By Kathryn Olsen for Front Row Reviewers
There is never a bad time to witness love and Beauty and the Beast by Timpanogos Community Theater at the Valentine Theater in American Fork is the perfect show for that experience. Based on the Walt Disney movie of the 1990s by the same name, this musical is penned by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and the book by Linda Woolverton. The 1993 production won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical and is beloved by fans of the story. I am someone who loved the movie from childhood and was delighted to bring my elementary-school-aged niece with me for a fresh perspective.
As the play opens, the audience is told the story of a young prince who refuses to help a beggar (Sheryl Moser) on a stormy night. When he refuses her entreaties for aid, he is cursed by the beggar who is actually an enchantress to become a hideous beast (Bryan Johnson). If he can find true love and be loved in return, the spell will break and he will return to human form; otherwise, he will remain a beast forever. Sometime later, town outsider Belle (Sarah Fisher) goes in search of her missing father (Robert Bahr) and volunteers to take his place when she realizes that he is the prisoner of the beast. She adapts to her imprisonment with the help of the other castle residents, but will she be able to see past the monster and love the man under the curse or will the Beast be lost to the world forever?
Fisher is winsome, but her real strength as the lead character is the intuitive side that she displays. It’s not as evident when she is out in her poor provincial town, but whether she’s confiding in her father in “A Change in Me” or re-acquainting the Beast with his human emotions in “Human Again,” she brings out a side of Belle that is full of heart. Fisher’s vocals are strong and particularly compelling in her rendition of “Home.”
Johnson is a fitting counterpoint to Fisher. He spends most of the play out of sorts, roaring at the slightest insult or overreacting to potential threats like a doddering old man at his fireside. He has spent so much time in animal form that his emotions are always at the surface. The great thing about this portrayal is that it fuels both his impassioned singing style and his almost-comically-deferential attempts to keep himself under control. The vulnerability turns to tenderness.
Every hero needs an antagonist and Adam Colvin plays the infamous romantic rival Gaston with an undisguised ego as a character and great humor as an actor. He is king of caricature and his need for validation is so naked that it is hilarious, especially when relying on the eternally hopeful and fawning Les Filles de la Ville (Raelynn Terry, Jessica Eraso, and Mersedez Clifford) to help him cope with rejection. Colvin’s skill as a dancer even shines through so that he seems a ringleader instead of epic figure.
William Gardner is even more delightful as his crony, Lefou. The name means “the fool” and this is the sycophantic townsperson who literally stoops so low as to be Gaston’s footstool and moral support. Gardner delights with a version of this secondary nemesis that is more intelligent than some other renderings. It’s never clear why his mission in life is to keep Gaston feeling like a champion, but he sticks to the duty with wonderful enthusiasm.
Maurice, Belle’s father, plays a small, but vital role as a counselor and touchstone. Bahr’s interpretation of the role is relatively mild-mannered, but deeply empathetic, especially as the one person who understands Belle’s feelings of being seen as odd.
The servants in the castle must be considered as a group. Mackenzie Grant was a personal favorite of mine as Babette, shimmying and slinking around for the attention of her beloved Lumiere (Ryan Withers). Shannon Newbold only appears at times as the wardrobe Madame de la Grande Bouche, but her frequent operatic outbursts are adorably genuine in their joy. Lumiere and his cantankerous companion Cogsworth (Trevor Williams) are a great yin and yang, with Withers fully embracing the romantically whimsical and Williams expressing himself as a stodgy and dutiful head of the household. Shaylia Johnson as Mrs. Potts and James “Jeb” Buffington as her son Chip are the embodiment of “hope springs eternal” and seem to stand in for the enthusiasm of the audience yearning for a happy ending. Buffington spends almost the entire show in a traveling table, but still provides a humorous personality to the role. Johnson is heart-warming and grounded.
The ensemble is, simply put, fantastic. Each of their numbers amps up the complexity of their contribution and while the half-time show stylings of “Gaston” are hysterically ostentatious, it’s hard to put into words the magnificence of “Be Our Guest.” It certainly kept my almost-seven-year-old companion talking about the dancers in the row right behind us until well after we left the theater. The kids in the production were great to see and hard-working in their roles.
Artistic Director/Producer Marlene Myers, Director Alyse Shattuck, Music Director Sheryl Moser, and Sonya Hammock are responsible for the dazzling production that is on stage. Choreographer Stephanie Shattuck is largely to thank for making this seem like a spectacle and the use of the fairly small stage at the Valentine Theater made the town and its inhabitants seem unavoidably intertwined in each other’s lives. Costumer Nicole Madsen works with Bryan Johnson and Shaylia Johnson for the Enchanted Costumes and Wigs so that the characters’ roles from one scene to the next are culture-accurate and visually interesting, while Shannon Newbold is the one who provides Make-up Instruction and Application and Wigs. The sets, which turn from a provincial town to a sylvan castle with the rotation of a set piece or two, are done with Set Design by Jason Myers-Whitaker, built by Larry Myers. Jason Young’s Sound Design and Lighting Design by Caleb Wallengren bring the ambience to its best self, while Marge Brinkerhoff excels with the Props and Set Dressing. It could not be donew without the hard work of Stage Manager Amanda Gelter, Assistant Stage Manager Connor Cooper, and the Stage Crew Leader Emilee Young, along with their able workers. Unnamed in the program, but much-appreciated were the American Sign Language interpreters who could be seen working tirelessly to make the production accessible for more audience members.
This show will be at the theater until July 21, so there is plenty of time to make your way to the provincial town or the castle for a night you will not forget. Audiences young and old will enjoy this tale as old as time.
Timpanogos Community Theater and Timpanogos Arts Foundation Present Beauty and the Beast; Music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, Book by Linda Woolverton.
The Valentine Theater, 839 E 9th N, American Fork, UT 84003
July 6-21, 2023, 7:30 PM, ASL interpretation on July 14
Tickets: $10-15
www.americanforkarts.com/theater
Contact: aftheater@gmail.com
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