iTunes Exclusive Episode Beauty And The Beast The Musical

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Green's Empire member and or members.
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Welcome.
My name is Rob, I am the executive producer of the clubhouse podcast and boy, if we got some
talking points to do with you in this particular episode.
Jordi me across the desk as he tends to do is my co-host and a man who's health seems
to finally be improving.
He is Chad, welcome sir.
Finally have my legs back underneath me.
Also, Jordi this is the official fact checker of this show and a man who does not have anyone
by the name of Beast Mode on his football team.
You may know him is fun, don't go, but his mom and even don't want to call him
Don Ford, welcome sir.
Hello, hello, hello.
Whenever we do one of these, it is to review something this particular episode is no
different in this episode.
We will be reviewing a stage production that's got a real quick run here in the Dallas
Fort Worth area.
It is Disney's beauty and the Beast currently showing at the Windspir Opera House through
Sunday, June 26th.
So this is going to be more of a universal review because this thing is in and out.
Before we start this whole thing?
Yes sir.
I think that great lady Cindy Evans, everybody at the top of the house of Cindy Evans and
everything she does for us.
Thank you so much for the invite.
Tales Oldest Time, Tunis Oldest Song.
Can we just leave it there?
I mean, I guess if you don't know the story of Beauty and the Beast first of all, welcome
to Earth, where you know, I for one, I'm excited about our robotic alien overlords.
1991 Disney does the animated feature.
There was something about it getting nominated, isn't it the first animated film to get
nominated for Best Picture or Best Picture?
It was the fall of 91.
I remember it well.
I remember the theater I saw it in.
That was with my college girlfriend.
That was the time.
I was in the Navy.
I was on base actually.
It was wonderful.
And then a couple of years later it was so popular that they're like, let's make it into
a stage production.
And then it goes through the normal regular morale of getting it to where it needs to
be.
One at Tony Award for costume design.
And it's been touring ever since.
The ninth longest running show in Broadway history.
If my math serves me correctly, or Wikipedia, one or the two.
What really got the ball rolling for Disney theatrical?
It which is in your written review.
Indeed it is.
At www.theclaphousepodcast.com, which is our website.
I'm Joe and I'm just saying we just dive right into this thing.
I cannot say enough good things about this particular musical.
Although you and I chat had a little bit of a difference in opinions in our reviews and
we'll talk about that when we get there.
Okay.
I mean, it's Disney.
So there is a certain, how do you say, expectation of anything they do?
And I even start my written review, which is at www.theclaphousepodcast.com.
Which is our website.
By saying, I fully admit that I have a Disney bias.
It's kind of hard not to do it.
When you grow up in South Florida, it's kind of ingrained in the new yard.
Yeah, you kind of have it, or shouldn't we do?
It's kind of stamped into your DNA.
Exactly.
My honeymoon was there.
Yes, this is true.
This is true.
So I set the bar real high going into this because I've seen Disney productions at
Walt Disney World.
I think I've seen whatever show that they did of beauty in the beast in the park.
It's like 10, 15 minutes long ago.
Now on top of it, I was sat in on the festival of the Lion King and things of its
nature.
This delivers on just about every level.
I've got a couple of issues that we'll talk about, but I mean, it tells the story pretty
much the way it's told in the film.
I was impressed because my first thought is how you can do the wolves.
And they did the wolves with puppets, but the puppets were really well done.
I was actually, I had to squint to try to find the guys that were dressed all in black
that were the puppeteers.
And they had a little sheath in front of me.
Right.
Oh, yeah, did a great job.
They did kind of define the laws of physics and how they moved in certain aspects.
It's a question.
It looked kind of almost wily coyote issue with the way that they were moving.
How the back end was independent for the front end at times, but you know.
But even like the opening, how they tell the backstory of the prince getting turned
into the beast.
Which I'm glad they did that.
I'm glad they did the prologue.
I thought that was kind of neat, but even though the way they did it in the film was a
little bit different with all the stained glass and everything.
Right.
And to be that was the one thing that was missing from this particular production is
I'm a huge fan of stained glass and I was hoping for those, those pieces of artwork.
Even if it was on a tapestry and the background, but I mean, come on, we're splitting
hairs at that.
I think about as close you got to that was like the front door, the castle had a stained
glass look to it a little bit.
You want to like about this one, which I put in my written review at www.cobassboccas.com.
Which is our website, and that's why we're here, if I know what you liked about it, because
that's my turn to say.
Plainable, I really like the mix of story and music.
Some of these productions we've seen in the past, it's all about the music and go, oh,
by the way, let's add a plot of 10 minutes.
You know, this one really had a good mix of a good plot with a lot of speaking and a
good mix of, of seeing.
And as you say that, it makes me think a lot of, I know that there's songs in this that
aren't in the film, human again, but it wasn't like any of that stuff stood out.
Now, where I was like, oh, this isn't even in the movie, you know, like it was just
it fit, and it fit well, which I thought was really, really neat.
Yeah.
I mean, I was a little shocked at the runtime, because it was a 730 curtain and it was
10 after 10 when we got out of there.
Yeah, I was kind of surprised.
And so I was like, for a, for a Disney production that's focused at kids, kids were
folks.
Oh, that's 250 minutes.
There was no, there was a 20 minute remission, yeah.
But there, there never was a time where the kids, like, got unruly.
Oh, yeah.
I don't, I put that in my review.
I mean, kept the kids.
Some of the adults were worse behaved than most of the kids in that thing.
And I got to admit, this thing was packed and it, and it was packed and any time that we
been in the windspirer, I've never seen people in that fourth thing, this thing packed
it in.
Yeah, that one moment where that one kid shouted out a line at an actor on stage.
Everybody just cracked up.
That hurt it.
Yeah.
What was it?
Dinner.
Dinner.
During VR guests.
And that was the one number that I was interested to see how they pull off, because
VR guests is such a grandiose number in the film.
It's the showstopper.
And it worked.
It really did.
It really really worked.
And it doesn't work.
It doesn't work without number one, amazing visuals.
Oh, let's get in it.
This, the lighting, the sense.
What I really talked about the set design was the transitions, especially when it came
to the, to the staircases, where you had people that were moving them, but after they
moved them, they were like the statues that stood by the staircase.
Like it was just kind of a neat little deal.
This was of all the stuff we've seen, the only thing that can think that is more
elaborate was the family operat.
This thing's a fair point.
Such a great.
It's a fair point.
Great set.
I mean, it was, like, you know, pureline top dollar prop set everything.
It's what you're looking for.
Disney.
I don't know.
But we all, they did it.
Yeah, we did it.
We did it.
We did it.
We did it.
We did it.
We did it.
We did it.
We did it.
We did it.
This year, okay, which was the animated film that came out before Beauty and Beauty.
That's true.
So that was what I was kind of comparing it to.
And they were both comparable from a technical aspect.
Right.
I thought they both did an amazing job.
But it also doesn't work without strong performance.
Boy, we had some killer ones too, man.
And I'm just going to start right off to top.
Ryan and Phillips.
Lumiere.
Ring in it.
And he was a perfect combination of the two things because his performance was wonderful.
But from a technical aspect, every time he fire up one of the, one of the candles, the,
I, and they had the LED lights in there that lit it up too.
And I thought that was really neatly done.
My thing, I thought he went a little too high-wired.
Myself.
Yes, I did.
Fair enough.
You know, he did great.
I love the props.
I love everything about.
He overdid it too excited.
I thought.
When you, when you think about who played that originally though, I know.
It's such a, it's such a sharp contrast.
You're like, you're Lenny on mon order.
But I haven't seen, you know, I haven't seen the film like in 20 years, I'm being honest with you.
So it's kind of been out of the mind.
Well, I thought he overdred.
But beyond, I have to give it to the, who played Cogsworth and Samuel, he, he, shirt
left, he, he, he, he, and their interactions were very, very good.
And he sounded just like David Ogden's tires.
The whole time he fought.
He felt like he did overdid a little bit, but that's just a minor thing.
But yeah, like you're saying, the chemistry was great between them.
But he just hit it out of the park.
It's like that role was written for him.
Yeah, if you, if you want to draw an, an instant comparison to somebody that looks and
sounds exactly like they did in the animated film, it's, it's, it's, it's shirtless.
I thought he did a great job.
When you get into the leads, I know that you, sir, had a little bit of an issue with
beast.
Had an issue with beauty and the beast, actually, uh, beast to me, say him hardly, he, he, he had
a good, he had a good stage presence, but he didn't have that towering stage presence
that I think a role like this kind of calls for.
He's got a comparable voice that guy can act.
He's got great chops, but he never once made me feel any kind of real menace, like he
was capable of doing what the animated version of beast was doing because it was just kind
of a small-ish guy and I didn't bother me so much.
Well, I mean, I'm not even saying so much that it bothered me, but I just, I didn't get
that sense of, I could snap your neck like a dry twig if I really wanted to feeling
that I got from the animated version of beast.
And that's just, that's just the limitations of his physical.
We're going to get to that one.
I want to deal with mine.
I think we both had the same issue with Brooke Quintana, who plays Bell.
And I said it at the end of mission.
She, from a performance standpoint, she's got a great voice, she's got a great presence.
But in this particular role, I thought her voice was too matured.
Yes, because Bell was supposed to be in that 1920-year-old range.
Her singing voice puts her in late 20s early 30s for me.
There wasn't that innocent that Nyev, it's A, that Pedro Herobring.
Right.
She didn't have the, the, the, the naive sweetness about it.
She just said, she's a nice girl that's been in this town for a little bit too long,
just wants to get out of it.
And she's down her butt off, don't you?
She did.
Oh, yeah, yeah, she's, she's just saying very, very well.
Again, it's not like she's incapable.
I just, I just think that they skewed a little bit older than they probably should have.
Don, any, any issues there?
Yeah, I, I thought she was fine.
She didn't, I, I thought overall the, everything was great when it came to the acting
and the singing, the volume level, everything else.
Uh, I could see her point of bell, you know, but I'm not too,
because I didn't think of her as the 19 year old, because like I said, it's been 20 years.
Right.
Kind of been on the mind.
I, if I had one complaint, but let's, let's hold on, because we're not just quite there yet,
because there is one thing I want to talk about because Chad's issue with Hartley was my issue
with Christian Smith-Cutlarric, who plays Gaston.
And I'll tell you why I, where I think both of our issues come from, because I really had
time to think about this.
Him has Gaston, he was a little too rinky.
What do you mean, Mikey?
Like, just kind of thin, he didn't have the body, okay.
That is Gaston, I'm going to even Charlotte, who was with us, is somebody forgot,
the Gaston forgot like, he had, yeah, he had the, he had the good upper body, but he did
look at those.
But I think where our issues come from is, is from the same place.
And that is, when Disney creates its characters, especially its strong male characters,
it's, especially its protagonist and its antagonists, there's so much bigger than life, right,
that there's an expectation in our minds, it's just not realistic to portray on state.
Yeah.
And I think that's where the problem comes from.
I thought from a performance standpoint, I thought he was very, very good.
And he brought that goofiness to Gaston that we all know, but he just wasn't Gaston
to me.
And I think it's because my expectation from the animated feature is impossible to portray
it in live action, which I think is where the beast comes from.
Yeah, it is.
Yeah, because I'm not so, like I said, 20 years, so that's why we got this big difference
where the casual person who's probably seen it 10 years ago, you might not affect you,
but it's so entrenched in your mind.
Yeah, because I'm, I'm making a point to watch the Disney classics, at least once a year.
I keep refreshing my head.
And yeah, I agree with you there.
It just, his, to me, his performance was able to kind of push over his physical limitations
to me, whereas whereas beast, like when he spoke, I just, I wish they would have done something.
I'm not saying go, go full on Christian bail, dark night his voice, but do something
with his voice.
They give a little bit more of an, a beastly tone to it.
I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, it's probably more universal monster
than it was Disney beast.
Kind of.
Yeah, it's like, they, they kept him, I think they kept his humanity a little bit too
pure, and maybe that's the point, which could have been, you're absolutely right on that.
But you know, just, when, when you hear, because to me, it's always hard for me to believe
that that's Roby Benson doing the voice of the beast, because he doesn't sound like Roby
Benson.
The only Roby that spelled it correctly when I was a kid.
He, they kind of beast it, I don't know if it's, what he did or something, they did when
they recorded his audio track, and he just, there was more, wait to his voice to
where is this guy?
It just wasn't there.
Now, now, Don did have one issue that I want you to cover it, because it's your issue
and I want to make sure that your opinions are heard, and I'll, I'll respond to it after
you talk about it.
I just thought through this thing, this production, which was great.
The added sound effects sound noises of the door knocking, them falling on the ground.
It was to, wow, during the song, I'll stop, you know, when they're doing the claking
of the cops, it, it was to, wow, it got, like a knowing, I thought, to that point.
Every time, let's, you took a punch or something.
That's, whatever, once you hit your mind, it never goes away, just like Renee Young in the
list.
Okay, it's exactly the, well, play it, sir.
I've almost put that in my, my view, also, but I thought, nah, but, I mean, it just, after
you realize it, it's like, every time they do it, it's just like, that was not needed.
Falling on the ground, why they have to do a big, thought, you know, I can see where
you're going with that, for it didn't bother me, because I was looking at it from a cartoonish
angle, and whenever you watch something like that, the sound effects are always over
the top.
I mean, it was kind of the needy experience, but speaking of, you know, anime, this,
like Chad said after this, the show, when we're walking out, he was like, this was so cool.
This was real life, but they tried to make it like an anime, but they said it was so,
and because that's what Disney does, and nobody does it as well.
Let's just call it, but I did this.
That, if I had one big complaint, that was it.
That's what really put it down, or out, because after a three or four times when I really
started noticing, it's firstly during Gaston, it's just like, oh, yeah, I agree with
you, kind of.
I don't mind the sound effects being there, but tone them down a little bit to whether
they're not louder than the dialogue.
Yes.
It didn't bother me.
I thought it was fun.
It was fun.
To me, the only thing that was missing was a cartoonish looking thud, splashing up on
the curtain whenever someone took the bunch, you know, yeah, yeah, something, instead
of an applause sign, we see oof and thump and stuff like that, and yeah, that probably
could have been tamed down a little bit.
But that's why beyond that, I loved this thing.
Again, we're splitting hairs when we're talking about stuff like that.
That just, that didn't annoy me.
I'd have to say that really, but beyond that, I love this thing, visually, it was incredible.
Are we ready to get to final analysis, anything else we need to cover?
Get, I think we're ready.
All right.
The way we do the final analysis on this show, we're not going to give you thumbs up
thumbs down, because you couldn't see them.
We're not going to give you lighter grades or numbers or anything like that.
Our audience whom we affectionately refer to as the Empire, they want us to dig deeper,
so we're going to do that.
Since this is a stage production, we do these a little bit differently than we do films.
We still ask the same two questions, kind of sort it in a way.
The first question is always the same.
Would you see this again?
If the answer is no, then we're done here.
But if the answer is yes, in this case, the follow up question will be, where would you
be willing to sit to see it again?
Because what that will tell our audience is how really much they enjoyed updating
on how much money they want to spend, Chad, let's start with you.
Did you see this particular production again?
Oh, heck yeah, where you want to sit, I'd spend top dollar.
So you're down front inside the inner circle, right?
By the way, great job by the orchestra too, that's what we're talking about.
No, yeah.
Wonderful, wonderful job by the orchestra conducted by Kevin Francis Finn, and the associate
conductor was Shane Paris.
Don, would you see this again?
Oh, definitely recommended, baked them.
Okay.
Where you want to sit?
Say the second from the top dollar, like the back of the main section, so like that, that
clinking and stuff just got to me, that's why I can't give it the covenant, just get in
and see.
I would see it again.
We sat if you're looking at this stage to the left of the mixing board.
I would want to sit in that same section a little bit more centered, just because I just
I want to take in the entire experience, would you like to be sitting right in front of
the mixing board?
Yeah, okay.
Back of the lower section.
I think would be good.
All right.
But before we end this thing again, thank you so much to Sidney Evans, thank you guys so much
for the win spirit.
Thank you so much for the invite.
It is Disney's beauty of the beast in the Dallas Fort Worth area, and it's not the
win spirit opera house through June the 26th, or check it out when it comes to a city
near you.
Good times.
Let's sleep on this because it's going to be gone before you know it.
Let's do the plug gentleman.
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I am Chad at theclubhousepodcast.com.
Cheryl Aparker is on Pinterest because we are morally obligated to say that who very much
enjoyed this as well.
She was sitting right next to me at the time.
Jules Womack, I'm assuming how to good time as well because I saw the looks on her face
as well.
Absolutely.
So as every Sunday night, 70's during four Pacific, you're one stop shop for all things
pop culture or just keep subscribing on iTunes and you get everything.
So until next time, for Don, for Chad, for the Empire, I'm Rob.
Clubhouse is closed.
Just saying that pretty Palmer could be the bell to my piece and just saying it.