The realism at fantasy's heart

“Beauty and the Beast”, one of the longest-running and highest-grossing Broadway musicals of all time, is on an international tour, and BEC-Tero Entertainment and Scenario are bringing it to Bangkok.
“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” opens next Tuesday and continues well into March.
Utah native Darick Pead and Californian Hilary Maiberger had played the title characters around the US for two years before embarking on the global tour last autumn. Completing a run in Manila that was extended to a full month, they popped into Bangkok last week to promote the show before taking a short break back in the States.
Maiberger admitted to being a “Beauty and the Beast” super-fan. She used to drive her mum crazy watching the 1991 film version twice a day. Then she saw the tale enacted onstage. “I watched the stage musical in LA when I was 10 – my first-ever Broadway show. I remember leaning over to my mom and saying, ‘I want to be Belle one day – she kind of looks like me!’”
Maiberger always felt she could relate to Belle, who was unlike any of the other Disney princesses. “She’s an average girl who’s trying to figure out where she belongs. I was that girl! She’s a dork, but she’s smart, passionate and adventurous.”
Many years and an audition later, Maiberger has indeed become Belle, and she’s still finding out “so many wonderful things about the character and the story”.
“I think that’s why it’s lasted so long.”
Pead pointed out that the show’s longevity also has a lot to do with “two of the greatest songwriters of all time” – composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, who wrote “Little Shop of Horrors”. The same pair are also responsible for “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin”.
Finally, Maiberger noted, there is the story’s message. “It’s going to last a very long time because of the message of looking past someone’s exterior and loving them for who they are.”
“Beauty and the Beast” was Disney’s first venture into the theatre, in 1994. It had considered beginning with a stage rendition of “Mary Poppins”, but the opening number of “Beauty” in the Oscar-winning film garnered such high praise that the studio’s chief, Michael Eisner, gave it the green light for Broadway instead.
Pead said he’s done more narrative plays than musicals. “I love singing, but I can’t dance to save my life. But I ended up being the Beast, so that’s cool!
“I went into acting because I wanted to be a storyteller. I wanted to be as real as possible onstage, and acting in various genres, from realism to theatre of the absurd, has taught me how to really be in the moment.”
Maiberger was trained in singing, not acting, and has performed in many operas. “I wanted to be a pop singer and did the whole ‘American Idol’ thing. Then it transitioned into my degree in music, and I became fascinated with the science behind singing.
“I was auditioning for operas but didn’t get the roles I really wanted, yet when I ventured into musicals, I was cast in lead roles. I think that, thanks to my training in classical singing, I have a very good technique, which I’m very proud of.”
She said she learned to act by “listening to what’s going on onstage. It’s a growing process, for sure.”
Asked how he developed “the Beast within”, Pead said, “I put myself in that situation. What would I feel like if somebody came up to me and cursed me for my ugly looks? How would I ever be able to start loving somebody?
“It’s hard to be a cartoon character – the Beast is 10 feet tall – so I have to transform myself to make it real. What’s fun about this character is that he’s a child, 100 per cent, but he grows up to be a man.”
Maiberger said she too has been able to fit into Belle’s character, “and it’s very comfortable now. Making sure that I stay honest is very important because I’m talking to a teacup, which isn’t real, but it’s a real human emotion that’s taking place.”
Pead said he’s become the Beast more than 700 times so far, but every night he tries his best to “make it a good one”. “For some members of the audience, it’s their first experience of a Broadway show – and for others, it’s their last.”
Disclosure time for me: I revealed to them, after a fun conversation that lasted almost an hour, that I didn’t really have a good time watching the original Broadway production two decades ago, and I still much prefer the movie, which I’ve seen many times.
Unlike my stage favourites – “The Lion King”, “Wicked”, “Once” and “The Book of Mormons” – this is not a musical I want to see more than once. I invited them to try and change my mind.
Pead went first. “This is a beautiful story, and the way they’ve re-imagined the set design – it’s not literally a library. For example, they have gargoyle characters moving the set – that’s an integral part of it now!”
“It’s contemporary and it evolves with time,” Maiberger pointed out. “The musical is now more seamless and flows better from one scene to another.”
“Overall I think the show is earthier,” Pead added. “You can, for example, follow the development of the Beast from start to finish. I myself am trying to keep it real, not cartoonish.”
Beauty added, “Even the direction has changed. It’s more organic and much more natural.”
The Beast had the last word: “It’s a show that both kids and adults can enjoy now. Actually, it’s the adults around our age who enjoy it best, and that’s probably because we grew up with it.”
The lady and her beast somehow convinced me, and I’m looking forward to seeing them onstage in Thailand. So it’s going to be “A Tale as Old as Time” one more time.

The writer thanks BEC-Tero’s Atita Chiwaprecha Ducci and Payungjit Kosopa for their assistance.


Family fun
“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: The Original Broadway Musical Spectacular” opens on Tuesday and runs until March 15, daily except Monday, at the Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre.
Show time is 7.30pm with 2pm matinees on weekends.
Seats cost Bt1,000 to Bt4,000 at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.
Find out more at www.BeautyAndTheBeastOnTour.com and BEC-Tero’s Facebook page.