Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration

I've seen a lot of crybabies in these reviews. If you feel the need to complain about the race of the people portraying the characters, you have problems. They were all talented. This wasn't meant to be a live action movie, they did that years ago. This was to show the work that went into it 30yrs ago, along with remembering the scenes in the original movie, and then watching them act out the most poignant scenes and songs of the film. What is so hard to understand about that? Too many people calling it confusing, there was nothing confusing. It was entertaining, reminiscent, and everyone who was apart of it did a great job. Stop reading into everything like it needs to be Oscar worthy before it receives praise. Not to mention if you have kids, they will enjoy it, it was wholesome, fun entertainment.

Can we be done with the vocal fry singing already? H. E. R. was just not right for the role. Or simply can't sing without adding the silly little frills.

Josh Groban and Joshua Henry were the highlights of the show musically. Henry was stellar in the recent Into the Woods production and continues to wow.

However, overall it was a rather disjointed mess. The back and forth between animated and live action was distracting and we didn't get nearly enough of some characters like Martin Short and David Alan Grier.

But the part that made it laugh out loud bad was the guitar solo. Whichever creative head made that decision probably shouldn't be put in charge of anything.

I loved the animated BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 30 years ago, so I was looking forward to seeing this anniversary tribute. Sadly it was an over-produced and stuffed with performers who were not up to film and staged versions of this classic. The show had energy and point whenever Rita Moreno (the charming host), and Josh Groban (as the Beast) were around for the live, sung numbers. They were interspersed with the original animated film. H. E. R was a vocally wan Belle. Shania Twain as Mrs. Potts was the worst vocal casting as Mrs. Potts with nothing to compare to the transcendent Angela Lansbury in the film. Already well into her late 60s, Lansbury imbued the character with warmth and sang this character part with theatrical flair. Ms. Twain sounded mature and not in a good way. She's not known as an actress and it showed. Vocal energy arrived with the casting of Josh Groban as the Beast, and he was wonderful. H. E. R is probably a fine R&B artist vocally, but out of her depth in a musical. Martin Short as Lumiere and David Alan Grier as Cogsworth, showed theatrical flair. "Be Our Guest" is meant to be a showstopper, and it is a highlight of the original film. Here it was amplified so far beyond its charm as to be annoying. Simply put, this was an over-produced mess. No doubt, mine will be a minority opinion. But this is a rare instance of Disney throwing a fortune at a beloved animated movie classic. I just wish it had been better cast and produced with a little more restraint.

Would you rather watch the original Disney animated classic or would you rather watch portions of it, interrupted by commercials, live action sequences that are more about new choreography than the musical performances, interspersed with brief pieces about the creation and development of the orignal, perhaps accented with pop-up ads and scrolls on the bottom of the screen?

Some of the new performers are great talents. If only their talents were showcased better...and they were not lip synching!

In recent years we have been spoiled by some incredible live re-creations of musical classics that make this production suffer in comparison.

This is obviously mostly a vehicle to showcase how progressive ABC and Disney have become through the casting of H. E. R as Belle. H. E. R. delivers here, using the "R" in her acronym to reveal her beautiful eyes, shedding her edgy persona to temporarily become a Disney princess, and she is a great sport at it. Her exotic looks and exotic voice give Belle the texture we need in 2022. And as a bonus, H. E. R gives us a taste of her electric guitar skills at the end which is a nice surprise. At 25, she is only two letters away from EGOT, so I hope this live stage experience will open the doors for her to win a Tony next. Josh Groban performs as expected with his soaring voice, and the supporting cast, specifically Martin Short and Joshua Henry as Gaston, are awesome to watch. Overall, this is a good Christmas-time production, but the progressiveness stops on the surface, as deep down the "Beauty and the Beast" storyline is quite problematic. If you think about it, young girls should really be shielded from the dangerous messages lurking in this horror disguised as a classic Disney fairly tale. It's insidious.