‘Beauty and the Beast’ kicking off nine-performance run

Tale as old as time?

When the tale is the beloved “Beauty and the Beast,” the answer is yes. And no.

That’s because the musical — which begins a nine-performance run Tuesday at The Smith Center — ranks as an all-new production.

Never fear, you’ll still find all the characters and all the songs you, your kids, your parents, your grandparents, your grandkids and everybody else has loved since the Oscar-winning Disney animated feature debuted in 1991.

Same goes for the seven new songs written for the 1994 stage adaptation, which ran for 13 years and remains one of Broadway’s longest-running shows.

It’s just that, when it came time for the current “Beauty and the Beast” tour, a bit of reimagining seemed to be in order.

After all, “when the first tour went out 15 years ago, it was a different time,” says director Rob Roth, who earned a Tony Award nomination for his direction of the Broadway show. “Shows would sit down” and play extended runs and “it took 17 trucks to move.”

In today’s leaner, meaner times, this “Beauty and the Beast” tour would need to “get down to five to seven trucks of stuff,” so Roth huddled with his creative team to discuss “how to cut down the original design.”

Instead, they wondered “what we would do if were just starting from the beginning,” Roth explains during a telephone interview. “It’s a daunting amount of work to do — but in 10 minutes, we were off and running.” And starting over.

After all, “we’ve learned 15 years of stuff about the show” since the first time around, the director reasons.

The end result: “a completely different design” — one that “we just all like better.”

In part, that’s because the new designs complement “Beauty and the Beast’s” underlying theme, he explains.

“The lightness and transparency” of the sets tie into “seeing past externals and into the heart,” Roth points out. “The scenery, the costumes and lighting reflect that in a fuller, clearer way.”

The characters who experience new ways of seeing things (and people) may have started out in “a storybook, but they have a real-life problem,” he adds.

Let’s start with the Beast (played by Darick Pead ), who’s really a young prince trapped by an enchantress’ spell — along with the other residents of his castle.

If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end, meaning he — and his staff — will revert to their former selves, somewhat sadder and wiser after such an ordeal.

But time’s running out for that to happen.

Unless Belle (played by Hilary Maiberger ), a brainy bookworm from a small provincial town, can see beyond his fearsome exterior — and touch his heart.

Although this new touring production boasts a different look, the essence of the tale remains unchanged — from the Broadway original, that is.

When it comes to the animated feature that inspired the Broadway original, that’s a different matter.

Roth and Linda Woolverton , who wrote the movie’s script and the stage musical’s book, recently “looked at the movie,” which he described as “a fantastic piece of art” and “groundbreaking.”

Compared to the stage version, however, “now it seems sketchy to me,” Roth reflects, in part because the play adds “layers to the show” and has a “bigger canvas” on which to display those layers.

After all, the movie only runs 84 minutes — and has only five main songs.

“There’s more room” for the story and characters onstage, he adds. “If you love the characters, you will love them more.”

And if you love the Oscar-winning score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman (the wonderful team that brought you everything from “The Little Mermaid” to “Little Shop of Horrors”), there’s more to love.

With “double the amount of music,” Roth notes, “you learn a lot more about the characters.”

Because lyricist Ashman died of AIDS in March 1991 (eight months before the movie hit theaters), Menken teamed with lyricist Tim Rice (“Evita,” “The Lion King”) to write additional songs for the stage version — including two anguished solos for the Beast, who hardly sings in the movie.

(There’s also a Menken-Ashman number, “Human Again,” that was cut from the movie — until it was restored after the stage musical popularized the song.)

During “Beauty and the Beast’s” recent Los Angeles run — at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre, a once-upon-a-time movie palace — Roth and his collaborators sat in to check up on the show.

Even scenic designer Stanley A. Meyer “was happy” with the current version of the show, Roth says, “and he’s hard on himself.”

Watching the touring production in L.A., Roth and Woolverton noticed how the performers “brought so much of themselves” to the show, the director says. “The actors are finding great stuff,” and seeing it is “a joyful thing for me. I always want to go back to it.”

Whatever variations cast members find within the show, however, one constant remains: the “emotional ride” it provides for audiences.

In the years since Roth first directed “Beauty and the Beast,” he’s seen productions around the world.

And while “audiences are different,” he says, their responses to “Beauty and the Beast” remain “very much the same,” a fact he finds most “gratifying.”

Initially, he “was nervous about the international” productions, Roth admits.

But “love is love in Japan, love is love in Texas, love is love in Las Vegas, love is love in Korea. There may be different words for it, but the feeling is the same,” he says. “That’s why the show works.”

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@
reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.