Enjoy a “Tale As Old As Time” as “Beauty and the Beast” comes to the Overture Center next week. This Broadway musical, which has been touring since January 2010, will perform eight shows during its five-day run.
The same creative team that worked on the original “Beauty and the Beast” Broadway production in 1994 originally directed the tour playing in Madison. This touring cast has also worked with the original Broadway director, choreographer, costume designer, set designer, musical arranger and musical supervisor.
Although the tour started last year, most of the cast members joined the show within the last few months and very few of the originals remain. According to Michael Haller, who plays Lumiere in the show, the addition of new actors to the cast has enlivened the performance and boosted excitement and energy levels.
“It’s flown by – absolutely,” he said. “It’s been such a blast. The great news is that it never gets old. It’s an absolute joy to do every night.”
Haller joined the cast in March of this year and has already had over 200 performances. He said playing the part of Lumiere is an exciting opportunity.
“I grew up watching the movie, of course, and I feel like all the little girls wanted to be Belle and all the little boys wanted to be Lumiere. So, it’s really kind of unreal to be able to play this part that I loved so much as a kid.”
Old favorites from the movie, such as songs “Be Our Guest” and “Beauty in the Beast,” will make an appearance. But the stage version, which is roughly two hours long – 45 minutes longer than the film – also includes songs like “Human Again,” “If I Can’t Love Her” and “Home.”
“‘Human Again’ is a big Act II number,” Haller said. “[The song] originally was supposed to be in the film, even up until the first release. … If you get the DVD you can actually see they completely animated this number and everything. They were ready to put it in the movie, but at the last second they pulled it out.”
Haller explained how the live factor of the production gives some integrity to the show.
“The fact that Belle can get up there and sing those songs night after night is just an amazing thing, and it’s really fabulous,” he said.
Audiences should be reassured the musical won’t be completely different from the movie, Haller said. By dint of discussing his own character, Lumiere, he said the beloved Disney characters’ attributes are still present in the live musical production.
“[His] qualities are inherent in the script, so all I have to do is do my job and be that character,” he said. “Lumiere is the funny, sexy, suave guy that kind of talks a little too much and is a little conscious of appearances. All these things that are exactly what we remember from the original movie, and they translate well onto the stage.”
Although many people saw Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” film in younger days, the musical is meant for all ages. Haller said he encourages everyone to come view the show in order to accept the onstage characters’ invitation of: “Be Our Guest.”
“Parents will love it because there’s some humor that’s geared toward them, that completely goes over the kids’ heads, but the kids absolutely eat it up as well,” Haller said. “It really is a show for everybody.”
“Beauty and the Beast” will run in Madison Dec. 6-11. Tickets cost between $40 and $80 and can be bought online at www.overturecenter.com, over the phone at (608) 258-4141, or in person at the Overture Center on State Street.
