Village Theatre version of Disney classic is a ‘Beauty’ | Column

Published 1:12 pm Thursday, November 20, 2008

As the first strains of music filtered into the theater, I felt a “tap, tap” on my leg.

My 3-year-old daughter leaned toward me and made a big show of putting up her hand to whisper in my ear. (We’d had a lengthy conversation about appropriate theater behavior.) “It’s gonna be fuuu-uuun!”

The theater was Village Theatre’s Francis J. Gaudette on Front Street. The show was “Beauty and the Beast.” It was my daughter’s first official outing to a theater production — she’d been to a few smaller plays, but nothing of this magnitude. For that matter, it was her first time seeing this story brought to life — we had read the book, of course, but she hadn’t seen the movie.

Sitting stock-still in one corner of the fold-down seat and craning her neck to see better, she was, quite simply, mesmerized. From the first special effects that transformed an old woman into an evil enchantress and a handsome prince into a beast, to the colorful town scenes and expressive faces and body language of the servants-turned-objects, my daughter loved every second. Indeed, everyone around us smiled consistently as they watched, some with heads bobbing or toes tapping to the familiar music.

The beast inspired something of a love-hate relationship in my daughter — when he was particularly fierce, she hid her eyes and peeked through her hands, and when he was off stage, she asked, “When is the Beast gonna be here again?”

In my book, the show-stopping number was “Be Our Guest,” performed by the castle’s servants, including not only Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts and Babette, but also silverware, napkins, china and, near the end of the song, tap-dancing salt and pepper shakers.

At the end of each scene or song, my daughter would turn toward me or her dad and give a hearty grin that seemed to say, “Can you believe what you’re seeing up there?”

In addition to the fine acting, dancing and singing, the sets and costumes played vital roles.

A few weeks prior to seeing the show, I stopped in to pay a visit at Village Theatre’s costume shop, where alterations were being made to rented ware, new pieces were being created from scratch and wigs and the Beast’s mask pieces were painstakingly being crafted by Korby Gerth.

Costume Shop Manager Cynthia Savage gave me a tour, and explained that while a good portion of the 89 costumes for the play were rented as a box show from the Marriott Theatre Co., the costume team put their own touches on many of the pieces.

“It seemed insane for us to start from scratch,” Savage said. “It’s a big show for us.”

The team worked for about nine weeks on the alterations, additions and about 10 new costumes.

Belle’s iconic yellow gown, for example, which is worn during a dinner and dance with the Beast and then again at the end of the show, came with several rips and tears, and was a bit lackluster.

“It’s all about that yellow dress,” Savage said.

So the Village Theatre costume experts fashioned some sparkly additions. I saw the gown in process on the day I visited, and when I saw it this weekend as part of the production, I would never have recognized it as the same piece.

They must have gotten it right, because my daughter is still talking about “Belle’s beautiful dress” days later.

When my husband and I decided at intermission that it was time for the two of them to head home to bed while I stayed to enjoy the second act, she put up quite an argument.

There were many tears.

Most of them were hers.

Directed by Steve Tomkins, “Beauty and the Beast” runs through Jan. 4 in Issaquah, and Jan. 9 – Feb. 1 in Everett. For tickets, call 392-2202 or visit www.villagetheatre.org.