did kind of shorten them.
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  ah Which didn't like you understand because yes, that's her father and stuff, but it does kind of weaken their relationship a little bit.
• 10:25
  100%.
• 10:27
  The other one that really stood out to me that was changed quite a bit story wise.
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  So obviously the story for those who don't know, and if you don't know, you've been living under a rock because this movie's been out since 1991.
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  But, you know, Belle goes to strange places with her father, meets the Beast, the Beast is enchanted to his 21st birthday or 21st year, depending on you interpret the story.
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  And he has to fall in love and make somebody fall in love him and return with him.
• 10:52
  And of course, there's Gaston, who's the clear villain.
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  But what I think is interesting is the way that they portrayed Gaston and LeFou, I think is so, um they expanded on LeFou a little bit, but they also made them both very clear cut
• 11:09
  villains.
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  Like there wasn't a lot of nuance to their story, if that makes any sense.
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  Like they jump, they go in there just, and even when I was talking to Harry Francis about it, he had said that when they were working with LeFou, there were moments where they were
• 11:22
  like, he's like, I want him to be a clear villain because if he doesn't have Gaston, he has nothing.
• 11:27
  And while in the live action movie, they kind of made a very queer coded, which is something there's a little bit of queer coding in here a little bit.
• 11:36
  They definitely made him like, there was like no redemption arc for LeFou, which felt like like a far
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  uh departure from both the animated film and the live action.
• 11:46
  Yeah, and I particularly saw that, I mean, think Gaston, he's so evidently the villain, right?
• 11:56
  Like there's no, in every part of the movie, I think almost every part was in there.
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  the some of the final scenes with LeFou, that redemption piece that I think we get in the films, we don't get in the stage version in regards to him having that realization that
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  Gaston's a jerk and they're not really friends and you know, like, and yes, a lot of queer coding.
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  And part of me wonders if that's part of the reason that they also took it out.
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  um But yeah, you don't get the...
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  It kind of makes you forget about them once they're off stage em for that, after that final scene, which obviously Gaston has his end, but LeFou, we just kind of lose track of.
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  Whereas in the movie, it felt...
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  more intentional.
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  I'm not even sure exactly how, but it just it felt like there was a glimmer of hope for LeFou and maybe he could just be be a real boy now that Gaston is gone, you know?
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  And this it was just like, he's gone.
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  Which again, you said about like, know, simplifying the story and part of that probably could be for younger audiences of just being like the, we clearly have two bad guys.
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  We clearly have the beast is the one that really has a redemption arc in this.
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  um Though how much of redemption art do you get in three days?
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  Who knows?
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  um But it was very much like the, like black and white thinking, like younger kids, like this is good guy, this is bad guy, this is what good guy, bad guy does.
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  and it results in bad guy gets punished or bad guy meets his end.
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  And it's very clear cut.
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  Yeah, not too much interpretation.
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  uh
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  I do think I want to point out though that I didn't, I think that they did expand in some areas of this when they're really focusing on the different forms of love.
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  ah So obviously Belle and the Father, we talked about that one, it didn't have as much of a depth.
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  Bell and the Beast obviously is the one, but the one that was interesting was the objects in the Beast.
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  ah Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs.
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  Potts, while you always kind of got this feeling that they did love him, I felt like there was a little more...
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  of the like the love aspect of like, I still care for you even though you're kind of a jerk.
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  And we still love you and we're still stuck in this problem because of you and like we're, we're not always happy about that.
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  But there is like a love that they have for him, which I thought was a different kind of, it was a nice spin to add to the Beauty and the Beast tale.
• 14:41
  Did you kind of pick up on some of that?
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  Yes.
• 14:46
  well, and just, there was a few parts.
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  I don't know if it was the added, added language or added lines.
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  Of course we get the song, um, human again, which we don't get previous.
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  And that makes us see, see the kind of before and after and foreshadowing.
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  that we don't get from the film.
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  and then I mean the dynamic between the beast and the objects or his subjects, um, it's, it's like, get a taste of it at the beginning, obviously during the prologue, we get a
• 15:32
  taste of it throughout because they do discuss how they are partially to blame for what has occurred.
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  And then oh
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  the ending to me just always comes so quickly.
• 15:45
  Which again, when you want to have dance numbers that are God knows how long, I understand that you have to cut those minutes out elsewhere.
• 15:56
  uh I wish there was a little bit more balance, but we can get into that later.
• 16:01
  But characterization wise, I think that's where we lose it a little bit.
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  I will say, and we will talk about this more in part two, but Be Our Guest, they turned it to such a long song to the point where they almost should have cut out the Beast song for
• 16:18
  the end of act one and Be Our Guest should have been the end of act one because it was just so long.
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  And truly act two is much shorter than act one.
• 16:28
  I feel like act one was a solid almost hour and a half and act two was like 40 minutes and we were done.
• 16:34
  Yep, yep, will never understand as the show has been reworked so many times why that is the separation point when you just get done.
• 16:49
  Having this spectacular thing happen and then you end the act on a It's it's a motive and I get it and there's you know, pull at your heartstrings maybe but I don't think we're
• 17:01
  there yet with the beast and so it makes act one feel very like and Curtain goes down and it's intermission Rather than like wow, what a great like how awesome I'm so energized for
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  act two Not it
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  which I do, I don't know if you remember me saying this, but when we saw a local production, told you, said, I don't know, there was nothing against the local production.
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  I want that to be known right now.
• 17:28
  I was like, I don't know why that song is closing act one.
• 17:30
  Cause it's like, doesn't end on the way that like it should have felt.
• 17:35
  granted it felt like it fits a little bit more in this one.
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  I think they reworked it a little bit.
• 17:38
  It didn't seem so slow, but I was, I was like, but what was...
• 17:43
  Like, why is this the song that you chose to put in at of Act 1?
• 17:46
  It's not like a defying gravity, you know what mean?
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  It's not like where it's like you're hitting this high note, you're like, what's coming next?
• 17:51
  He's sad.
• 17:52
  On that first night that he meets her, he's sad because she's not gonna love him.
• 17:55
  Right.
• 17:57
  And like we've sat through shows where like the end of Act 1 is kind of like a low key, but it just the calm down from Be Our Guest.
• 18:11
  Yeah, it is just a very interesting, and I don't know timing wise if, if that just, it's, it's too early.
• 18:21
  But I remember thinking that too.
• 18:23
  was like, it's just, it's the writing.
• 18:25
  It's the script.
• 18:26
  do not understand.
• 18:28
  And they, think they did, they picked up the tempo a little bit.
• 18:31
  So it felt less awkward when the lights came up.
• 18:35
  Cause that's the feeling I get is the song ends.
• 18:39
  and you're almost expecting another scene to happen.
• 18:43
  Like it feels unresolved.
• 18:46
  And so you're like, okay, what is going to happen in response to this random song?
• 18:52
  and then the house lights come up.
• 18:54
  And you're like...
• 18:54
  it truly should end, this is me rewriting a show that's been out for like 30 years.
• 18:59
  like that's, it's probably not, but it should be, be our guest, the tour, and it should end with her being scared by the beast when she touches the rose and running away.
• 19:11
  And that should be the end of, the end of it.
• 19:14
  And then putting that song back where, again, Evermore, this is why the Evermore makes sense is because it's at the point where he actually loves her.
• 19:23
  and he's actually sad about letting her go.
• 19:25
  And granted, I know we're have a whole discussion about the music next time, but like, that is, that's where the time should have been.
• 19:32
  And not almost where that scene was.
• 19:34
  And end with Be Our Guest yelling, she's terrified.
• 19:37
  And you cut lights, like.
• 19:39
  Disney, call me.
• 19:40
  Yeah, we'll be here.
• 19:41
  Happy to advise.
• 19:43
  So what about the performances, like acting wise, who stood out to you um from the show?
• 19:51
  Who captured the energy of the storybook world of Beauty and the Beast to you?
• 19:58
  I mean, obviously they're also insanely talented.
• 20:02
  I do have to a big shout out to Belle.
• 20:05
  she did great.
• 20:08
  Yeah, her and I don't want to go into it because it's vocals.
• 20:13
  Her but her acting was on.
• 20:15
  mean, just the look was obviously.
• 20:19
  Perfect.
• 20:19
  And like I kind of mentioned earlier about the characterization changes, one of the things that they add, as we said, spoilers and it's not really a spoiler because it's in their PR
• 20:29
  stuff, glasses.
• 20:33
  Bell has glasses and this.
• 20:36
  Shouldn't be some revolutionary thing.
• 20:38
  But like how frequently do we see a princess?
• 20:41
  With any type of like body modification, you know, and of course either reader she loves her like of course it it just fits it fits and um You know some of the folks that we were
• 20:57
  with it was one of the first things they mentioned
• 21:00
  And it's something that I've heard over and over once this tour began was, like, of course, of course she is.
• 21:09
  and it just, does complete that kind of less than perfect look.
• 21:16
  it, it makes it more real that like, she's a little bit nerdy.
• 21:20
  She's a little bit quirky.
• 21:22
  Um, while she is still dropped at gorgeous, right?
• 21:26
  So yeah, but.
• 21:28
  I'm getting off my soapbox on that one.
• 21:31
  But real quick on that before you do before you do I loved that too because She is known they even say in the open like Belle they say she's beautiful, but she's weird and like
• 21:44
  she's weird because she likes to read and so like that felt like the like it shows like for two kids you could be beautiful and have braces or wear glasses or like You know, like
• 21:54
  the standard of beauty isn't you have to be like a princess can be anybody
• 21:58
  I thought that was a very good touch and I thought like she captured Bell really good, Kira Bell, Johnson, her real name's Bell, come on, like that's...
• 22:06
  But the glasses were a nice touch.
• 22:08
  It feels like, know what?
• 22:10
  My middle name.
• 22:10
  it.
• 22:12
  Okay, off my soap box continue with what you were saying.
• 22:15
  No, I mean, again, just some great performances.
• 22:19
  We were able to see the understudy for Gaston Benjamin, I believe.
• 22:27
  Yes.
• 22:29
  And of course, like you couldn't tell, you'd never know that he was in our study.
• 22:34
  And it just, again, goes to show, I think he's an understudy for both Gaston and the Beast, which just...
• 22:43
  hail to the swings and the understudies because they learn all these tracks and they have to do the meta moments notice and it does not affect the quality of the show in any which
• 22:55
  way.
• 22:56
  uh
• 22:58
  about that real quick.
• 22:59
  have a question for you.
• 23:00
  Granted I know, slightly talking about music, but the Beast and Gaston are not the same, they're not the same kind of voices.
• 23:09
  So it's kind of impressive that he can hit both of those, correct?
• 23:13
  well, I'm trying to think that they vocally, they might be closer than you might think.
• 23:20
  Speaking wise, the, the acting part portion is definitely different, right?
• 23:26
  Like beast is a little bit more gravelly and low and just like, kind of like what I would consider like coming really from the throat or like chest, which Gaston is a little bit
• 23:40
  that way too.
• 23:41
  but way more uh nasal in the face just because his voice is brighter.
• 23:47
  So there's definitely some voice acting occurring.
• 23:51
  Singing wise, they might fall within the same range.
• 23:55
  uh I think probably baritone, which is middle ground for men.
• 24:02
  Like it's not tenor, it's not bass.
• 24:05
  Baritone.
• 24:07
  actually pretty rare for a Broadway musical to have a baritone as a lead, and someone can totally call me out on this if he's not, if the role is not a baritone.
• 24:16
  I only think that because I can remotely sing what the Beast sings, and I'm closer to a bass than a tenor.
• 24:23
  um But I'm trying to think what else Gaston really sings.
• 24:27
  in Gaston, he's kind of more talk-singy where the beast is way more...
• 24:33
  he gets like solo songs, right?
• 24:37
  And I think that's why it feels so different when you think about it.
• 24:40
  Because when I read that, was like, that to me seems impressive that you could throw your voice both so low and Gaston seems like pretty normal.
• 24:47
  I did look it up.
• 24:48
  The beast is a baritone.
• 24:50
  His vocal range is typically listed as A2 to F4, whatever that means to you.
• 24:57
  for some reason, it just felt so much lower.
• 25:03
  I don't know why.
• 25:04
  Well, and the versatility of the actors who were currently playing those roles, like Beast's voice was just naturally way the tone of his voice.
• 25:15
  So not necessarily the pitch, pitch and tone, two different things.
• 25:19
  ah Pitch is like the actual notes in which someone is singing and tone is like the sound of the voice.
• 25:28
  So.
• 25:32
  Like you and I could sing or speak at the same pitch, but it would sound very different because our voices tone are very different.
• 25:40
  So, um, yeah, definitely some, I would definitely be interested in hearing Ben's version of the beast.
• 25:52
  but, but to very, I'm sure very different approaches.
• 25:56
  Also looked it up, Gaston is considered a high baritone, which I don't know what's different than that between that and a regular baritone, but I say A to high F.
• 26:04
  So this means nothing to me, but to somebody, this means something.
• 26:09
  Yeah, yeah, it's just, it's a fancy, it's just a fancy way of saying it's a little bit higher.
• 26:16
  Um, but most times, like you aren't even going to specify that.
• 26:20
  Like if you're going on for a role, you're just going to say, I'm a baritone, I'm a tenor, I'm a bass, almost never are there bass leads.
• 26:29
  It's primarily tenor.
• 26:32
  And then this rare occasion of baritone.
• 26:36
  uh But speaking of the roles, I do have to say a big shout out to uh Fergie L.
• 26:41
  Philippe who played Beast.
• 26:42
  He did a great job.
• 26:44
  I feel like that is such a really like a hard role because he's like down on his hands and knees at sometimes running around.
• 26:51
  He's banging his fist against things I'm sure probably hurt his hands jumping around like a a like a Beast.
• 26:59
  That was probably one of the best performances I've seen of the Beast.
• 27:04
  Well, I guess I've only seen it a few times live, but.
• 27:07
  Well, and yeah, and I agree.
• 27:09
  think I wasn't expecting it.
• 27:11
  I wasn't expecting so I think I was expecting more of the live action version of Beast and I got more of the animated version of Beast, which was more like he was less human.
• 27:24
  He was, you know, sipping the which we got them both, but just the scratching and the there were very small mannerisms that were occurring that I
• 27:37
  was like, yeah, no, he is.
• 27:39
  It was almost a reminder that he's not a man, which I think gets lost in the live action version a little bit more than the animated version.
• 27:49
  Cause we're like, well he's clearly a guy.
• 27:51
  He's, he's clearly a man, but he's just kind of a beast.
• 27:55
  Or does this felt like, no, he is a beast.
• 27:59
  He's a beast.
• 28:00
  He like first and foremost, like, because in live action, you're right, he kind of stands upright all the time, where this one was kind of more hunched over.
• 28:07
  And like he did constantly, there's a few times where he, the way he would do it, he like almost paw the ground, like I like, I've seen my dog do that before, you know, I've seen,
• 28:14
  I've seen videos of wolves doing that.
• 28:16
  And so when he did things like that, I'm like, you actually are capturing the beast, like consider, like character,ness of like the character.
• 28:25
  Yeah, the animal instinct portion was very obvious and a clear, like it was clearly intentional, which I appreciated.
• 28:38
  which I think also goes with what I want to say about LeFou before we run out of time is he captured the cartoon voice.
• 28:45
  When you're talking about like more of the animated style, I spoke with that man.
• 28:49
  He is British, English accent.
• 28:53
  And when he came out with a perfect LeFou accent, my jaw was on the floor at first.
• 28:57
  I was like, what the hell is happening?
• 29:01
  Which I just, again, is speaks to the fact that like they're really trying to capture the animated essence.
• 29:06
  Like Lumiere was.
• 29:07
  felt like Lumiere from the movies.
• 29:08
  know, Mrs.
• 29:09
  Potts felt like Mrs.
• 29:09
  Potts from the movies.
• 29:11
  I mean, they even had Angela Lansbury doing the narration at beginning.
• 29:13
  Like they were really trying to capture the animated one.
• 29:16
  ah So like, truly, I was pretty impressed with this cast.
• 29:21
  Agreed, 100%.
• 29:22
  And so with that, we are running out of time, but stay tuned for part two of our Beauty and the Beast discussion where we will cover the music and stagecraft of this touring
• 29:29
  production.
• 29:30
  Thank you again for joining us here in our box seats.
• 29:32
  Till next curtain call.